PMC 2024
Dear Supporters of the Pan Mass Challenge,
I’m writing to ask for your support for the 2024 Pan Mass Challenge fundraiser to beat cancer. Donation details are at the end of this letter if you want to get right to it. This is a big year for me personally as I try the full kahuna (300+ miles) all the way from Pittsfield to the Cape for the second time. It is also a big year for the PMC as it races towards a total of 1 billion dollars since it started! My fundraising goal is $6,000; I’ll need every bit of support to make it.
I committed to riding the PMC in 2019 on a very slow, sad, but magical sunset ride along the Napa River in California with my good friend Tom about a month before he passed, a victim of lymphoma. This happened in the wake of losing my dear father-in-law Tom to a different lymphoma. After years of admiring and donating to close friends who had done the PMC I knew it was time. In memory of these two Toms, I declared my own little PMC mantra, “do what you love; do it now" and started riding my bike. A lot.
Each year since then I have found new reasons to ride the Pan Mass Challenge and keep up the fight to beat cancer. Some reasons are personal and even selfish. Some reasons are heartbreaking. Some reasons are uplifting. They all move me forward in our shared goal to beat cancer.
Some reasons to ride are heartbreaking; those are the ones I ride in memory of. Unfortunately since I started riding the PMC we have lost a number of relatives and dear family friends to cancer. Many of you who have supported me in this ride have done so in memory of loved and lost ones. Know that I ride for each and every one of them and hold their memories close throughout the year of training and preparation. Pedal prayers are real and they go out with every turn of the wheel!
Some reasons to ride are uplifting; the survivors of cancer. Many “living proof” PMC riders are joining me in my ride this summer. I’m particularly uplifted by few members of my community here in Pittsfield who have recently survived this harrowing experience. Again, pedal prayers are real!!
Some reasons to ride are personal and even selfish; I am happier, healthier and find a deep sense of purpose as I do this. If you know me, then you know nothing gets me going like a mission and helping other people. Biking for good has spread out to other areas of my life. I’ve enjoyed bringing the joys of biking to my students at the Conte Community School here in Pittsfield and Conte recently received a statewide award for this work. I have also supported youth cycling as a volunteer coach for years. A final personal reason is that biking is so awesome, how can I not?
This year will be my 5th year riding in the PMC; The first two in 2020 and 2021 were “re-imagined” local rides due to Covid restrictions. Dan Moon (my PMC mentor and guardian angel) and I made them north-south Pan Mass rides, visiting Vermont, CT, and NY, criss-crossing the length of Berkshire County. We were a pace-line of two. In 2022, I finally rode the “real” Pan Mass Challenge including “Day 0”, a 115 mile pre-ride from the NY State line to Sturbridge with LOTS of climbing. That year I was part of a pace line of thousands! In 2023 Dan and I completed the PMC Unpaved- a local 1 day ride over 50 miles of hilly, beautiful dirt roads. I’m excited to return to the bonafide West to East Pan Mass Challenge ride including Day Zero. It is a 300 mile ride from the NY border all the way out to Provincetown on the tip of Cape Cod. So 2024 is a very long ride and a very big fundraising goal.
All donations are deeply appreciated and go directly to support cancer research at Dana-Farber. Please note 100% of the funds riders raise go to research; we pay for our own expenses (lodging, transportation, food) and sponsors cover the overhead of the event and the PMC organization. Most of the ride support is provided by generous volunteers (thank you!!). So, again, every dollar you give goes to support cancer research at Dana Farber. Pan Mass Challenge is Three Star rated as a charity by Charity Navigator. If it is a donation in memory or in honor of someone, please note that in your donation. We are all a part of this year’s goal to surpass 1 billion dollars in total fundraising since the PMC began. Feel free to reach out with any questions or if you just want to talk! I invite you to join this amazing effort- we can do it together!
Thank you in advance for your support, whether with a donation, encouragement, volunteering or just a silent wish to help me safely ride to Cape Cod in August.
