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Dining in the deluge
When you are planning to ride a bike for two days, you become obsessed
with the weather forecast. Rain or shine? Cold or hot? Dry
or steamy? Typical New England weekends in August have lots of
the latter. Several riders prefer to bike to the starting line
in Sturbridge on Friday to add more distance to the challenge,
covering 80 miles from Boston or 200 miles from the Canadian
border. Me, I took an air conditioned bus to escape the 90
degree steam bath. (Jon, Mo, Ben and I decided than riding 200
miles from Sturbridge to Provincetown was sufficient.) The day was
saved when the thunderclouds rolled through as dinner
started. The skies opened up with 20 minutes of continuous
thunder and lightning. I was stuck under the dining tent with my
compadres on our second plate of pasta, watching the three foot swells
on the nearby lake, and the other riders who were unable to get to the
food tent because of the intervening storm.
After the storm
Friday night's pyrotechnics left the air cool and dry, even if the
parking lot had 2 feet of water. On Saturday morning I joined
the 2500 riders who left the Sturbridge Host hotel at 6am, headed for
Cape Cod. (Another 1500 departed from Babson College in
Wellesley at 7am.) This was my 17th PMC, and I've learned to avoid
the lead groups who fly across the hills of central Mass. Unlike
last year when I trained in the Rocky Mountains, this year's practice
rides were more restrained. I rode for 72 miles before stopping
for "lunch" at 9:30am.
Bridges to the Cape
It was a shame to miss all the helpful volunteers working the myriad
of water-stops but there was just one person on my mind - the physical
therapists who give up their Saturday to knead and prod our tired
muscles. The PMC is not a race, but the sooner you finish, the
shorter the lines for showers and massages. I was a little
slower this year, with 30 riders coming in before me, some up to an
hour. On Saturday afternoon the riders eat and relax at the Mass
Maritime Academy in Bourne, recuperating for the next day. Check
out the photo on the left where you can see the railroad bridge in the
background, and the curved car bridge behind it (the image is a link,
click to expand). The beer tent and band shut down at 7pm and
by 9pm most of us are snoring away in dorms, tents, and a cargo ship.
Sunrise stretch
Reveille is at 4:15am on Sunday morning to encourage us to complete
our ride before the tourist traffic floods the roads of Cape
Cod. Volunteers had worked through the night to prepare
breakfast. I hit the road at 4:40am when most people were still
in the food line. The first challenge of the morning is the
Bourne Bridge which looks almost flat from the side, but is painfully
steep when your legs are sore from the previous day. The first
few rays of the sun peeked through the clouds above the Cape Cod
Canal, while tug boats lumbered against the tide. I like to
treat Sunday as an 80 mile time trial, just me against the
clock. This requires balancing water consumption against rest
stops and on-bike eating against bonking.
I passed over a dozen riders in the first half of the ride, but could
not find the few cyclists that the volunteers said were just
ahead. After 70 miles I entered Provincetown, crossing a long
flat section of road where I could not see anyone ahead in the 2 mile
stretch. Where are those guys? Worse yet, another rider
appeared in my mirror, slowly gaining on me. I pushed harder,
not wanting to get passed. A quick glance showed that the rider
was closer. Even though I gave all I had left, he caught up with
me a few minutes later. But wait, he had no helmet - he was just
a guy out for a morning ride from a hotel down the road! We rode
together for few miles until the PMC route split off across the
Provincelands dunes. I don't know what happened to the
mysterious riders I had been chasine, because I finished first, for
the third year in a row. On the obligatory TV interview I
dedicated the ride to my high school prom date, Zebby, who was
successfully treated for breast cancer. The Cable News station used an
excerpt where I described losing my cousin, grandmother, father and
uncle to cancer in a 4 month period in 1995. One of the many
reasons of why I ride.
Over the last 26 years, the PMC has raised over $123 million, which allows Dana Farber researchers to create new treatments, new cures for cancer. The World Champion Boston Red Sox sponsor the ride, thus covering much of the overhead for the ride. This means that even more of your donation (over 97%) will go to directly to research! Thanks!
Read my 2005 fundraising letter
Return to Chris Spear's PMC Page
Additional photos by John Kowaleski.