Voice Post: 2007 PMC: Sandwich

The following is a transcription of a phone post that originally appeared in my main journal, here.

Good morning! It's 6:15 in the morning on Sunday and I am in Sandwich at the end of the Cape Cod Canal bike path. A little chilly this morning, but not too bad, I'd say it's about 67 maybe. There's a little bit of a breeze at least coming off from canal but I'm sitting here waiting for Charlie, who's gonna come by shortly for the trip up to Provincetown. I think there are 4 stops total, including the end, but I'm not sure about that. But it looks like it's gonna be another bright sunny day. It may not be quite as warm, especially out here on the cape, but I'm looking forward to a good ride. And thanks to the people who listened to the voice posts or checked out the auto-transcription which is not too bad, occasionally a little bit off, but for the most part it's pretty good, and I'm pretty impressed with that. But I hope to keep you updated throughout the day and the stops are... the legs between the stops are a little longer today, so it'll be a little less frequent and there won't be as many updates. But that's it. Ready to ride and gonna take it easy today and have a good last day of the ride. Thank you to everybody, and I'll talk to you again soon.

Voice Post: 2007 PMC: Barnstable

The following is a transcription of a phone post that originally appeared in my main journal, here.

Hello, it is 7:19 so that was a quick leg. We are now at a total of 136 miles and it is 69 degrees out; so it actually was down to 64 this morning. But I am now at the Barnstable water stop, which is just after where I crashed out back in the 2003 ride. And met up with Charlie and his buddies and have been having a fairly relaxing warm-up for the first 15 or 20 miles of the ride so far. Looks like it's gonna start warming up pretty fast, so gonna go get some ice and some Gatorade and hit the road again. But we're now firmly on the cape, having started going over the crazy sand dunes and up and down the little hills. but they're not bad because you can just shoot 'em. You can get enough speed on the downhill to cover the uphill, and do it again and again and again. I think that's it for here. I'm gonna go grab some food while I can, and hit the road again. Next stop will be from Brewstah, at the state park there, which is before the first portion of our ride that hits the Cape Cod Rail Trail, as opposed to the Cape Cod Canal rail trail that we were on earlier, or actually last night. That was actually a good ride; going up the canal path in the evening is very beautiful, and going over the Bourne bridge is just crazy; it's a very high bridge. But that's it; I'll talk to you again soon.

Voice Post: 2007 PMC: Brewster

The following is a transcription of a phone post that originally appeared in my main journal, here.

Hi, we're now at Brewster. It is 8:30 and we've passed 150 miles. Also passed the infamous hedge, which is the Cape Cod Sea Camp, where they have all the campers line up along this hedge and I got a video of it and will post that at some point. But doing well. Hung out with Charlie and Emily and David and they're friends of his, and generally having a good time. My neck's starting to ache again, but that's expected, but otherwise it's not too hot yet and still pumping liquids but otherwise... We go up Route 6A, and 6A is very crowded and we're in the middle of a pack of 5000 riders, so it's a little jammed but it's not bad. We're making good time and continuing up the cape. Now we're well into the sandy sand dunes, and very shortly, when we leave here, we'll be going up the Cape Cod Rail Trail for a while and zigging back and forth along the outer cape and picking up the Cape Cod Rail Trail again before we hit our first real good view of the ocean which I hope to get another video of. That's it and we'll see you at the next stop.

Voice Post: 2007 PMC: Wellfleet

The following is a transcription of a phone post that originally appeared in my main journal, here.

Hey, we're here. We are in Wellfleet. This is the last stop before Provincetown, so the ride's almost over and I'm taking my time and kind of enjoying the scenery on the cape. We got our first view of the ocean on I think it's Ocean View Drive in Wellfleet, which is a pretty substantial climb, but you get a beautiful broad expanse view of the ocean. And from there you turn left and cross the cape over to this water stop that's in the middle of Wellfleet. There's some good sand dune rollers and kinda scrubby pine trees and stuff along that route. It was fun. It was still very crowded and I'll be getting into P-town with the rest of the group by the looks, but I'm really enjoying it, taking it a little bit easy. My knees and my neck are starting to act up a little bit, but not bad. I've conserved energy, and the next leg to Provincetown: I think it's gonna be challenging, because there's a real strong wind out and that stretch on Route 6 is completely open for about 5-10 miles, and so that's gonna be a real hard haul, I think. But it'll be fun; I'll take it easy, and this is the time to use up all that energy I've stored over the course of the past two days. So we'll hit it, and make it into P-town through the sand dunes, and I'll give you a call from there. But for now it's starting to warm up, and gonna hit the road again soon.

2007 PMC Ride Report

Follow this link for my full 2007 Pan-Mass Challenge ride report, including writeup, photos, and maps.

Voice Post: 2007 PMC: Provincetown

The following is a transcription of a phone post that originally appeared in my main journal, here.

Hey final update of the day. I am in Provincetown, where I arrived at noontime after about 191 miles, and that last section wasn't bad at all. I shepherded a couple people home, which I've done the past couple years, which was good. Hung out with Emily and David and also Charlie and Matthew and just a bunch of people and enjoyed a very sunny day. 91 degrees and clear here in Provincetown; absolutely beautiful. And of course I love being out here on the cape. Just absolutely gorgeous, the bay and the ocean. Heading out to the beach today (or this afternoon) but also just want to be sure and thank everybody who sponsored me this year. It's going to be a record-breaking fundraising year and I just want to thank everyone for first of all making my ride possible, but also for allowing me to participate in something that really means so much to me. Because the battle against cancer I see as really, absolutely the most important thing that we as a society can do. So thank you very much for your help, because you played a part in this. And they say that the ride is the reward for doing the fundraising, so I'm honored by your allowing me and helping me participate in this event, because it's absolutely a great event. I think that's it for today; there won't be any more voice posts, I don't think. I may post some additional comments in my journal later, but look for the wrapup email coming out shortly, as well as photos and video, which should be an interesting new addition. But basically this year's event is pretty well done and I'm just gonna go relax now and take it easy, but thank you again for everything. And again it's been a wonderfully successful year: no problems, no aches and pains, and really it just went off fabulously. So that's the story from here, and I'll be in touch again sometime soon, and thank you once again. Bye bye!