Our 2025 PMC Ride: Sturbridge (for the last time) to Bourne to Provincetown

 

Preamble (or just plain rambling)

PMC weekend is now in the bicycle mirror, and we are back with our loved ones. This year's ride lacked the drama, extreme weather, and viral load of last year, so it seems, at first write up, a less compelling narrative. Yet this is the Pan Mass Challenge after all, a 190 mile bike ride with 6000 riders, 3000 volunteers all working together to raise much needed funding for cancer research, where everyone has a deep connection to cancer and where we all wear our emotions on our sleeves/bicycle sleeves. This PMC feels very different however from the 44 PMC rides that have come before, as it takes place amidst the biggest retrenchment of funding in scientific research this country has ever seen. It's estimated that $2.8 billion dollars has been slashed for cancer research alone. My own federal research grant, focused on developing a novel immunotherapy for cancer has been shut down. The oft-used PMC slogan, "There's a Lot Riding on Us" is more compelling than ever before. Our fundraising target this year is $75 million. 

We have raised $54 million to date and this funding will literally keep the lights on for cancer cures, clinical trials, and patient care. To date, I have raised over $31,000 this year to find new cures for sarcoma, the cancer that took the life of my daughter, Sabina three years ago. Thank you to everyone who contributed to my fundraising- I am eternally grateful. 

One major theme of this ride is that after 44 years, the PMC will no longer be riding out of Sturbridge. Next year we will be starting from the College of the Holy Cross in Worcester. So this was our last chance

to do the Day Zero ride on the Friday before PMC weekend from West Stockbridge to Sturbridge, an extra ride of 97 miles that we have done multiple times but that our riding buddies Steve and Jay have not yet done. But it was not to be this year for various reasons (including prodigious rain the day/night before and one of our riding crew and our driving crew were getting over nasty colds). TBH, I was okay with the standard 190 mile two day ride, but I felt bad for our riding buddy Steve who trained really hard and was ready for the three day adventure. and for Jay who went to UMass Amherst and was looking forward to biking past some of his old haunts. We'll do the day zero route for fun later this summer. So on Friday we got a ride to Wellesley and loaded our bikes onto trucks and ourselves onto buses and took the easy way out to Sturbridge. But we made a promise to ourselves to next year add a day zero ride and bike out to the start in Worcester. Already getting excited about bike route planning. 

Steve and Linda loading their bikes in Wellesely

As always, Sturbridge was a lovely hangout Friday afternoon as we reunited with our good friend Veronica, ate lots of carbs, protein and sugar, and watched the inspirational opening ceremonies, where we heard from Billy Starr who started this ride 45 years ago and from cancer survivors whose lives were saved by Dana Farber discoveries. We learned that there are over 1100 Living Proof (i.e. cancer survivors) riders and volunteers participating this year, that riders have come from 47 out of 50 states and 12 countries, and that there are hundreds of riders over 65 (with the oldest being 79), yet 25% of all riders are 35 years old and under. 

John, Veronica and Steve by the lake in Sturbridge

Day 1: Sturbridge to Bourne

PMC weekend is amazing in many respects but it is not a weekend for sleeping in. Our alarm went off at 4:15 AM and we grabbed our gear, breakfasts and bikes and assembled outside with 3,000 other riders (to be joined en route by 3,000 more from Wellesley) for the official (and last start) from Sturbridge.

Our crew: Jay, Steve, me, John, Linda and Veronica assembled for the Stubridge start
(it was dark at 5 AM, my iPhone makes it appear light!)

 

The route on Day 1 takes us 110 miles from Sturbridge to Bourne. I have one word for the weather this weekend- Bliss. We dodged high 90's temps and a massive rainstorm in the days leading up to the ride and dangerous air quality from Canadian wildfires one day after. This was the best weather that I have ever experienced on this event, which takes a huge wild card out of one's ability to bike 190 miles and makes (almost) every mile enjoyable. It was even a brisk 56 F at 5 AM til it warmed up to the low 70's by afternoon- really pleasant biking weather. 

This route is lovely as we roll through southern Mass. towns like Charlton, Attleboro, and Franklin, heading eastwards towards the Cape. With minimal cars on the road at these early hours (we have 50 miles in by 9 AM) and with police officers waving us through intersections, the riding is primo. And at the water/snack stops we are well taken care of by all the incredible volunteers.

John and Steve enjoying some food and rest

Everyone, riders, volunteers and the many people cheering us on, has a cancer story. I ride with two cancer survivors who are a constant source of inspiration. And as we ride, we pass people lining the route holding up signs, thanking us for riding and raising funds for cancer research and cures. While riding, it's natural to strike up a conversation with 

Veronica with a young man along our route

fellow riders and ask them what inspired them to ride the PMC. One person I was riding with for a while, Laura, lives just a mile from me in Cambridge with her husband and 9 year old son. She was living in London when she was diagnosed with Stage 3 breast cancer when her son was 1. She purposefully moved to Cambridge (she's originally from Mass) so she could be treated for her cancer at Dana Farber. Her chemotherapy was intense, and they had to bring her to near death to knock her cancer into remission, but she has been cancer free since then and has done the PMC for the last five years. 

