Pan-Mass Weekend

It's difficult to properly describe or capture the power of the Pan-Mass Challenge.  It's a massive undertaking from the organizational infrastructure of volunteers responsible for the care, feeding and safety of 5,000 riders, the friends, families and strangers who offered vocal thanks and support on the route and the riders themselves.  Many rode with pictures of loved ones on their backs, others rode as teams in support of individuals or specific cancer research initiatives.  Cancer touches us all, but some more intimately, and rarely are its stories collectively on display in such a fashion.  We had a group of eight who rode from the NY border in Williamstown, MA to the tip of Cape Cod in Provincetown, covering 300 miles in three days.  I was constantly reminded throughout the journey just how lucky we all were to be together, healthy and living life to its fullest.  Here's how it went.

Pan-Mass Day Zero:

The eight riders trekking the full distance across Massachusetts were: five Williams '88 classmates- me, Cary and Lew Collins, Tim Bock and Eric Churchill.  Stephan Braun is a buddy of Cary and Lew's from Wellesley, Bill Higgins the same from San Francisco and Asa Beach, a buddy of Tim's brother, Terry (another Pan-Mass rider).  After 17 hours together on the road, we were all close by the end.  We gathered together on Thursday night at the Foehl house- Alison prepared an awesome carbo loading pasta fest for us.

Front row: Asa, Tim, Brooks, Cary, Lew, Stephan     Back row: Bill and Eric

We started our trip at the NY border which happens to be at the top of Petersburg Pass (Route 2).  We could have rode our bikes the four miles to the top but even we knew that was stupid.  We were driven up to the top by our crack support team- see picture below.  Alison Mills drove Eric, Bill and Stephan out to Williamstown from Wellesley, Alison fed us on Thursday night, and most importantly, Karen Bock, was our support throughout the day on Friday, accompanying us all the way to Sturbridge.

Ned Benedict, Alison Mills, Jill Benedict, Alison, Karen Bock

We were 8 at the top of Petersburg Pass but we were 10 just a few miles later as we were joined by Williams employee and bad-ass rider, Todd Holland and his friend, Chris.  Todd lives in Amherst and hand crafted our 110 mile route, taking us on back roads we never would have seen without him.

The group at the western MA border

We took two solid breaks during our Friday ride.  The first was in Ashfield at the home of Lewis' aunt and uncle.  We made ourselves right at home

Lunch!

The second was at Todd's house which has its own covered bridge.  Seriously, it's the coolest thing you've ever seen.  It's in their driveway.

Todd's Covered Bridge

We were in the saddle for 6:45 and we pulled into Pan-Mass HQ in Sturbridge, MA at about 4pm.  It was a long but highly memorable day.

The team in Sturbridge

Pan-Mass Day One:
So here's something you should know if you want to do the Pan-Mass.  You have to get up really early.  I set my alarm on Saturday morning for 3:30am, known to most of you as the middle of the night.  Tim and I were staying at a hotel a few miles from the start and we needed to be on a 4am shuttle bus so we could get our bikes to the starting line by 4:30am.  We were following the orders of Cary and Eric who are Pan-Mass veterans and know the drill.  And there we were at 5:15, with thousands of other bikers, ready to start the 110 trip to Bourne, MA.  We were yards away from Lance Armstrong but I didn't get a glimpse of him.  He was hanging with our two Senators, would be President Kerry and dorky Scott Brown, the only person in the crowd wearing an aero-helmet.  But I digress.
Our group busted out fast to stay ahead of the masses- it's still a circus.  Bikers all around, almost all wearing the same shirt- it's like a Where's Waldo book come to life.  Pan-Mass is a supported ride with stops about every 20 miles with all the food and drink you need to keep you going.  There are two Pan-Mass starting points- Sturbridge and Wellesley and they come together at the 70 mile lunch stop.  This is where we ran into this guy:

Brooks and Chas

While we missed Chas on Day Zero, he was all in the rest of the weekend.  We hammered away the miles in strong pace lines and arrived in Bourne at about 1pm.

Williams folk in Bourne- Lew, Brooks, Tim, Chas and Cary

Another thing you should know about the Pan-Mass- there's a lot of hanging out.  With plentiful free food and beer.  The Bourne base is Mass Maritime Academy and it's a big shin-dig all afternoon into the early evening.  We were staying on the ship (can't believe I didn't get a picture) so we got settled there, showered and hunkered down for some quality hanging out in the festive atmosphere.  This included a ruthless game of Hearts, the card came we used to play together when we had hours of kid-free hanging out time in an earlier life.

Chas, Cary and Tim ready for Hearts in the BMW sponsored hospitality tent

Food and beer closed down by 7:30 and folks headed off to their bunks.  We were in ours by 8pm with alarms set for 4am.

Tim in his bunk on the ship

Pan-Mass Day Two:
After sleeping surprisingly well in my bunk (exhaustion will do that to you), we were up and out by 4:15.  It had rained heavily for a while in the night and it was still raining lightly but quite warm.  We headed out in the dark at 5am, a surreal experience, particularly crossing the Bourne Bridge onto the Cape.  I was worried about my legs, which had held up through the first two days but we were in uncharted territory at this point.  Daylight came and we clicked off the miles of the Cape in strong pace lines taking in the natural beauty.  We arrived at the finish by 10am and were showered and eating once again.

The Three Day Team at the other end of the state- Bill, Brooks, Lewis, Tim, Stephan, Cary and Eric

It's hard to single out moments from the weekend- the whole experience was remarkable.  Whatever pride we all take in personal accomplishment, and there needs to be some, is secondary to the collective goal.  There were a number of images I'll never forget.  One was of the father riding a tandem bike alone, the son he lost 10 years ago with him in spirit on the back.  The other was of a man riding with a small teddy bear strapped to the front of his bike.  I wanted to ask who the bear belonged to but couldn't muster the heart to hear the answer.

While we were hanging out in Bourne, I noticed a commotion in a corner of the complex.  Many of the survivors riding in the event were together for a Living Proof photo.  Just another reminder of what the weekend was really all about.