Jazzed by last year's 90-mile ride, this year Charlotte will tackle the PMC's 192-mile route.
I had decided that 2008 was my year to make commitments and challenge myself. I had just completed my first marathon in San Diego, when my Dad asked me to ride in the Pan-Mass Challenge with him. At the time, I had never been on a racing bike. It was mid-June and the ride was a month away.
So, as you can imagine, I was pretty nervous on the bike, even if I was in good shape. My mum gave me her bike, which is thin and fast. You sit positioned on it like a dart vs. upright on a cruiser.
Because I was a novice, my brother (who is older and of course wiser) was torturing me with tales of the Best Buddies ride (for people with intellectual disabilities), which he had completed a few years earlier. He told me it was terrible and he was in agony (which is his own fault because he missed his breakfast and didn’t eat anything!). Despite his funny attempts to scare his little sister, I persisted. I love biking and I love spending time with my Dad, so I was staying positive about it, despite Edward’s experience.
We trained in the early mornings, and gradually we got up to riding 60 miles. I felt good, but still nervous: how long would it take me to ride 90 miles? Would it be hilly? What if it got a flat? But I knew my Dad had done it for the past seven or eight years. So I knew I could do it, too.
On August 1st of last year, my dad, his best friend Bob, my Uncle Steve and I rode.
It was awesome! We set out from Babson College in Wellesley at 5:30 a.m.—well before anyone else—and just cruised. We passed through sleepy towns and gradually, we started to see families setting up shop outside their homes on the route to Bourne—little kids, holding lollipops and carrying buckets of iced water and families with banners and their sprinklers on. We saw this kind of support for the next 70 miles. It was incredible.
So many of our lives are touched by cancer. My Dad survived cancer. Any way I can support my family and the Jimmy Fund, I will.
This year, I will ride with my best friend Soo Mi, my Dad, and my Mum—only this time I will ride 192 miles over two days. I hope we are successful.
Learn more about the Pan-Massachusetts Challenge at their official website.