Love to you all,
Matt
413-579-4005
January 2024 update:
I've just registered last week for the big ride to the cape in August of 2024. Though it will be year 5 for me of participating in the PMC, it is only my second time doing the full ride out to the cape. I plan to do Day Zero as well, a 115 mile pre-ride the day before the official PMC. Big commitment, no hesitation.
2023 Appeal and Gravel Ride!
This year I will be riding the PMC Unpaved in Sept 2023, their new gravel ride right here in the Berkshires! This will be my 4th year riding some flavor of the Pan-Mass Challenge. During COVID when I began I spent 2 years completing the re-imagined/virtual, riding around the Berkshires with Dan Moon an inspiring PMC mentor, ForzaG teammate and good friend. Then last year the REAL DEAL- all the way from the NY border to P-Town- Awesome! I have truly never experienced anything like it- amazing teammates, inspiring and moving stories, strong community and a huge fundraising accomplishment- $69 million!
Every year that I ride the PMC I find more reasons to ride it again- there are so many of us that are somehow touched by cancer. The strength and courage it takes to stand up and continue living life, celebrating, and building bonds with our loved ones and communities at large continues to inspire. Just keep turning the pedals, rolling forward, you will do amazing things.
Will I have a special guest ride with me this year in 2023? watch this space!
2022 Appeal and Ride:
After two years riding a re-imagined virtual PMC, it is finally time to do the In Person ride out to Provincetown! It will start with a ride from my doorstep to Sturbridge (with a visit to the NY border en route to make it officially a PAN MASS), then on to the 2 day, 185 mile ride out to the tip of the Cape. I humbly ask you to join me in this effort with a donation, a shout-out, a share on social media- whatever you can offer me is precious and so needed. Join me proudly and be a small part of this ENORMOUS fundraiser. Why do I ride in 2022?
-all the other amazing riders who join together to make this happen.
- in memory of dear friends, family and neighbors who have died after struggles with cancer.
- in honor of those who continue to live and grapple with their cancer.
-for the amazing survivors and the world that is changed by their continued presence with us.
-to celebrate the strength and resilience of all who have cared for loved ones facing cancer.
- because I love biking; my encounters with cancer have taught me to do what I love and do it now.
2020 & 2021 Appeal
In 2020 I was moved to ride for the first time after lymphoma snatched the two Toms out of my life. Two strong, giving, loving, active, smart, family oriented, fun loving, cocktail mixing Toms. Tom Renton, my dear father-in-law passed in December 2017 and Tom Serene, my old friend, choirmate, and biking buddy passed in September 2019. Both Toms taught me to do what I love with people I care about and to do it now.
As my father-in-law, Tom Renton gave me so much beyond a roof over our family's head for a hefty 10 months; he gave me confidence in a sculpture project, rides in amazing cars, family parties beyond compare, long nights by the fire. He gave me glimpses of a master with his material as he spread a tree-house into our backyard tree like magical plywood butter on a piece of toast. He gave me stories of mountain adventures and Berkshire county shenanigans. Do what you love, do it now.
Three weeks before he passed, Tom Serene rode his bike with me and I decided that day that if he could pick himself up after a morning at the Vallejo transfusion clinic (go team!) and take me on a bike ride along the beautiful Napa River, then I could continue that bike ride in his memory. Tom Serene was the biking buddy who was willing to follow a road to see where it went, the choir buddy who simultaneously saw the deep humor and deep spirituality in church participation, the fellow educator who pushed to make school a better place for his students. Do what you love, do it now.
I'm a proud supporter of the PMC because it is leading a charge to beat cancer. In fact, last year 100% of rider-raised revenue went directly to support the Jimmy Fund and Dana-Farber Cancer Institute's tireless commitment to finding a cure. As I participate in the Pan Mass Challenge, I look forward to discovering more about what Dana Farber has committed to research in the areas of mental health in cancer care, palliative care and quality of life.
