I've been a bike rider for 50 years, and I joined the PMC 25 years ago because it sounded like a great bike ride.

Over the past two and a half decades it's become less and less about the bike ride and more and more about the PMC community and what we do as a group. Along the way I've made a lot of great friends and raised more than $150,000 for cancer research.

More importantly, however, over this same twenty five years, many friends and family have had to deal with cancer.

One of my riding buddies lost his fight with cancer a few years ago, shortly after the PMC. His wife volunteers at the dorms with my wife and his two children rode the PMC for the first time a few years ago. Another riding buddy lost his mom to cancer. Many friends and family members are survivors or are in treatment right now, and we hope and pray for good outcomes.

My father was diagnosed with thyroid cancer and was successfully treated surgically. My father-in-law was diagnosed with prostate cancer and was successfully treated surgically. My cousin is now an 20+ year survivor. The teenage son of another riding buddy has been (successfully!) treated for a brain tumor, and I had the absolute joy of riding with him briefly last summer. The list goes on.

I ride and volunteer because I can make a difference. I ride and volunteer because I can inspire others to donate money to cancer research. I ride and volunteer because I can inspire others to support this effort, whether it's flipping burgers in Bourne, or changing tires at rest stops, or directing tired riders to their rooms at the Mass Maritime Academy.

And for the past couple of years I've volunteered at the Mass Maritime Academy, helping other riders to successfully complete their riding commitments, helping them to accomplish their (and our) mission.

I ride and volunteer because I make a difference.

And this year I'm riding the PMC Gravel Ride in the Berkshires. September in the Berkshires!

Visit my blog to see how my training is coming:

http://pmcprep.blogspot.com/

My Links

PMC Blog