THANKS DONORS AND PLEDGERS! I MADE IT! If you have not already done so you can pay online or you can send a check to:
Frank Thompson (FT-0003)
Pan-Mass Challenge
PO Box 414575
Boston, MA 02241-4575
You can pay by credit card:
HERE
The ride was definitely harder than 11 years ago. Even though I used to start from Sturbridge but this time started in Wellesly! (actually — I started from West Newton and rode 4.6 miles to Babson starting line). No question my legs were in shape but by body was not really prepared for 5-6 hours on the bike. Although my endurance was lacking I hung with the team (Redbones/MNET/ DC Riders) and we had a great, memorable time…..cheers and applause all along the way…undreds of “thank you” signs….many, many Cancer survivors lining the side of the road at various points to thank the riders.
Final miles: P-Town Dunes on Race Point (pain)
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Well I’m about half way to my fundraising goal. I’m not sure how people do it, raising $4,000 but I will keep trying. I’m committed. If you catch this blog and you’d like to buy a raffle ticket for this Thursday’s DC Rider’s raffle let me know — great chance to give to the PMC, support my ride and win a 40” Sony Bravia TV! Other prizes include tickets to the Pats - Broncos, Tiffany Jewelry, and more!
Our Team Jersey - Cool!
Today I had a great morning training ride in Newton, about 14 miles on the MTB up and down hills going up about 1,000 feet in total. My legs are def ready. My butt and shoulders? 5 hours in the saddle? I’m not sure.
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One week to go and I can’t believe it’s my last week of training. I will have put in as many miles training as any previous PMC ride but I will have accumulated the miles on many more shorter rides. At this point it looks like my longest ride will have been the Plymouth run at 34 miles. I’m still confident my legs are in great shape because of the amount of hill interval work I have done. My butt will be sore and my hands will get numb a lot but my body is ready.
Now for the bike. The bike (loaner - fellow PMC’er John Mcdonald’s Kestrel) is AWESOME but the hill work I’ve done has put some stress on the drivetrain so I’m going to tune up the bike by re-aligning the derailleurs and tighterning the gear cables. I have not had one flat while training - tires look good - I’ll carrry two spare tubes.
STATS FOR THE WEEKEND:
32 miles
many, many thunderstorms
$300+ raised by DC Riders Raffle Tickets!
THANK YOUs:
Winn and Tone Thompson - thanks for the very kind donation
My employees for kicking in over $300 via the DC Riders Raffle
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Basically it just keeps raining as the big blob of tropical rain is stalled over the east coast. I got up to ride at 6:30 but with lightning bursts all around I decided to look at the radar online and see when there was going to be a break. In the lightning at least. It’s just raining like a giant firehose even where there is no lightning.
I dashed out at 7:30 to hit my “training hill” on Putnam Ave. — I rode up and down 10 times in 48 minutes….taking a break to look at a tree that fell down and to talk with an off-duty cop who asked me what I was doing riding up and down such a steep hill. I told him if the lightning started up again I wanted to get home in a hurry.
THANKS TO:
Randall and Carin Willis fellow husband and wife agency warriors at Hunt & Gather $100 donation
Beth and Bob Maloney, skiing buds - $100 donation
Marianne Wolk of NYC $200 donation
I’m testing the limits of cotton “training wear” as the relative humidity is 75% early in the morning. Rode my interval circuit in Newton complete with killer “Chestnut Hill” between the Pike and Comm Ave. THe next few days should be interesting as the remnants of a tropical storm blow through.
There’s not much time left but I’m convinced my hill training has my legs in great shape. The problem is I have not ridden for more than 2 hours straight in my training so I’m gonna do 45 miles (over 1/2 the Sat PMC ride) this Saturday somehow.
WED STATS
- 1:16 in the saddle
- 14 miles
- 7 Category 2 climbs (haha whatever that is)
- 4 pounds of soaking wet exercise clothes like the kind your Dad used to wear
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Rode 18 miles along and around the CC Canal this morning. Something weird was going on with the tides — this is usally a dead time of the Summer for fishing but I saw no less than 10 large striped bass hauled out of the canal by “canalmen.” The hills around Sagamore Beach seemed pretty tame comapred to the climbs on the Gasep Peninsula of last week.
Special Thanks this morning to some great pledges of support:
- Candace Fisher (and husband Mark Quenzel) $250
- Andrew (and Melissa) Zeif $200
I’ve got a long way to go fund raising and riding so any and all support would be appreciated.
TODAY’S STATS:
- 1:10 ride
- 18 miles
- 10 dead striped bass
- 8 great blue heron
- 3 green heron (these are new!)
The weather is murky, rainy, and thundery so I opted to run 3 miles this morning instead of hopping on the bike. This has really been a murky, thundery Summer so I guess at some point those of us riding the PMC are going to have to face the fact that this year the odds are very high we will be riding in murky, rainy, humid weather.
Ready to DONATE??? Shameless Fundraising Pitch and links to online payment here:
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and missing this:
As always, I start with my Shameless Fundraising Pitch here:
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I have about $1,000 of the $4,000 I need committed so far as I go into intense fundraising mode this week. My parents donated $200.00 to the cause in honor of their dear friend Pat Toner who passed away a couple years ago from lung cancer.
We spent 3 days in Perce’ Quebec two of which I rode along the fabulous Gaspe’ peninsula coastline. We also hiked and fished for Salmon and ate phenomenal seafood — great vacation spot!
The ocean to the left… the mountains to the right… no cars in site…training Gaspe style.
Flycasting on the Dartmouth River
Three generations flycasting in paradise together
STATS FOR VACATION:
- 88 miles ridden (yeah, a bit short)
- 1655 miles driving
- ~26 miles rafting
- 1,206 casts
- 0 fish landed
- a gazillion bugs squashed
As always, I start with my Shameless Fundraising Pitch here:
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Bob from Penobscot Adventures shows off his “Surfing Skills” for his team of paddlers
Two days of intense, fun white water rafting with the good folks at Penobscot Adventures in Millinocket, ME.
Natural Waterslide - Baxter State Park, ME / Penobscot River
I should be back on the bike later today or tomorrow. In the mean time I think my arms and shoulders are in shape for the ride courtesy of 8 hours of paddling and hauling out swimmers in the whitewater over the last two days.
STATS FOR MON, TUE
- 16 miles of rafting
- two “Class 5” rapids
- 4 moose
- 2 nights in a log cabin
- 1 McDonalds meal
- thousands of great views