PMC 2024
Dear Supporters of the Pan Mass Challenge,
I’m writing to ask for your support for the 2024 Pan Mass Challenge fundraiser to beat cancer. Donation details are at the end of this letter if you want to get right to it. This is a big year for me personally as I try the full kahuna (300+ miles) all the way from Pittsfield to the Cape for the second time. It is also a big year for the PMC as it races towards a total of 1 billion dollars since it started! My fundraising goal is $6,000; I’ll need every bit of support to make it.
I committed to riding the PMC in 2019 on a very slow, sad, but magical sunset ride along the Napa River in California with my good friend Tom about a month before he passed, a victim of lymphoma. This happened in the wake of losing my dear father-in-law Tom to a different lymphoma. After years of admiring and donating to close friends who had done the PMC I knew it was time. In memory of these two Toms, I declared my own little PMC mantra, “do what you love; do it now" and started riding my bike. A lot.
Each year since then I have found new reasons to ride the Pan Mass Challenge and keep up the fight to beat cancer. Some reasons are personal and even selfish. Some reasons are heartbreaking. Some reasons are uplifting. They all move me forward in our shared goal to beat cancer.
Some reasons to ride are heartbreaking; those are the ones I ride in memory of. Unfortunately since I started riding the PMC we have lost a number of relatives and dear family friends to cancer. Many of you who have supported me in this ride have done so in memory of loved and lost ones. Know that I ride for each and every one of them and hold their memories close throughout the year of training and preparation. Pedal prayers are real and they go out with every turn of the wheel!
Some reasons to ride are uplifting; the survivors of cancer. Many “living proof” PMC riders are joining me in my ride this summer. I’m particularly uplifted by few members of my community here in Pittsfield who have recently survived this harrowing experience. Again, pedal prayers are real!!
Some reasons to ride are personal and even selfish; I am happier, healthier and find a deep sense of purpose as I do this. If you know me, then you know nothing gets me going like a mission and helping other people. Biking for good has spread out to other areas of my life. I’ve enjoyed bringing the joys of biking to my students at the Conte Community School here in Pittsfield and Conte recently received a statewide award for this work. I have also supported youth cycling as a volunteer coach for years. A final personal reason is that biking is so awesome, how can I not?
This year will be my 5th year riding in the PMC; The first two in 2020 and 2021 were “re-imagined” local rides due to Covid restrictions. Dan Moon (my PMC mentor and guardian angel) and I made them north-south Pan Mass rides, visiting Vermont, CT, and NY, criss-crossing the length of Berkshire County. We were a pace-line of two. In 2022, I finally rode the “real” Pan Mass Challenge including “Day 0”, a 115 mile pre-ride from the NY State line to Sturbridge with LOTS of climbing. That year I was part of a pace line of thousands! In 2023 Dan and I completed the PMC Unpaved- a local 1 day ride over 50 miles of hilly, beautiful dirt roads. I’m excited to return to the bonafide West to East Pan Mass Challenge ride including Day Zero. It is a 300 mile ride from the NY border all the way out to Provincetown on the tip of Cape Cod. So 2024 is a very long ride and a very big fundraising goal.
All donations are deeply appreciated and go directly to support cancer research at Dana-Farber. Please note 100% of the funds riders raise go to research; we pay for our own expenses (lodging, transportation, food) and sponsors cover the overhead of the event and the PMC organization. Most of the ride support is provided by generous volunteers (thank you!!). So, again, every dollar you give goes to support cancer research at Dana Farber. Pan Mass Challenge is Three Star rated as a charity by Charity Navigator. If it is a donation in memory or in honor of someone, please note that in your donation. We are all a part of this year’s goal to surpass 1 billion dollars in total fundraising since the PMC began. Feel free to reach out with any questions or if you just want to talk! I invite you to join this amazing effort- we can do it together!
Thank you in advance for your support, whether with a donation, encouragement, volunteering or just a silent wish to help me safely ride to Cape Cod in August.
Love to you all,
Matt
413-579-4005
January 2024 update:
I've just registered last week for the big ride to the cape in August of 2024. Though it will be year 5 for me of participating in the PMC, it is only my second time doing the full ride out to the cape. I plan to do Day Zero as well, a 115 mile pre-ride the day before the official PMC. Big commitment, no hesitation.
