Great Biking Weekend

Well, those meteorologists were right! This past Memorial Day weekend was as nice as predicted. Temps in the low 70s to low 80s, low humidity, and abundant sunshine all three days - an anomaly in New England!

I didn't get in as many miles as I had planned, but I biked a total of 140 miles over the three-day weekend. Click on the following links to check out the routes I took and my biking stats for each: Saturday    Sunday    Monday.

Despite my pleas for no more flats, my rear tire deflated a quarter mile after starting my Sunday ride. I rode back home and fixed it (my rear tube now has two patched holes - not good!). Worse than the flat, though, was the fact that my chain didn't want to stay on the front cogwheels. It came off about 20 times while riding this weekend. It's a quick fix (just put it back on and go), but it's messy - my hands are still black from the grease. Luckily, I have a great bike shop. I brought it in to Landry's in Boston at the end of my ride with Rich on Monday, and they fixed it while I waited FOR FREE. They're great!

The coming weekend isn't looking great for biking weather-wise, so I'll have to get in some miles during the week.

Survivors and Fighters

Two well-known Bostonians made national headlines with stories about cancer in the past week. Jon Lester, a Red Sox pitcher and recent cancer survivor, threw a no-hitter against the Kansas City Royals (for those non-baseball fans out there, that is a big deal). His accomplishment on the mount this past Monday is a striking metaphor for his return to the majors after being diagnosed with a rare form of non-Hodgkins Lymphoma in 2006. Jon Lester was a cancer fighter and is now a cancer survivor.

The other well-known Bostonian is Senator Ted Kennedy, who received some rather grim news this past week. After medical tests following a seizure, the senator was diagnosed with a malignant brain tumor. The media is covering all angles of the story; in one article, they interview cancer specialists who discuss the many promising treatment options the senator may have, and in another, they talk about the likelihood of him leaving office, voluntarily or involuntarily. What every story includes, though, is that Senator Ted Kennedy is, and always has been, a fighter. A malignant brain tumor will be his biggest fight yet. 

Click here to read an excellent Newsweek article about both Bostonians and how the PMC and battling against cancer links us all.

Putting in the Miles

Riding the Pan-Mass Challenge requires some serious training. So far this season I've put 225 miles on my trusty ride, ol' AC/DC (here's the origin of its name - I sent it to the shop for a tune-up. They discovered the frame was cracked, so they replaced it. It was blue when I dropped it off, and it was black when I picked it up. It came back in black - get it?!).
The weather for this weekend is supposed to be gorgeous (pronounced gaw-jiss in Boston), so I plan to put in at least 150 more miles in the next few days. I'll be praying for no more flats - I've had five so far this season (but only one in all of last year)!
My fundraising push is about to begin - you'll be hearing from me soon!

The First Weekend in August

The first weekend in August is permanently marked off in my calendar. It's a holiday of sorts. You gather with those family members you only see once a year (well, they FEEL like family) and have a huge meal (carbo-load!). It's always the highlight of my summer.

I made the above video slideshow with images from last year's ride to give you an idea of what it's like to ride 190 miles with 5,500 people, be fed, hydrated, housed, and entertained by 2,600 volunteers, and be cheered on by miles after mile after mile of supporters along the route. It's always an amazing weekend, and each year I'm a better person for having experienced it.

Check out the video (you can also see it on YouTube) and let me know what you think!

Research = Hope

We've come a long way. Almost 80 percent of children diagnosed with cancer survive, as do over 60 percent of cancer-diagnosed adults. Cancer is no longer an immediate death sentence.

We've got a long way to go. 560,000 Americans die each year from cancer, and 1.2 million will be diagnosed with some form of the disease this year.

The cancer research world is full of advances and setbacks, but we have those advances to thank for the ever-improving survival rates. And we have researchers and doctors like those at Dana-Farber to thank for those advances. They are creating more advanced tools for early detection of cancer. They are developing new drugs and new combinations of drugs to treat cancer more effectively and with fewer side effects. They are engineering new radiation techniques and identifying better surgical options to treat cancer patients. They are finding the factors that cause cancer in order to prevent the disease. They are providing their patients with the fantastic results of their cutting-edge research. They are saving lives.

The Pan-Mass Challenge supports the work of Dana-Farber's doctors and researchers in a huge way. Since 1980, the PMC has contributed over $200 million ($33 million last year alone!) to the Jimmy Fund, Dana-Farber's fundraising arm. The extensive and life-saving research and treatment at Dana-Farber is happening in large part due to the PMC's countless supporters.

Dr. Edward J. Benz, President of Dana-Farber, recently stated the following in a letter to last year's PMC riders: "Your PMC funds this year will allow us to make major investments in people, equipment, and research projects that will allow us to accelerate our research momentum despite flat federal research funding. Major new initiatives in medicinal chemistry, imaging, cancer genomics, and experimental drug development will move forward because [of] the funds you generate..."

We really have come a long way. We still have a long way to go.

Start of the Season

Welcome! I'll be blogging about my training and fundraising for my fifth Pan-Mass Challenge (PMC), a charity bicycle ride to raise funds for cancer research at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute.

Calling the Pan-Mass Challenge (PMC) a 'ride' is a bit of an understatement. It is two days and 190 miles of passion, spirit, and hope (oh, and pain). 5,500 riders and 2,600 volunteers come together during the first weekend in August every year (since 1980) to do something larger than ourselves. It's truly an amazing event, and I'm honored to be a part of it every year.

Over the next three months, I'll be spending every weekend on my bike (named AC/DC - I'll explain some other time) in preparation for the PMC. I'll also be conducting my fundraising campaign to meet my goal of raising $6,000 for cancer research. More about that later.

So, again, welcome, and look forward to more posts from me. Thanks for reading!