Pan Mass Challenge - Sturbridge to Bourne - CycleTour

We traveled to Sturbridge on Friday afternoon to pick up our registration materials. It was hot!! We got our jerseys, some socks, a water bottle, luggage tags, bike tag and name tag and a temporary tattoo for our lower legs ;). Can't tell you how good it felt to have this lady press a cold sponge against my leg to apply my tat! It was really hot and that just felt so good!! The number of volunteers involved in this event from Sturbridge to P-town is just incredible. Every age, each with smile and great attitude and going above and beyond to make sure you had what you needed. For every first time rider who checked in they rang a bell. Amazing that many people do this ride every year or have done it for several years in a row! Honestly, I can't say enough about the volunteers. There had to be thousands of them as there were so many riders and so much support all along the way. The sheer number of people involved in this event is just overywhelming!

Our original plan had been to spend the night in the Sturbridge area. My husband was supposed to have driven us on Friday, stayed over with us and delivered us to the start the next morning. But Dave needed to stay with my son at home so we had Marji's husband drive us back to Sturbridge early on Saturday morning for the start of the ride.

Got up at 3:30. My ride arrived in my driveway at about 4:30 a.m. Loaded my bike and my bag and on our way to the start. Got to Sturbridge in the dark. The sun starting to come up as we got set to go. Three or four-thousand riders all gathering in the parking lot to start the ride. Awesome music blasting and Billy Starr (the event organizer) giving us the send off. Hands over our hearts for the national anthem and off we go. Took several minutes to actually be able to mount up and start pedaling but we all eventually got out on Rt.20 and started off. We basically took the entire highway for the first mile or so. The sun just coming up and folks already along the route cheering us and thanking us. I pretty much lost it here. Just so moving to see so many cyclists and folks on the road at 6 a.m. I got all choked up.

So off we went for a long day of riding. We had decided that we would skip the first 20 mile rest stop unless we were really in need of water at that point. It was hard for the three of us to stay together due to the number of riders and the fact that we were all wearing the same jerseys. What was cool was that we each had a name take hooked to our seat bags or jerseys so you could see the first name of the person riding in front of you. Talked to lots of people along the way. Each had a personal story as to why they were dong the ride. Very moving!

So the three of us quickly regrouped at mile 20 and continued on to the next rest stop for a break. Again the number of volunteers at each of these stops was just amazing!

The first 40 miles or so of day 1 was supposed to be hilly, but really there were never any major climbs. A few hills, but mostly rollers. Nothing really substantial. There was more difficulty really in just the shear number of riders and just trying to find a space to ride in. But if you got into a fast moving peleton, you could make some good headway. Rest stops were every 20 miles or so. We stopped to refill fluids and eat some stuff about 40 miles in. Huge set up, music blasting, a million volunteers, people lined up at the entrance cheering us on like the TDF!! Just unreal and so moving.

We stopped at mile 60ish for the lunch break. As you rode into this particular stop — I believe it was at a school or something — there were big picket signs with the pictures of all the pedal partner children on them. Each sign had a different child's face on it and there were groups of riders who were riding for a specific child. Really moved to tears by this. I believe some or all of these kids were at this stop waiting for their riders to arrive. Really special. Again, tons of people there cheering and saying thank you.

At this point in the ride, it is really hot. You don't realize it until you stop and can feel the heat of the sun on you. We took time to eat some lunch. The food all donated by Stop & Shop I believe. Plenty of water available and other stuff to eat and drink and tons of volunteers. We never wanted to sit for too long as we knew it would be difficult to keep going. Got back on the bike and on the road again.

At this point in the ride, the three of us just kind of fell into our own paces and buckled down to get it done. We managed to find each other at the each rest stop, but we didnt worry about trying to stay together. We only stopped if we needed to refill fluids. Tried to be very conscious of taking in enough water and gatorade to avoid dehydration. It was very warm, but I never felt like I was overheating so that was good.

Much of the route was shading and cool and you never really felt the heat until you were stopped at a rest stop and standing still with no shade. So, it seemed best to keep moving.

The last 20 miles as we got closer to the cape itself and Bourne, there was less shade, a bit more wind. At this point it was every many for himself. I felt very strong for the whole ride, but particularly at the end, I picked up my pace for the last 20 or so as I was very motivated to get it done! I arrived at the Marine Maritime Academy first with Lynne soon after and Marji a little after that. We were very happy to be off our bikes at this point, but also really happy with the ride and the fact that we had maintained a pretty zippy pace overall and that we had gotten it done in a very respectable 6 and a half to 7 hours! The ride was not as tough as we had believed it would be. It was around 2:30 when I finished.

Bikes went in to a gated field with rows and rows of racks. You got a sticker to remind you where you had parked it. Signed up for massages later and went off to find our room in the dorm. Dorms were as you would expect. Pretty base and not very inviting. There would be 4 of us to the room. Two bunks and then two additional mattresses (about 2 inches thick) to throw on the floor! We had another women who we all knew who road from Wellesley who would be sharing the room with us.

There were five or six dorm buildings, we were in the one that was right at the water and we had a an amazing view of the Harbor or whatever it was. You had the option to stay in a tent as well and there were tents set up along the water which was really prime real estate. Sleeping on the big ship was also an option.

Lynne and I decided to go for a swim. This was awesome! The water felt amazing and I'm sure it aided my recovery from the days' work. After that we got showered and headed over to the big party in the middle of the campus. Live music, huge food tent, a million portolets, hundreds of tents, riders still coming in for a couple more hours. We ate, napped a little on the grass, chatted with other riders until it was time for our massages at 7:15.

After the massages, we sat out by the water and watched the sun go down. It got nice and cool and it was just so beautiful out there. Chatted with a guy whose tent was set up right next to where we were sitting.

Such a great atmosphere. Everyone so incredibly friendly and open.

Sun went down and we headed into the dorm to settle in for some rest. The whole pre-bed routine was just hysterical. You had to laugh because the dorms were just so disgusting! I can't remember specifically what was so damned funny, but we laughed and lot and just had a great time before drifting off to sleep. It was very warm in the dorms, but eventually cooled off some time during the night. Thank god for Advil PM!

One day down, one to go!!