I stood at the start line in Sturbridge on Saturday with a woman named Lynn. Lynn must have been about my age when she started riding in the PMC and this year was her 30th year riding! We started off together and quickly parted ways. I didn’t see her again until we were 1 mile from the finish line. She and I finished strong on the 31st riding of the Pan Mass Challenge.

It seems that the training hours I put in over the past few months paid off. Saturday’s route, while billed “difficult and hilly” did not seem as bad as I imagined it would. Riding with other people was far easier than riding alone. I definitely found inspiration in the rotation of other wheels on the road. And it was difficult not to find inspiration in the many messages, ribbons and notes found pinned to the backs of other riders.

Speaking of inspiration, you wouldn’t have believed the number of supporters that were lining the roads! There were families with signs to encourage us riders to keep going, there were folks with cowbells ringing us along and there were cancer survivors with heart wrenching signs of thanks. Of particular note was one woman holding a sign that said “This year I turned 31 and survived chemo therapy”. As I turned 31 this year as well it was incredibly moving.

I finished the weekend having only two minor issues- a little fall just before Saturday’s finish in Bourne and a flat tire at the halfway mark on Sunday. Neither slowed me up for too long, they were just minor inconveniences.

I am finding it difficult to find the words to adequately describe the experience. Feel free to ask questions and keep a dialogue going. I’ll try to post more as I feel moved. In the mean time you can check out some photos I took during the weekend.

My personal experience with cancer has been, thankfully, limited. My Grandma Lowe passed away after a short, but intense, battle with Pancreatic Cancer in 2000. I have known others who have fought cancer, but never so intimately to really understand what they go through.

In addition to the generous donations that have been given to help me reach my goal, I am hoping that I might collect stories of inspiration from you- stories of survival, stories of hope, stories of sadness, stories of lives lost and, most importantly, stories of lives lived.

As I pedal my way from Sturbridge to Provencetown this weekend I would be honored to lift you and your loved ones (and mine) up in prayer and celebration. To remember their struggles as I face my own and to be inspired by the battles they fought, and are still fighting.

Feel free to leave your stories in the comments here, or if you prefer something more private, please email me at rebeccarides (at) gmail dot com.

Due to a few different issues (y’know, life) I haven’t ridden as much as I’d like to the past week or so. I was glad to spend the last couple of days with my parents. They watched the girls so I could get a couple good rides in and it was much appreciated! I rode the same route on both Thursday and Friday, but on Friday I rode the loop around the airport twice before heading back home. (map is approximate, Google doesn’t recognize the bike paths yet!)

The Hobson’s Homemade: Baked Goods for a Good Cause event was a success!  We had a wonderful time hanging out at Casa Hobson on Saturday and an even better time sampling the wares ! I met some new folks and spent time with not one, but two childhood friends.  Many, many thanks go out to Laura and Johnny for their hospitality, patience, and generosity. The sale raised almost two hundred dollars and I am touched by their act of kindness as are the patients at Dana-Farber.

{a few more photos can be found here}

Laura and Johnny have felt led to hold a bake sale to support my fund raising efforts for the PMC.  I am so touched by their generosity and creative thinking! And I’m looking forward to spending some time with them tomorrow!

Here are the details:

Hobson’s Homemade: Baked Goods for a Good Cause

Saturday, July 24th 10am-10pm

At the Hobson’s Apartment in Natick, MA (leave a comment or email me for the directions!)

There will be lots of goodies: banana bread, pumpkin cranberry bread, chocolate zucchini bread, banana chocolate chip cookies, pumpkin chocolate chip cookies, sugar and spice cookies… just to name a few!  There will also be homemade pizza being served during the day!

Please check out the Facebook links above or email me for more info!  I’ll be there in the afternoon and would love to see you!

About a month ago I bought a pair of cycling shoes off of Craigslist- $10 for $90 shoes. (score!)  Corey did the necessary mechanical work to change the pedals for me and gave me some tips for riding with clipless pedals.  During my first lesson, in the backyard, I fell once.  Ever since I’ve had good luck clipping in and out at red lights, intersections and whatnot.

Tonight, though, something was off.  I really didn’t feel like going for a ride, but I was dragging myself through the motions.  I got my gear on, I struggled to put my bike together (it had been taken apart a bit while traveling), I put a band aid on a cut I didn’t know I had until I was putting my shoes on and I forced myself out on the road.  I should have followed my intuition and stayed home!

Not even half a mile from our house is a traffic light. As I coasted to a stop I struggled to kick my right foot out of my pedal.  The next moments were in extreme slow motion as I accepted the fact that I was falling, I tried to go over gracefully and I prayed that once I was down my foot would come loose.  The foot did come off the pedal and I, not so gracefully, stood back up.  A car had been coming up along side me as I tipped and must have seen the whole thing.  The guy in the passenger seat was gracious enough to hold off on laughing until after he asked if I was okay.

