Day One
Who's ready for a 90-mile bike ride with a forecast of pouring rain? ME!
My buddy John was clearly surprised at 6:30am on Saturday that we were still going through with this plan. Given the rain forecast, perhaps he was considering leaving the extra water bottles behind...
The weather gods, however, smiled upon us for the start at least. It almost looks sunny out doesn't it?
Living just a mile from the start in Wellesley, we opted this year for a "Gentlemen's Start" at the same time but without the mass of people at Babson College for the traditional start. It was a nice change of pace, although the energy of the crowd is pretty awesome. However, the starting ribbon held by John's kids was also pretty awesome!
Needless to say, the weather didn't hold up. About 20 minutes into the ride... it started to rain. It kept up the entire day except for the last hour where it REALLY started to pour. It was wet, cold and a bit slippery on the roads. But as my co-rider Ben said:
"Riding in the cold rain really sucks... but you know what sucks even more? Cancer..."
At one of the water stops, they were handing out sausage sticks... not really sure who thought that was a good idea to have in your stomach on a 180 mile bike ride...
Finally, we arrived in Bourne... it was seriously cold and we ran to the tent for some rejuvenating clam chowder. Fantastic stuff -- the corporate sponsors of the PMC really go the extra mile!
It was a pretty quiet night in Bourne that night... the rain kept everyone under tents and in the dorms. I went back to my room at 8pm and all my roommates were fast asleep... which is good because reveille is at 4am
Day Two
When several thousand people all around you are getting up at 4am... it's hard to sleep in. This is the breakfast scene at that time of morning. The coffee line was insane!
where we ran into this crazy guy... who rode a HubWay bike the whole way! 3 gears! At least he had clip-in pedals retrofitted on!
I think we were so psyched to be out of the rain, that we didn't stop to take any pictures along the way the second day. It was supposed to start raining the early afternoon so we just booked it the entire way.
I actually get to finish the PMC twice each year. There is one finish at the Provincetown Inn for cyclists only that my friends go to, so first I cross the finish line there
And then I get back on my bike for a 2-mile bonus ride over to the alternate "Family Finish" that anyone can attend where I met my cheering fans!
Another successful PMC year -- I can't believe that I missed out last year on the fantastic event and that I didn't do my part to help out in raising support for the Jimmy Fund. You can bet that I'll be back next year! Thanks again to all the wonderful folks who supported my ride through generous donations to the PMC!
