My 19th PMC: HOT HOT HOT!

My 19th Pan-Mass Challenge ride was a return to everything that makes the weekend special: seeing my teammates and the thousands of other riders at the starting line in Sturbridge, thanking and being thanked by cheering supporters along the route, and beer, the ultimate electrolyte replacement beverage after a long day of riding (don't verify that, just trust me!). It was so nice to have a "normal" PMC again.

Hot but happy at the lunch stop!

But man, was it hot.

It was the third hottest PMC in its 43 years of existence. The only two hotter PMC weekends were in the 1980s, so this was definitely my hottest PMC ever. Luckily, the storms that loomed on Friday night and Saturday morning missed us in Sturbridge - otherwise, in addition to being hot, it would have rivaled 2014 and 2018 for wetness as well.

On Saturday, my teammates and I assembled at the starting line before dawn to ready ourselves for the 110-mile ride to Bourne. It was so nice to be starting again from Sturbridge, the most traditional of the PMC routes. It is longer and harder, but something called the Pan-Mass CHALLENGE should be hard! The great benefit of riding from Sturbridge for me is seeing my friend Sheila at mile 4 in Charlton, holding a massive homemade "Go Jared F!" sign. I always stop for a pic with Sheila! Ironically, later that day I saw a fellow rider who was also a Jared F. I didn't talk to him that day, but he saw me right before finishing on Day 2 and we had a good laugh about it. I made it clear that the sign was for ME! :)

The hills in the early part of the Sturbridge route weren't as hard as I had remembered, but clearly they took something out of me, because from miles 49 to 69, I experienced some severe cramping. I think it was mostly a nutrition issue - not being able to eat and drink enough to keep up with the profuse sweating I was experiencing. I pushed through the pain and at the lunch stop at mile 69, I filled up on liquids and salty snacks (like, a whole cup of sandwich pickles and juice). It did the trick! No more cramping for the rest of the day!

Team Kinetic Karma at the end of Day 1

Not that the rest of the day was a walk in the park. The remainder of the Day 1 route is relatively flat compared to the early part of the ride, but it is exposed. And it was windy, feeling like a convection oven when combined with the heat. At the 85 mile mark, we saw Zinnia, our team's pedal partner, and she was as cute and charming as she was when we biked to her house! The rest of the ride that day was exhausting. No cramping on my part, but...did I mention it was hot? It was eerily quiet along the route - usually riders chat throughout the day, but people were pretty quiet and focused on the physical task ahead - and not psyching ourselves out.

Fluffernutters - bicyclist fuel!

Riding into the Massachusetts Maritime Academy (MMA) in Bourne is a highlight that I haven't experienced since 2019 due to Covid. The PMC takes over the campus with a party to celebrate finishing Day 1 - all the food you can eat and beer you can drink, live music, and camaraderie. It was so nice to experience that again. And another first since 2019, I got to see my friend Kim who volunteers at MMA every year! It was so nice to see her again too.

Day 2 starts early. Luckily it was forecast to be a little cooler, plus I typically finish the 80-mile ride before noon, so I naturally avoid the worst of the heat. Still, my body was suffering a little from the day before. But, we ride on! A few of my teammates and I left from MMA before 5:30 AM and rode over the Bourne Bridge - the first of more hills than you'd think on Cape Cod! We met the rest of our teammates on the other side of the bridge and continued the day's ride. 

Day 2 has a series of milestones that make the day fly by: riding over the Bourne Bridge, riding along the Cape Cod Canal bike path as the sun rises before us, climbing and descending through the roller coaster that is Service Road, our team's "Twizzler Stop" in Wellfleet, riding the Truro hills, getting that first glimpse of Provincetown on Route 6, and the icing on the cake for the weekend, the Provincelands hills a mile before the finish line. It's bittersweet that the Day 2 ride flies by, but my legs were ready for a rest!

Another PMC in the books!

My teammates and I crossed the finish line around 11:20 AM, "champagne" glasses in hand as a toast to another successful ride. After a nourishing lunch (and refreshing beer!) I said my goodbyes to my teammates and friends and called my 19th PMC a wrap. 

The ride is a wrap, but my fundraising continues! Thank you to everyone who has supported my ride so far! I am still in pursuit of my $15,706 fundraising goal. Raising that amount (I am only $1,739 away) will put my 19 years of PMC fundraising at $150,000. If you haven't already, please consider making a donation to help in the fight against cancer. 100% of your donation will go directly to the Jimmy Fund to support the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute's innovative cancer research and compassionate cancer care. Please donate today. 

Thank you, from the bottom of my heart.