I'm Riding to Honor Robin. Who Else Will Come Along on the Ride?

This is part of a note I wrote to my friend's younger sister, who's a woman of strength and grace who has faced an unspeakable challenge just the way I would hope to. THIS is why I ride the PMC -- to honor the fallen and, I hope, make this experience less common. To share someone in your life who we can take on the ride, please add a comment to our post "We Ride the PMC to Honor Survivors and Angels." To donate to the PMC, please join my PaceLine.


"Jenny,
"I learned just a week ago today that Robin's memorial service was held the day after I sent your mom a note about my plans to ride the Pan-Mass Challenge again to honor Eve, Helga, and countless others who have battled cancer. I was so sad to hear that Robin had lost her battle, and not at all surprised to hear your mom say you are a rock and an angel. I can't imagine the difficulty of watching either of my older brothers battle and suffer, and I also hope that I'll rise to the level of grace, generosity and love you gave if ever I'm faced with the challenge. Larry and Clarence were amazing, as I can easily imagine you were in the face of suffocating anguish. Let's believe that Robin has joined such lively, just, funny women as Eve and Helga, and that they all are comfortable and content as they watch over us.

"On Saturday, I'll mount my bike and join 5000 riders in a trek from Sturbridge and Wellesley out to Provincetown on the tip of Cape Cod. If possible, can you email me a picture of Robin to carry with me?

"I'm riding 192 miles over the two days, and the miles roll more quickly when I carry the names, images, and stories of people who have battled cancer. Any physical discomfort of riding (mostly on my most posterior point!) evaporates by thinking loving thoughts of loved ones lost too early. It's also an inspiration to push so very hard on the last miles through the softly swaying grass of the dunes of Provincetown. As some sort of gesture, it feels appropriate to push myself as hard as possible those last miles and put everything into finishing strong and fast.

"One paragraph I wrote to your mom felt so true, I'll paste it here: I didn't really realize how special a place Robin and your whole family occupy in my image of my childhood until this week. Robin was the elegant, kind, gracious, gorgeous "older sister" who was really nice to me and the other little kids who I recall buzzing a round her at Lake Valhalla. My memories of those times are painted with pictures, warm sunlight, and fond feelings. Robin, Jenny, Jimmy, Robby, you, and Dwight were anchors of that summer experience, as well as fun times in and around your Elston Road house.

I am so sorry for your loss, and so grateful to have shared wonderful parts of life with Robin and you.

Fondly,

John

A Season of Firsts

This has been a season of firsts for me.

It's the first time I'm riding the Pan-Mass Challenge without my buddy and Team Avanti co-founder, Rob Rodgers.

Last week was the first time I'd ridden farther than the 84 miles of the first day of the Pan-Mass Challenge when I rode 86 miles to reach Mike Moody, my Class of '86 buddy, in Rye, NH.

This Sunday, I rode my first century when I completed the 101-mile "Climb to the Clouds" from Concord, MA to Mt. Wachusett and back. (See the map and elevation chart below.)

Today, I learned that the first of my childhood friends, Robin, lost her battle with cancer. Images of her and her family will dance through my mind and flow through my tears as I roll over the coming miles.

In less than two weeks, I'll ride the original Pan-Mass Challenge route from Sturbridge to Provincetown in this, the 30th PMC. The first 29 have generated $239 million to support the life-saving research at the Dana Farber Cancer Institute.

Could this be the first year you support my fundraising efforts for the Pan-Mass Challenge? And/or join my PMC PaceLine where you create a rider/avatar to ride along with me? Or increase your support to $192 (or a multiple) -- a dollar for each mile I'll ride? Or contribute $30 and invite 30 of YOUR friends to support the ride -- a dollar and a friend for each of the 30 years the PMC has been conducted? I hope so!











Climb to the Clouds Map and Elevation Chart (Click to see a larger image.)

My First Century Ride

Please donate to the Jimmy Fund and fund more lifesaving research by clicking the PMC logo. You can also join my "PaceLine" when you donate.