2023 Appeal and Gravel Ride!
This year I will be riding the PMC Unpaved in Sept 2023, their new gravel ride right here in the Berkshires! This will be my 4th year riding some flavor of the Pan-Mass Challenge. During COVID when I began I spent 2 years completing the re-imagined/virtual, riding around the Berkshires with Dan Moon an inspiring PMC mentor, ForzaG teammate and good friend. Then last year the REAL DEAL- all the way from the NY border to P-Town- Awesome! I have truly never experienced anything like it- amazing teammates, inspiring and moving stories, strong community and a huge fundraising accomplishment- $69 million!
Every year that I ride the PMC I find more reasons to ride it again- there are so many of us that are somehow touched by cancer. The strength and courage it takes to stand up and continue living life, celebrating, and building bonds with our loved ones and communities at large continues to inspire. Just keep turning the pedals, rolling forward, you will do amazing things.
Will I have a special guest ride with me this year in 2023? watch this space!
2022 Appeal and Ride:
After two years riding a re-imagined virtual PMC, it is finally time to do the In Person ride out to Provincetown! It will start with a ride from my doorstep to Sturbridge (with a visit to the NY border en route to make it officially a PAN MASS), then on to the 2 day, 185 mile ride out to the tip of the Cape. I humbly ask you to join me in this effort with a donation, a shout-out, a share on social media- whatever you can offer me is precious and so needed. Join me proudly and be a small part of this ENORMOUS fundraiser. Why do I ride in 2022?
-all the other amazing riders who join together to make this happen.
- in memory of dear friends, family and neighbors who have died after struggles with cancer.
- in honor of those who continue to live and grapple with their cancer.
-for the amazing survivors and the world that is changed by their continued presence with us.
-to celebrate the strength and resilience of all who have cared for loved ones facing cancer.
- because I love biking; my encounters with cancer have taught me to do what I love and do it now.
2020 & 2021 Appeal
In 2020 I was moved to ride for the first time after lymphoma snatched the two Toms out of my life. Two strong, giving, loving, active, smart, family oriented, fun loving, cocktail mixing Toms. Tom Renton, my dear father-in-law passed in December 2017 and Tom Serene, my old friend, choirmate, and biking buddy passed in September 2019. Both Toms taught me to do what I love with people I care about and to do it now.
As my father-in-law, Tom Renton gave me so much beyond a roof over our family's head for a hefty 10 months; he gave me confidence in a sculpture project, rides in amazing cars, family parties beyond compare, long nights by the fire. He gave me glimpses of a master with his material as he spread a tree-house into our backyard tree like magical plywood butter on a piece of toast. He gave me stories of mountain adventures and Berkshire county shenanigans. Do what you love, do it now.
Three weeks before he passed, Tom Serene rode his bike with me and I decided that day that if he could pick himself up after a morning at the Vallejo transfusion clinic (go team!) and take me on a bike ride along the beautiful Napa River, then I could continue that bike ride in his memory. Tom Serene was the biking buddy who was willing to follow a road to see where it went, the choir buddy who simultaneously saw the deep humor and deep spirituality in church participation, the fellow educator who pushed to make school a better place for his students. Do what you love, do it now.
I'm a proud supporter of the PMC because it is leading a charge to beat cancer. In fact, last year 100% of rider-raised revenue went directly to support the Jimmy Fund and Dana-Farber Cancer Institute's tireless commitment to finding a cure. As I participate in the Pan Mass Challenge, I look forward to discovering more about what Dana Farber has committed to research in the areas of mental health in cancer care, palliative care and quality of life.
| 2025 | $0.00 | PMC Unpaved |
| 2024 | $7,570.49 | Sturbridge to Provincetown Monument (2-Day) |
| 2023 | $4,000.00 | PMC Unpaved |
| 2022 | $7,257.00 | Sturbridge to Provincetown Monument (2-Day) |
| 2021 | $5,255.00 | Reimagined |
| 2020 | $5,101.00 | Sturbridge to Provincetown Monument (2-Day) |
