It's Go Time

There are less than five weeks until the Pan-Mass Challenge, so it's time to step up my training. For two weeks before this past weekend, I had been taking it easy - I'll blame a brief mild illness and the ridiculous weather we've been having on my paltry mileage. This weekend was when I finally went into high gear.

I only had a few hours to ride on Saturday, so I picked a familiar but challenging route to Norfolk. I had to high-tail it back to Boston to catch a train to Worcester (I barely made it!). It was a nice and quick 60-mile ride.

Sunday was a bit of a challenge. I was already a little sore from my ride the day before, and a bit over-tired, but Rich and I went for a long ride anyway. It was a hilly 85-mile ride on some of eastern Massachusetts' quietest roads. The sun eventually came out, and it turned out to be a great day. I am quite sore today!

Best of all though, I had no mechanical issues on either day. This is monumental, since I started off the season with multiple flat tires and a bout of chain derailing.

So, I was able to ride 145 miles in two days. I've got less than 5 weeks to get to 190 miles in two days. Let's just hope the weather and my immune system cooperate!

PMC Kids

Kids are the future. The Pan-Mass Challenge has embraced this ubiquitous statement and is cultivating the next generation of PMC riders. The PMC kids rides (there will be 24 kids rides this year throughout Massachusetts and in New Hampshire and New York) involve thousands of children (aged 3-15) who ride their bikes various distances at a kids ride event and raise money for cancer research at Dana-Farber Cancer Insititute. Last year, almost 3,500 kid riders raised over $465,000 for the Jimmy Fund, contributing to the PMC's $33 million donation. Since the first PMC Kids Ride in 1998, the kids rides have contributed nearly $1 million to the PMC's goal. These kids are amazing.

Just like in the "adult" PMC, the kid riders have loved ones - uncles, mothers, grandfathers, sisters - who are battling or have battled cancer. These kids know what they're doing - they're helping to make sick people feel better and to make sure others don't get sick.

Billy Starr, PMC Founder and Executive Director, recently made this statement about the kids rides: "Children are no longer as shielded from illness, injury, and other aspects of real life that can be painful or upsetting. Kids continue to surprise all of us, all the time. They want to be involved, they want to contribute, and we believe that children, just like adults, become healthier, more complete people because they participate."

Click here to watch a video about the Kids Rides.

Spent.

Wow. They were right. HEAT WAVE!
I rode over 150 miles on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday this weekend. It was great training for the PMC - long, hot consecutive days in the saddle, but man, am I spent.
Friday was actually cool and cloudy. In order to increase the difficulty level on the relatively short route, I added in a few roads with known hills. Unfortunately, they were in Belmont, which, for some reason, doesn't believe in repaving its roads. It's a miracle I didn't get a flat tire, or worse.
The ride on Saturday was organized by Charles River Wheelmen, the local bicycling club. The route took us through quiet and tree-covered roads north of Boston. It was a nice ride in an area I haven't explored much. It was hot, but not as hot as...
Sunday was HOTT. I decided to ride the beautiful Cape Ann route I've been doing for a few years now. It hugs the coast for most of its length, so I figured the sea breeze would keep me cool. Not so much. I was sweating buckets. I was completely done when I finished the ride at the Salem commuter rail station, but I looked forward to the air conditioned train that would whisk me back to Boston. Not so much. No A/C. But again, it's good training for the PMC - the overnight stay on the ride in Bourne has no A/C either!

Heat Wave!

Meteorologists are predicting a heat wave this weekend, with temperatures in the 90s, possibly through Tuesday. (PS, can we talk about how unexcited the performers and the audience are in that video? Miley Cyrus could teach them a thing or two..)

I must say, I'm excited about the heat. I won't have to worry about wearing layers that I'll soon shed and have to find a place for. And cycling, unlike running (for the most part), generates its own wind "chill" factor. Plus, the routes I plan to do this weekend are either well shaded or along the cooler coast.

The heat is also good preparation for the PMC. As it falls in the first weekend of August every year, odds are we'll have a sunny, hot two days of cycling. That's what has happened the past four years I've been riding. Although, I have seen some photos of PMCs past with cyclists braving torrential rain. Yeah, I like the heat.

Efficiency

In the last few years, I've been working to improve my cycling efficiency. I installed pedals with foot straps to make my pedaling more efficient. I switched from riding a slow hybrid bike to a sleek and light carbon-framed road bike. I now have shoes and clipless pedals to maximize the output I get from each pedal stroke.

The Pan-Mass Challenge has also become more efficient. In 2007, 100% of rider-raised funds went directly to the Jimmy Fund, Dana-Farber's fundraising arm - I expect them to continue to do so from now on. Your donations are going as far as possible to provide world-class treatment to today's cancer fighters and to fund cutting-edge research to find a cure for cancer.

This is important: your donation isn't being spent to subsidize a bike ride - it is saving lives.