One week to go before the 2013 PMC. If you haven't made a donation please go to http://www2.pmc.org/profile/MM0283. Remember that 100% of every dollar raised goes directly to cancer research. Thank You!!!

Time to get those donations coming in.

It is almost that time of year when my bike and I are one with the summer dawn as I train in preparation for what is now my annual ride in the Pan-Massachusetts Challenge, one of the largest athletic fundraising events in the United States. Every penny raised by the 5,500 bikers goes directly to cancer research at Boston’s renowned Dana Farber Cancer Institute. This will be my thirteen year on the 193 mile ride from the town of Sturbridge to the cape tip town of Provincetown. Once again I ride in support and in memory of my dad, for our honorary team captains, Brad Liska who died December 4, 2012 and Logan Dunne who died January 4, 2013, and for all my friends and colleagues who are touched by cancer. Once again I reach out to you and humbly ask for your support for this worthy cause. Anything you can donate to support my ride is sincerely appreciated. If each of you were to pledge as little as $30.00 I could surpass the minimum I have to raise. From the bottom of my heart thank-you very much for any amount you can contribute to this amazingly worthwhile cause. The collective hands and heart of all of you is sure to help me overcome any head wind I may face along the way. Please follow the link above to donate online.  Thank you as always for your help in this endeavor. 

Why PMC riders do what they do!

RIP

Logan 

and 

Brad

With the loss of two of our honorary captains in the past month I have no other choice to sign up for the PMC again.  Please help by following the links on this page and make a donation so that someday we will not have to witness the loss of such young and courageous kids again. Thanks

First Long Ride

We have been having great weather for March so I did my first long ride from Harwich to Marconi Beach in Wellfleet.  41.6 miles later and 2:42 in the saddle didn't fell to bad.  Hope the weather holds for a while so I can enjoy a few more pre-season rides.

First Ride

Took our first ride of the season from Orleans to Coast Guard Beach.  What a beautiful day for March.

First Team Ride

Headed out for a great team ride last week with nine of our team members. Tried to convince everyone to go to the French bakery for a little pastry and coffee but there were no takers. I guess training has begun:( On a good note I got my annual flat out of the way so I shouldn't have to worry about that anymore. Fundraising has gotten off to a good start with about 25% raised to date. Please keep this great cause in mind if you are considering making any donations this year.

Rain on Cape Cod. Not riding today

Be prepared. - they're in the mail as of today

Finally got all the letters off to all you happy donors today. This year I have included as many facebook friends (PHHS alumni watch out) as I could find addresses for. I've also done a little math and figured out that if everyone that is lucky enough to get my letter contributes $30.00 I would reach the required minimum of $4200.00. So please consider this incredible fundraiser if you are looking for a great cause. There is no other fundraiser in the United States that continues to contribute 100% of all funds raised directly to the Jimmy Fund/Dana Farber Cancer Research. Thanks so much to everyone that has contributed in the past and for those of you that are considering making a donation.

Mike

First Ride with Smart Phone :)

What a great day! Granted, it is Friday, above 40 degrees, the day after payday but I can't remember a more sucky week. First I did our taxes and found that we owe $2500.00:( then Wednesday Sharon's car breaks down in Bourne and our car guy spent the next day on it and can't find out what is wrong with it:( and today the water cooler stopped working. Since the family is down to two cars I decided to ride in to work for the first time in many years. WOW, I can't say enough about the difference it makes to get a short ride in before work. Plus I have mounted my iphone to my bike using the Otter belt clip and used the "mapmyride+" app. It tracks everything you can think of for the ride and it talks to me every five minutes with my speed, average speed, pace, average pace and time, so cool!!!! Can't wait to show it off to the CCSC team.

Finally signed up for 2011

Finally got around to signing up again for another PMC last week. This is going to be such a great year. Our team from Cape Cod Sea Camps continues to grow and we will have over twenty five riders on the road this year. Because of Rick's(Otis) many years of dedication to the PMC and to our team we will also be breaking the one million dollar mark for monies raised! He continues to inspire us to always do our best and stay focused on how much we have contributed to the fight against cancer. This year is no different in that, each rider is required to raise a minimum of $4200.00. Please remember that I will always take donations no matter what the amount. All it takes is 200 people to donate $20.00 each and I would have $4000.00. Please pass my story on to as many people as you know and together we will make a difference!!

The easiest way to donate is to go to www.mikespmc.com and click on the 2011 PMC Logo at the top of the page and it will direct you to my PMC donation page. You can also go to www.pmc.org/profile/MM0283 to donate.