I think the 86 miles I rode to Rye, NH last week was the longest ride I'd ever done. This week, on Sunday, I'll do my first "century" ever -- 100 miles on a bike. It's even got a name, "Climb to the Clouds," which suggests "you're going to climb hills, suckah!" don't you think? That we'll do, climbing part way up Mt. Wachusett. The summit is closed, sadly, but I'm not sure I'm devastated by that. We "lose" the opportunity to climb 700 verticle feet in about two miles. Translation: steep and long.

The map below shows the route.

I'm doing this so the 110 miles on the first day of the PMC won't loom quite so large, and to see how I feel the next day. 'Course, I don't have to ride another 82 miles on Monday ;)

Wildlife Impact on PMC Training

Please donate to the Jimmy Fund and the Dana Farber through my Pan Mass Challenge PaceLine.

Riding through the western suburbs of Boston is fraught with wildlife encounters you might not imagine. Last year, on an early morning ride, two squirrels launched themselves from the woods alongside the road in front of me. The first was 20 feet ahead of me and caused me to wonder "how likely is it that I'd ever actually hit a squirrel? My wheels aren't really very big -- a squirrel could go in front or behind the wheel, and if I did hit it, I wonder if it would knock me off my bike."

Not 50 feet later, squirrel #2 beat all the odds and actually put its poor little head INTO the spokes of my front wheel. Neither the squirrel nor the wheel survived the encounter, though I didn't crash.

My buddies teased me mercilessly every time I flinched when a squirrel or chipmunk so much as peeked from behind a log.

This spring, we were riding along Rice Road in Wayland, approaching a picturesque spot near a pond with picturesque Belted Galloway cows -- think of a cross between an Oreo cookie and a cow. "Look, there's a cute calf frolicking with it's mamma!" Frolicking right up until it saw our Spandex-clad Posse coming along at 17 MPH. Startled, it jumped like a bucking bronco, which startled the gaggle of turkeys -- about six of them. They jumped off the historic stone wall into the air in something approximating flight and headed across the road -- right toward our heads!


All five of us ducked in our saddles and were grateful to be upright. As we made the next turn, I got to see a huge dump of turkey poop on Rob's shoulder just as he said "Ahhhhh, that turkey shat on me!"

So, when riding your bike, look out for chipmunks, squirrels, cows and turkeys. They can have quite an impact!

If you chuckled, or not, please support the life-saving research at the Dana Farber Cancer Institute by contributing to my Pan-Mass Challenge PaceLine ride.

We Ride the PMC to Honor Survivors and Angels

Each year, we ride the Pan Mass Challenge to "honor" people who have battled cancer. Some have won the battles, some are winning, and some have passed away. Reading the stories from friends, and their friends, about loved ones is a highlight that brings us closer together. I hope you'll add your friends, family, and loved ones to our growing story by commenting to this post, and by joining our PMC PaceLine, a cool fundraising tool in which you can create a rider who'll join my "PaceLine." Please click to make a donation to our effort to fund cancer-curing research at the Dana Farber Cancer Institute.

To start, let me introduce a few people we'll think of as we ride this year. If you'd like to read (a lot) about some very special people we focused on last year, please visit the Team Avanti site.

Ernest H. Bluman was my grandfather who died too early for me to know him well. Because I lost him at the age of 6, I really never knew any of my grandparents. It makes me sad to have missed that and angry at cancer to have taken my last grandparent. And I'm sad and angry that my kids never got the chance to know my Mom. On the other hand, I also have a great appreciation that we live just 3 miles from my kids' wonderful, generous, funny maternal grandparents, and that they got to spend as much time with my dad as they did before he passed away. ....from John Marchiony

for Bootsie and Charlie Carothers, as well as my aunt, Sally Windle (died of breast cancer at 43), my aunt, Dicker Ryder (ovarian), and several friends who've survived breast cancer: Elissa Wolf-Tinsman, Susan Gallo, Meg Hausman.... from Lalla Carothers