I rode on a little further trying to evaluate the extent of my injury. I have had much worse road rash in the past, but I decided to turn and head home anyway.  I came home and cleaned up and will probably have a better attitude about riding tomorrow! I will continue training, undaunted!

Support update: Your donations now amount to $2,719.56!  We’re at 60%+ !  Thank you for your continued support

We started out and headed to the Kokosing Gap Trail. The trail itself was flat, but there are some hills between the house and the start of the trail. I hadn’t been on a bicycle for about seven years, and I’m pretty out of shape, so it was definitely a challenge for me! I did my best to keep up with Rebecca, and she was gracious enough to slow her pace down for me – we averaged about 11.5 miles per hour instead of her usual 15. We enjoyed the rare chance to ride together, and it was good to be back on the trail – I used to ride it all the time when I lived in Mount Vernon. It is a beautiful trail, running through deep forest, and particularly lovely in the early morning with fog still rolling around and streams of sunshine breaking through.

Our total ride was 11.5 miles in one hour – not much for Rebecca, but a huge ride for me! I ended the ride feeling good overall, but with definite soreness in my seat, wrists, and quads. My muscles were definitely yelling at me for the rude awakening! Overall, though, I had a great time!

I’m very happy to watch Rebecca’s progress in training for the PMC, and I’m even more happy to see her fundraising progress. You can help too! Read her support letter and head to the PMC site to donate to her cause today!

Yesterday and today I got out of bed bright and early and went off exploring central Ohio.  Not far from my in-law’s house is the beginning of the Kokosing Gap Trail, a Rails to Trails success story. It runs 14 miles from Mount Vernon to Danville, OH as it winds along the Kokosing River.  Kenyon College marks the half-ish way mark and the trail runs through forests, along corn and soybean fields and under one beautiful, stone, arched tunnel. It is a gorgeous, flat and accessible trail.

Yesterday’s ride started off well, but quickly got very, very wet.  I tried to convince myself that it was “just some drops from the trees” or “a quick little shower” but the truth was that I was riding in a full on downpour in no time at all.  I decided that wet was wet so I kept on riding. At the 10 mile mark I swung around and headed home.  The ride in total was 20 miles and I finished in 1hr, 21 minutes.  Not too shabby.

This morning was sunny and cool, perfect for a ride.  I went back on the trail, determined to ride clear to the far end of the trail. With out the rain in my face I was able to move pretty quickly and it wasn’t long before I was in Danville.  The 14 miles back to the start didn’t seem as long as the 14 going out!

I am looking forward to at least a couple more rides on the trail before we head back east.  It is a nice change from the frequent intersections, traffic lights and crowded roads that I’m used to!

There have been a few speedbumps in my training as of late that have slowed me down a bit.

• I’ve had a couple of flat tires and have had to replace not only the tubes, but also the slashed outer tire.  I’ve learned a lot about changing tires, but have lost riding time because of it.
• As the summer wears on, I am finding it more and more difficult to fit rides in- especially as we are preparing for vacation. Sometimes other projects or people are more important than getting out on the road.
• The weather has often been working against me. It will be beautiful all day and then rain just as I am about to leave home.

Most of these things, coupled with a slow-down in donations, affect my psyche more than anything else. They are mostly small issues that somehow snowball in my mind.  Some days I find it hard to overcome one little inconvenience (tiredness, rain, whatever) to get on with the training.

I am still optimistic, overall. I am excited about the big ride in August and have faith that everything will fall into place at the right times.  I had a dream a couple of days ago and it was ‘ride day’.  I was there at the start and I wasn’t prepared at all.  Corey and my Dad and I were rushing around and not getting anything accomplished even though we were trying!  I woke up with my heart racing!  Luckily I know that I have been preparing and that I still have a month or so left to prepare and train.  There’s nothing wrong with spending a little time in the dumps when you know things will get better.

As always, if you want to donate, please visit my PMC profile page or send me an email at rebeccarides @ gmail . com.  THANK YOU!

Unfortunately, I only made it to point D on the map, 25miles in.  That is where I got my first flat tire of this adventure.  One minute I was rolling along  feeling pretty good about myself and the next I was hearing an awful sound from my rear tire.  I pulled off the road and found what I suspected- a flat.

I have yet to acquire a saddle bag, and therefore have had no place to stash a spare tire tube or pump.  I have been taking a calculated and known risk by riding without a spare.  I was, however, riding with my cell phone.  A quick call was made to Peter and I found myself a shady spot to wait until he and the girls arrived.

I was pretty disappointed at how today’s ride ended.  I was feeling great and was ready to finish the second half of my ride.  But there’s no use getting hung up on things you can’t change!  I’ll fix the tire and get back out on the road again soon.