The 2010 edition of the Pan-Mass Challenge, August 7-8, 2010, was once again a fabulous event. It was my 7th PMC and while I have started doing more rides, the PMC is the standard against which all other rides are measured. The others are quaint, miniaturized versions of the PMC but none come close to the excitement and impact that the PMC generates. The PMC raises more money than any other single athletic event. This year’s goal is $31 million and all (100%) of the donated money goes to the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. This is the largest single fund-raising athletic event. Period. Over the 31-year history of the PMC, the event will have generated over $300 million for the DFCI. Thanks to all of you who contributed to this and/or previous PMCs.
The rest of this blog describes the weekend and the ride itself. Some of the comments will be meaningless to anyone except a rider. I hope there is at least something you will find interesting.
Once again I did the PMC with college buddy Stu Koman. Stu started riding the PMC a year before he recruited me so it was his 8th. PMC. We plan our summers around the PMC and try to ride once or twice together before the event itself. It has been a wonderful way to stay in touch with him and I think we have become even better friends as the result of doing this together than we ever were in college.
This year it was difficult to get together to do training rides. Part of this was due to our busy schedules; part of it was due to back issues for both us. As a result, we had only one training ride, the Thursday before the PMC itself.
Friday afternoon the PMC opens for riders to check in and we try to get there early in part because of Boston traffic but also because it is a carnival atmosphere and a lot of fun. Everything that riders need is provided and thanks to volunteers, donations and corporate sponsors, everything is free. There is significant swag. Some of it is free. Some of it is for sale and most of what they sell there also benefits the DFCI.
On Friday night neither one of us slept well. We gave up watching the Sox about 10 and went to bed. But by my estimate, I slept about three to four hours. But we were up and ready to go at five and left the house around six. The PMC provides an extensive handbook that they mail out a couple of months in advance and of course Stu and I didn’t read it, thinking we knew everything we needed to know. We arrived at Babson around 6:30 thinking we had an hour to get ready. That’s normally plenty of time. Plus we had a prime parking space (I thought that was strange since it seemed like the early birds would get the best parking spots.) We went through our routine: pumped up our tires, went to the bathroom, filled our water bottles, got on our shoes and went over to the food tent for a last minute fuel-up. Then we heard the national anthem. It turns out they had moved the start from 7:30 to 7:00. We got on our bikes and left at the back of the peloton. I still had a bagel in my hand.
The start is divided into three groups: “fast” (18+ mph) riders, “steady” (15-18 mph) and “casual” (less than 15 mph). We normally go for the back of the fast group or the head of the steady group. This year we were behind everyone. The PMC is not a race so in one respect this was a good thing: there was no possibility we would go out too fast in the first 10-20 miles and blow up later. Psychologically, it was nice too because we passed riders in the first stage and didn’t start getting passed until after the first rest stop.
I have been riding a lot this year; I will break 2000 miles in the next week or so, certainly by the time the next century ride is over. I have felt strong this year and because Stu had missed a few weeks of training, I was prepared to pull most of the way. The first stage was slow because we had to navigate carefully around large groups of slower riders. A few times I was able to get through an opening but Stu was not, so I put on my blinker to help him identify me in a sea of identical jerseys.
Sometime during the second stage, I hooked up to a pretty fast (20-22 mph) pace line and hung on long enough to take a turn at the front. I dropped off during a rough patch of pavement when my pump came loose and I later lost it when it fell out of my jersey pocket. It was fun while it lasted. Unfortunately, Stu didn’t make the move when I did, so I pulled over after getting dropped and waited for Stu in one of the many driveways where there were spectators and well-wishers. At this one, she was offering water bottles. We rode together to the lunch stop.
By pre-arrangement, we met up with Chris Arnold, a fellow Syracuse rider and he has done the PMC for about 13 years. He does the two-day ride from Sturbridge to Bourne to Provincetown. So while we do 87 miles on day 1, he does 110. When we met up, we had done about 50 and he had already done about 70. We did the last 40 miles as a team of three and we rode well together. We rode the second half without incident except that I got a flat right just a few miles out of rest stop three.
I dedicated the 2010 ride to Janne Piper. At the Bourne campus we enjoyed food, live music, massages, and good times. There was a display of a half dozen wall-size nylon banners that were set up like message boards. Each board was a bright neon color with a sharpie for writing dedications. They were labeled: “Who are you riding for?” Who are you volunteering for?”, etc. I wrote Janne’s name on the appropriate remembrance board.
Final ride stats: 87 miles, time – 4h:30m (my shortest time for a PMC by about 30 minutes), average speed – 18+mph (my fastest time for this mileage), $2500 raised, $500 to go by 10/1/10, one flat, experience - unforgettable.
Here we are at the finish.
August 11, 2010
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