Debi Finnerty was an angel on earth, brightening the day of children, their families, her friends and colleagues. The world was brighter every day that she shined her happy smile and loving heart. She battled valiantly, but lost in 2006.
…from John Marchiony

Jennifer Kay: After a valiant two-year battle with renal cancer, Jennifer Kay, Dartmouth '86, succumbed to the disease on May 1, 2006. In 2001, Jennifer decided that she wanted to use her math abilities to help young, underprivileged women. Without any training as a teacher, Jennifer joined the math faculty at Holy Family Academy in Bayonne, New Jersey and later at St. Aloysius High School, in Jersey City, both inner-city Catholic schools. One former student attended Dartmouth and credits Jennifer with teaching her the skills and fostering the drive needed to be successful at Dartmouth. Jennifer was truly devoted to the goal of promoting and improving the study of math and science by young women....from John Marchiony & Gary Greene

for Eve Marchiony, my Mom, and her best friend Helga Strowbridge. They were quite a pair, playful and just throughout their lives. ....from John Marchiony
They -- Eve and Helga -- both color my life with their acts of generosity and humor.
...from Judy Siegel
Ride for your Mom! I think your rid noble and therapeutic. Good luck and carry your heart high!
...from Jane McKee Douglas

Ev May was one of the greatest friends I have ever had. In a very real way, he saved my life....from Rob Rodgers

for Patrick Rafter, who confronted a cancerous brain tumor ten years ago. He lost half his hair to the chemo, shaved the rest, survived having his skull opened up and yet lost none of his humor and grace, I assume, 'cause he's damn funny and thoroughly genuine.....from John Marchiony

Thanks for sharing! Please add my mom, Nancy Woodbury and four classmates who are surviving and I hope thriving - Sue Garrat, Lois Burrill, Judith Sallet and Emmy Marks. Three of them were part of Junior year Abroad in Geneva. ...from Betsy Rowe

I'm Riding for Charlie and Bootsie

Joe and I rode 40 miles on Wednesday on a route through Sherborn and Dover that he had raved about since last year. As soon as we turned on "Farm Road," the beauty intensified. Then Strawberry Hill Road, and then Wilsondale. He described a fun descent and a gorgeous traverse. "Wilsondale" sounded familiar. I recognized it by the feel of it, knowing that Charlie and Bootsie Carothers, both angels I work to honor when I ride the PMC, raised a most spectacular brood of wonderful people -- Sarah, Mike, Lalla, and Matt. Charlie and Bootsie were spectacular friends and parents when they lived, and inspirations now. Sarah was one of the first PMC riders we sponsored, and Lalla is a godmother to our daughter.

I choked up as I passed their lovely yellow house with the barn on the curve of the road behind the stone wall, remembering warmth and friendship that never, ever waned.

Please support the live-saving cancer research by joining my PMC PaceLine and empowering the incredible doctors at the Dana Farber Cancer Institute.

Do it for Bootsie! (It just rolls off the tongue, don't it? ;)

Gaining By Losing

Just a month from the PMC and I'm wondering what this year will be like for me. In 2006 and 2007, I rode the PMC with Rob Rodgers and we formed "Team Avanti." In 2008, Joe Parrish, Rob Mosher, and Matt Schulman joined us. In 2009, Rob, Rob, and Matt were unable to ride, leaving our team at 2. I've felt a sense of loss when thinking about riding without them, and when I've been riding with, or without, any of them.

So what will I gain through this experience when it's so easy to dwell on what I've lost?

I don't know, specifically, but I'm sure there will be something spectacular. Perhaps it will be the chance to get to know Joe that much better. Or to ride with my college classmates, Walter and Lisa the rookie. Or Lynda, who I know only through Facebook email, and whose dedication to cycling may be unrivaled in my world. Or someone who I just happen to pedal next to....

Through loss, there will be gain. In that I have faith.

Please support my ride in the PMC and join my PaceLine.