Year 3 and my level of excitement for this ride continues to grow!. I had been looking to ride in the pan mass since my second year actually riding a bike. Again, too afraid to commit, it took me 5 years before finding a team and making that commitment. I am so happy to have made that decision and riding my first year with team Ruby Wines X Neptune Oyster.

Year 2 recap: I consider myself fortunate for how good of a first year I got, perfect weather Saturday and beautiful, albeit windy weather Sunday. Last year...not so much. Grinded it out, with thousands of others, in torrential rain for nearly 50 miles. But, That’s the reason we do this thing, to be put in physically painful and mentally draining situations. This ride isn’t supposed to be a walk.. er.. ride... in the park. We do it to support those suffering, far worse than we ever could on this 192 mile journey. Please, if you can find the money to do so, donate to my journey this year so we can help doctors, patients, researchers, and, families eradicate this stupid f***en disease! My goal this year again is $5000, with a personal goal of $9,000! Donations of any size matter, and multiple donations are possible! Let’s crush it and F**k Cancer!!

My ride in memory of Ed Petrini, and Ed ‘Coach’ Waters.

My first year, I dedicated my ride to my dads best bud Ed. Ed had been suffering from a battle with lung cancer for 3 years. Ed was an avid camper down in Bourne, his favorite place on earth and was down every weekend until he couldn't muster the strength to get down. I didn't believe I was going to have the chance to see him, on cape, the weekend of the PMC with the outlook from doctors. The week before he demanded that he would be at the camper For B's ride!!! Well he mustered strength for that weekend and 5 more after, until he finally succumbed to his battle with his cancer and left his friends and family here to watch over us all from his camper in the sky. The moment I got to toast him after the ride on Saturday, surrounded by all his family, was one of the most gratifying moments I could have ever asked for.

I also ride for my first mentor, ‘Coach’ Ed Waters. Coach was in the back of my mind both days during the ride last year, much like every day of my life. It’s hard for me to put into words how much coach had meant to my life during my highschool years. After losing both of my grandfathers by the age of 13, coach came into my life my freshman year of highschool. He essentially played the role of my grandfather in and out of school, on and off the golf course. We lost Coach the spring of my senior year of highschool a month and a half before graduation, to pancreatic cancer. Life has never quite been the same for any of us without Coach, but the one thing I do know is all of us feel his touch and presence every day of our lives. A much abreviated version of the stories I could tell, and the lessons I have learned. 60 hours a week together will tend to do that to someone.

This year I look forward to getting back on the road, in memory of Ed (x2), little Clay, and all my other friends, family, and mentors, that have been affected or taken from us too soon! Its all the more impactful to know that funds raised through this ride will help their road to remission! Stay strong Clay, buddy, I'll be looking to see you out here in the future as Living Proof!! HERES TO 2019, ONE MILE CLOSER!