2025 is once again about honoring my late father Paul Hunter Plotz--because he deserves it.

Here is my PMC history: In 2019, I rode my first PMC in loving memory of Timo Gilmore, a faithful friend and brilliant colleague in the Brandeis English Department. Along the way I met truly heart-warming riders and volunteers--and I had an incredible lab visit with the pediatric brain tumor folks at Dana Farber. (check out the work of the Bandopadhayay and Eck labs, and the whole PBT clinic). Visting with them I couldn't help thinking about my own father's 49 years as a doctor and lab scientist (Paul Plotz, immunologist at NIH; look him up!).

Then came PMC 2020; an experiment in social distancing became an amazing 90-mile ride that took a few of us loyal PMC buddies to the Old Burying Ground at Harvard. That trip included a memorably discombobulating dead-end on a truncated rail-trail that terminated in fallen trees, hostile signage, and some awkward portaging through bike-resistant farmland. 2021 was a fantastic bounceback year. PMC 2022 was amazing and 2023 (my Pentacle!) was even better.

2024 was a repeat of 2023: My big bad brother David once again joined this year, and my Brandeis Educational Justice Initiative pal, Rosalind Kabrhel, and also Sami Ghaddar, representing the Soltani/Farhadi family!

What will 2025 be? Only you can say.....

So please, take a look at the pledge thermometer and think about what you can do to help me get there. As your finger hovers, consider that every dollar that you pledge here (in honor of my dear buddy Dan Itzkovitz's son Dmitri) specifically targets underfunded pediatric brain tumor researchers. So please, as you click the donate button above, please do feel the burn, for a moment!

Many many thanks,

John