I met a young rider named Ivy who was on her third PMC ride and she was riding for her former teacher at boarding school who was diagnosed with breast cancer two years ago. This teacher was like a second Mom to her, and funny enough was also her Mom's teacher when she a young student. Thankfully she is in remission now. 

Ivy with a photo of her second Mom (and Ivy dressed
up like her for fun)

I had a remarkable and random meet-up with a woman who recognized me from seven years ago when Sabina was first diagnosed with clear cell sarcoma.  I had joined a Sarcoma patient advocacy group where Wendy was an active member. She had told me of how her young daughter had survived a rare sarcoma when she was ten years old. They were desperate to save her and had her treated with multiple infusions of a protein called interferon-alpha, a treatment which was the first form of cancer immunotherapy. It was known as a harsh treatment, and it nearly killed her, but ultimately cured her (she's now 35 years old). 

Ken and Wendy, fellow sarcoma research advocates

Ironically enough, I am working on a novel oligonucleotide-based therapeutic that induces one's own natural interferon levels (alpha and other cancer fighting interferons), and it has shown remarkable anticancer activity in animal and human models. Although our grant was cancelled by the Trump administration, we soldier on and are seeking other approaches to keep it going. And in another ironic twist, when I met Wendy, I joined a PMC team, the Sarcoma Cycling Brigade, which targets its funding to George Demetri, the head of sarcoma research at Dana Farber. I reached out to George two weeks ago about his work on clear cell sarcoma and he said they are trying a new approach, raising interferon levels. I told him that I have a drug for him to try (!) and we will be discussing a collaboration in the coming weeks. Sabina would be very pleased to hear all this. I of course think of her on every mile of the ride. I cherish my time riding alone when I can really focus on her memory and her presence on this ride.

One of the most poignant and powerful reminders of why we ride is the Pedal Partners rest stop in Lakesville. Pedal Partners are children who are currently battling cancer who have teams of riders riding in support of them. At the rest stop the team meets up with their pedal partner child. Riding past the multitude of road side posters with photos of these children is super emotional. This VIDEO captures the full power of the experience of biking past all these road side posters.

The Lakesville stop is at mile 83 of the PMC. By now our legs are getting a little heavy but of course we keep pedaling, inspired by everything and everyone around us. One really inspiring guy was Maximus, who was pedaling a unicycle, all the way from Wellesley to ultimately Provincetown. The photo doesn't do justice to what Maximus was pulling off. Check out this VIDEO.

Maximus on his unicycle

We rolled into the Mass Maritime Academy in Bourne around 3:30 PM, happy to have arrived after an amazing 110 miles of remarkable cycling. The Bourne MMA experience is a real party scene, with live bands, a wide variety of food, alcohol and good cheer. 

At the Mass Maritime Academy finish line in Bourne

Bourne is also the beginning of Cape Cod and of course it's beautiful. We ate, drank, ate some more, and hung out at the beach. Then we pitched our tents and went to sleep at, remarkably, 8 PM (!) for a 4AM wakeup.

Buzzards Bay in Bourne

Happy and relaxed riding crew

Nighty night....

Day 2: Bourne to Provincetown

Ah, day 2 of PMC, 80 miles of Cape Cod candy. Today is a delicious day of cycling. Another super early wake up.  In the pre-dawn hours we broke down our tents, grabbed some tasty egg and cheese sandwiches, got our bikes and ourselves in position for a traditional 5 AM photo shoot along the Cape Cod Canal. After this photo, it was time for the traditional (and necessary) crossing of the Bourne Bridge where one inbound lane is closed for us until 6:30 AM. 

Ready for "Cape Cod Candy" day

Fred Flintstone was present as always to greet us under the bridge as we made our way onto the Cape Cod Canal bike path. 

Fred and Steve feeling very primitive at 5:30 AM

Sunrise on the Cape Cod Canal

Cape Cod is not as flat as you would think. Day 1 is 4300 feet of climbing over 110 miles, and the Cape Cod day is 2700 feet over 80 miles. There's a section of rolling hills in Sandwich that's a ton of fun to cycle. And there are parts of the Cape with longer climbs, particularly at the end in the Province Land hills. We also spend a fair amount of time on the Cape's awesome network of paved trails. 

Morning coffee kicking in...

The people cheering us on in Cape Cod are a blast. There's a crazy fun section of cheering fans at  "Da Hedge" in Brewster.  And in Truro, there is no rest for the Wicked

Da Hedge

Elphaba and Glinda inspiring us to climb their hill in Truro

 

As we head out into the outer Cape we are biking within site of water constantly- oceans, estuaries, marshes, kettle ponds, you name it. We stopped in Wellfleet to say hey to the sharks. Actually we saw a lot of seals- the sharks were surely close by.

White Crest Beach in Wellfleet

By noon, our 80 mile Cape flyer is over as we roll into P'Town. And suddenly, our PMC ride is over. We showered, ate a lot (a recurring theme) and had a beer (or two) and it was time to catch the fast ferry back to our non-PMC lives. It was one of the best of the PMC weekends- lovely weather, no flats, mechanicals, or drama. We were able to leave the national drama behind for a weekend which was a nice break. Thank you for following along, and for believing in the importance of cancer research, clinical trials and finding cures for cancer. The hard work to kick cancer's butt continues. We will find a way. Be well!