An early dawn over the Cape Cod Canal beckons us to keep pedaling the first few miles into the sunrise for day two of the Pan Mass Challenge. I’m watching the incline’s tank begin to pick up again on my Garmin. We’re just past the fire boat, which is blasting a pillar of mist in the air to celebrate our passage. Christian groans at the news of impending hills and lifts onto his bike— Dad’s bike. He believes speed is essential to climb, I reply that this is ride not a race. But for brothers, the distance between every water stop is anything but.
What felt like triple digit temperatures in Wareham.
Tires pop at Babson for the first time on the forest green Bianchi Impulso.
Getting lost in Wellfleet, tempted to do the extra dunes loop.
Memories from my first PMC ride will never fade on me, least of all the lengths Team Willpower goes to finish strong. Every time I faced a hardship on the route I often thought to myself “this is not even a fraction of what a cancer patient has to endure.” It’s incomparable. Grit your teeth and make the miles happen. Thank you to everyone who made it possible. Any donation, no matter the amount, contributed to push us across the finish line.
I’m riding PMC once again to honor our dad, John Willett, who passed away from melanoma in 2016— and raise money to benefit the Dana Farber Institute. WillPower continues to grow, which is great news since we have more survivors and more trials to fund. This time around I hope to top last year’s fundraiser with a goal of $12,000 (a crazy number to type), after raising just over $11,000 in 2024.
I have to acknowledge that not everyone can donate— but if you could pass the word along, that would still do wonders!
With Love,
Jay