Thanks again for all your help and please pass it on!

Thanks!!

As I said before I had a great ride this year but I forgot to thank everybody that have given me $$$ for the ride. With your help I have raised about 60% with two months left to raise the balance. I'm positive that I will get there and thanks again!

Finished 2010

Just got home a couple hours ago from my annual life experience. There are no words that describe what it feels like to have over 5200 riders and 3000 support volunteers come together for one common cause. I would highly recommend it to anyone. Please take the time to check out the PMC web site and I will try to download some pictures in the next couple days. If you haven't donated to my ride there is still plenty of time, every little bit helps. Thanks also to my fellow teammates and very good friends for such a great ride and to Sharon, Rachel and Kara for always being there.

2010 PMC RIDE

Well, I have done it again, yesterday I signed up for my ninth PMC this coming summer. So many people I know have been affected by cancer during my two years off I felt very guilty that I was not doing something. It will be a fun year since the only bike I own is the steal touring bike that I used on my 1200 mile ride around California with Jake last summer. It is not build for speed but I could give team mates rides if needed!

This year I'm also going to try to post lots of training pictures and some PMC videos so if you don't live in the area you can see what the PMC is all about.

In Memory of Mary

Very sad news to report - my very dear colleague, Mary Ministeri, died yesterday, August 4th, after fighting cancer for almost two and half years. You will be missed.

Training

I have been doing lots of training going for 25 mike rides with the CCSC team on M-W-F, and a 50 to 60 mile ride on Sundays. On the off days I have been taking an easy ride down to my favorite coffee shop for a bagel and coffee. All of the training has been great, meeting new team members and trying to stay up with Otis. Let me explain Otis for you - he is our team leader and he will be 72 years old next week. He has ridden in the PMC for over twenty years and for the most part no one on the team can stay up with him. He is a man on a mission - I can't tell you how hard the man rides and unless I'm drafting (my favorite thing to do) off him there is no hope of staying with him. Jake (16.5 years old) has gone on a couple rides with us and he did give Otis a run for his money. I only hope to be able to ride half as hard as he does at 72!!!!

I must go buy a lottery ticket before my luck runs out!!

In the past month I have won two great prices. The first was a Giant hybrid electric bike that I won at school for $5.00 worth of tickets and the second was an 8x10 shed from Pine Harbor Sheds for $20.00 worth of tickets. One of my summer projects while Sharon is in North Carolina with the girls was to build a shed. Not anymore! I was also looking for a new road bike since all I have now is my touring bike that I used in California last summer. It's got to be the most comfortable bike I have ever ridden but does it weigh a ton. Long story short – sold the hybrid bought a road bike. Total cost - $5.00. Makes me smile and now I can stay up with the team!!

July 4th - No Helmet

Enjoyed a great fourth with my family in Chatham for the big parade. I was shocked to see Billy Starr ride down Main St. without a helmet! Come on Billy, you need to set the bar!

Bike in Shop

The weather has started to improve so I finally got around to taking my bike out of the shipping box that it has been in since last August. Little did I know that while putting it back together I would discover so many problems.

To start there are two broken spokes on the rear wheel. Because the bike has disc brakes and there are no pads to rub on the rim I never noticed the rim being bent. Thinking back to our trip last summer could it be that Jake rear ended me twice while I was stopped? Yes, he rear ended me twice and he just started driving!

One of the shifters that happen to be located on the end of the handlebars just fell out once I put the bars back in place. If that occurred while I was going down the road parts would have gone everywhere.

Lastly, there was a noise coming from the rear wheel while coasting. Turns out the hub has begun to disintegrate and the wheel has to be replaced. Could it have anything to do with a 38 lb. bike, 73 lbs. of gear and a 200 lb. rider? Turns out it's under warranty, thank god.

So, no bike for a week or two - can't wait to start.

The Murphy Family Rocks!!!

Big thank you goes out to the Murphy Family! For the forth year now the Murphy family has come through for our PMC team. They have agreed to sponsor our team fundraiser at the new Harwich Land HO restaurant on Friday, June 25. Please save that date and be prepared to have some fun.

First Day of Getting Ready

Today happened to the second day of day light savings time, it was very dark at 5:15. It is also the last day that I can have two of my favorite food items that are loaded with FAT. Lots of coffee with half&half and sugar and an everything bagel toasted with butter. The things I do for the PMC!

I also think it would be a good idea to take my bike out of the shipping box from last summer and start putting it back together if need to start training.