Day One: 74 Miles, Harvard to Harvard and Back

Starting out from home, COVID riding style

Day One of my 8th PMC is in the books. Actually Day Zero as Day 1 is always the first Saturday in August. Usually on Day Zero we bike an extra 97 miles from the NY state border to Sturbridge. Today I biked 74 miles from Harvard (Univ.) to Harvard (the town in central Mass) and back. 

Harvard the University, nearby our house














Today's ride was my longest ride of the year (by 25 miles) and I made it more challenging by riding my gravel bike with the 40mm wide tires still on them (really more about being lazy about changing them out than anything else). The weather was gorgeous, although it got hot after lunch (85 F) but not bad for late July. This You've Got This Sign was well placed on a long hill (there was a total of 2500 feet of climbing today). 

Inspirational Sign at the top of a long climb

It was definitely a different experience biking the PMC solo instead of with my usual crew of merry riders, and oh yeah, another 6000+ riders as well. And all the amazing volunteers and people lining the streets of the all the towns we bike through. I think I saw only two other PMC riders out today (tomorrow will be a different story). I did have music playing all day (main playlist was "ken's faves"- https://open.spotify.com/playlist/4RuyTNmbU10pdkqTdslU9P?si=8UDdkzm2TLaBLDo_eMIFiQ on Spotify if interested). 

What's great about Boston is that you can get out to lovely countryside pretty quickly by bike. This lovely farm with the horses is about an hour away in Concord. The barn is in Boxborough (about two hours out).



While I was riding, I of course was thinking a lot about Sabina and how strong she is, but also about others I know who have cancer (our friend Karen), family and friends who are survivors (my riding buddy, John and my Mother-in-Law Luba) as well as family and friends who we have lost to cancer (my Step Dad, Tulane, Barbara's Dad, Marshall, our good friend Marilyn). 


Cancer has certainly not taken a break during COVID nor should we in our efforts to fight cancer. With the help of many generous donors, I have raised over $11,000. and the PMC has raised over $27.5 million dollars on our way to $41 million ($41MM since this is the 41st year of the PMC). We are indeed getting closer by the mile!  https://profile.pmc.org/KC0258  Speaking of miles, tomorrow it's an early start and a 60 mile ride up to Rockport (taking the long way).  

Some other photos from my ride- the Lexington Battle Road is 45 minutes from home by bike and really cool, my favorite street name in Mass is in Boxborough (No Name Rd), and many reminders (like the sign that dominates the Harvard General Store) that there is a viral pandemic going on. Peace out all.  #PMC2020 




Comments

  1. UnknownAugust 1, 2020 at 3:58 AM

    Thanks Ken, for this post but really for all you do for cycling, fighting cancer and Sabina. Alan

    ReplyDelete
  2. jaauscAugust 1, 2020 at 5:32 AM

    Go Ken! You have Dad’s eye for the camera and a Dad’s heart for your beloved daughter .

    ReplyDelete
  3. RimiAugust 2, 2020 at 8:39 AM

    Love how you call yourself "lazy" for not changing out the fat tires lol 😂. Great work Ken and stay cool ♥️

    ReplyDelete

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