For the past nine years, the first weekend of August has held a deeply personal place in our hearts. It’s more than just a date on the calendar. It’s a time of purpose and reflection. Every mile we ride and every hour we volunteer during the Pan-Mass Challenge is fueled by love: love for the PMC community, for our fellow riders and volunteers, for our supporters, and for those we ride in honor of.

This year, Team LUNGSTRONG carries a heavier weight than ever before. In December, we lost our fearless leader, Diane Legg. Her strength, courage, and heart inspired everyone who knew her. Diane fought stage 4 lung cancer for 18 years with determination and grit. She lived fully throughout, completing 13 PMC rides with a drive that cancer never took from her. Her strength and perseverance left a lasting impact on everyone. This year we ride for Diane to carry her legacy forward and to honor a life that ended far too soon.

Our journey with the PMC began after losing our beloved grandfather, “Bah”, to non-smokers lung cancer. He wasn’t just our grandpa—he was one of our biggest role models and best friends. We ride for our grandpa, Brian Clark, who passed from Mesothelioma. We ride for grandpa's kindness, and the memories we hold close. We ride for our “Gere”, Carole Clark who passed away from dementia but was a strong and powerful breast cancer survivor. We ride for Julie Romano and Pam Gay-Killeen, two fierce women battling breast cancer with unmatched courage. We ride for John Gilfillan, my dad’s dear college friend, whose life was cut short by glioblastoma. And we ride for Zalema Rambarran, Jim Groleau, Sarah Calabrese and Kristen Hutton.

Each name, each face, each memory fuels us. The PMC weekend is a reminder of how precious life is and how powerful love can be. We ride not only in memory, but in defiance of cancer and in celebration of every life that has touched ours.

This is why we ride. This is why we will always ride. Closer by the mile…