The Pan-Mass Challenge and What It Means to Me

For the past two years, I have been in front of the Brewster Meeting House early in the morning as riders in the Pan-Mass Challenge ride through Brewster en route to Provincetown and the end of their two-day, slightly less than 100-mile-a-day ride. Each of them has gone through difficult training and raised thousands of dollars for cancer research in order to do the ride. I am there to celebrate their accomplishments. As I wave them on, I choke up; I yell “Way to Go!”; I cry.

I’m there for them. I’m there for me.

I’m there because I know how they feel. Exhaustion. Exhilaration. Fear, especially in the rain.

It’s been thirteen years since I took part in the GTE Big Ride Across America to benefit the American Lung Association, but it feels like yesterday. Maybe it’s because this year many riders formed a group on Facebook to share our memories and to update our lives.

This is my new blog. I’ll be writing about travel (bicycles); food (brussels sprouts); and sports (basketballs).

Today I’m sharing the eight unedited emails I sent to my donors from my Big Ride plus an introduction and a look back. Hopefully, you can find them in the right order, but hey, this is a new blog, and I don’t know what I’m doing! Sort of like when I started training for my Big Ride.