You are There: PMC 2009 On One Leg

Getting ready

Getting ready was extra hard this year. We had a wet cold spring and as a result I for one missed a lot of training rides. That is an especially big deal for me as I have to get my one leg as strong as two. The “pull up” muscles are typically not very strong at the beginning of the season. That and developing really long distance endurance are critical. If I fail to do so I experience severe pain and I get so exhausted in my leg that first I totally run out of energy and can’t keep up even eight mph and then I collapse. I know because it has happened several times. My typical June and July has me riding one long 50-mile ride a weekend and a short ride during the week plus one other leg workout like rowing. In between, I am swimming about six miles a week as usual. So this year it was very back-end loaded and I just barely got the few long rides I needed in July just a couple of weeks before the PMC ride. My last training ride was the Thursday before the event (my birthday) and just for the two hours of my 35-mile ride it poured buckets. Had to push through but it was probably the hardest rain I have ridden through.

Night before expos

Finally it was July 31 and I had arranged to have a table at the little expos at each of the PMC starting locations. I was in Sturbridge and wife Carole was with daughter Joanna in Wellesley. At each table we had posters of the book cover and a stack of cards telling people how to pre-order the book. At first neither I nor my Wellesley team generated much interest but things picked up after a while. At my table, many people came up, looked at the poster (which has a photo of me on a bike when I still had my beard) and said to me, “Is he here?” What do you say when someone says that looking you right in the eyes? But the one that really got me was the person who asked “Is he still alive?” I said you betcha to that one! I estimate about 50 people across both sites said they would order the book. Hope so. We all bailed around 6:30 and headed home. For me that was an hour drive. Wanted to get to bed early as I had to turn around and drive right back to Sturbridge in time for a 5:30 start.

Morning of

I never sleep well when I know the alarm is set for a number that begins with a 4 much less a 3 as in this case. I was up at 3:15 to do last minute things. My friend Pam was to arrive at 3:30. Stacy had stayed overnight at the house to keep it simple. Carole, Stacy, Pam and I were ready to leave the house at 4 am as planned. Abour 45 min later as we arrived at the hotel in Sturbridge where we would start it was still dark as all 2500 riders were bustling around getting their bikes and their bodies ready. As it approached the 5:30 start time we were ready and in place. Billy Starr got us going just a couple of minutes late but it was indeed getting light.

The Start

When a huge mass of people all start together, people better not clip into their peddles or they will fall right over (happens every year) so instead while all the two-leggers are walking their bikes out the driveway, I have my butt on the seat and just push…push…push with my one foot on the ground all the way until things begin to space out and it is safe to clip in. Then everyone rides very slowly as we are still quite packed in. But the wide road of Route 20 stretched out before us as we started to head east.

Riding on the flat

People were quiet but excited, the air was cool, there were no cars on the road, but a few cops made sure we had no interference just in case. The three rider group of Jothy, Stacy and Pam all stayed tightly together. It was very flat at first. We got almost to the first rest stop before there were significant hills but we hit just a few good ones in Sutton to give us a preview. We treated this first 20 mile segment as a warmup. We made sure we keep our speed down to preserve strength. Immediately riders we were near started to make comments to me as they do every year. They started out as things like “You are an inspiration” or just the simple “Way to go.” Pam and Stacy are used to this and wonder when someone will notice them. They determined to count the number of comments. We did manage to keep count to the first water stop at mile 24 or so. By then there had already been 70 wonderful comments about what my doing the ride meant to people. No one was able to keep count beyond that. We weren’t tired but we stopped at the rest stop just to break up the ride. I didn’t even take my collapsable crutches off the back of my bike. Just a short stop to ready us for the real hills.

First major hills

Just as I remembered, there are some biggies in Uxbridge, Mendon, Bellingham after the water stop. As we begin to approach a significant hill, people tend to bunch up. I pass many and when I do I can tell out of the corner of my eye that it makes them speed up just a little. Some two-leggers are standing as they pass me so they naturally go faster. My team considers that sort of cheating as I cannot stand. My own team never stands unless they are out of my sight. By the end of two days, a lot of people passed me and when they do they invariably say something really nice like “you inspire me”, “way to go”, “nice job”, “superman”, and even “great leg”. I heard all of these both days many times. It’s incredible. Especially since when I started riding in these kinds of events I didn’t set out to try to be an inspiration. I just wanted to prove to myself that with one leg I could do this and while doing so raise money for a cause deeply important to me.

Cherry Street

Cherry street in Wrentham is always a day one highlight. They have big crowds, music, and balloons. They paint their street. As we all turn onto the street we ride many bikes abreast taking up the whole street because there are no cars back here and it lets us take it all in. Leaving Cherry street is a bit of a let down and for a while its pretty boring. Stacy took that opportunity to yell at me for not drinking enough. Of course, she was dead right and I tried to think about drinking more. I have to remember to drink on down slopes where I don’t need both hands on the handlebars as I do whenever I am peddling. That’s because of the hard one-sided pushing and pulling I do that requires a firm grip on the front wheel.

Lunch

We know lunch is close when our 2500 riders merge with Wellesley’s 2500 riders. Even though both groups were already quite spread out by this point, it makes the road, well, about twice as crowded. Lunch is a great milestone. For those of us from Sturbridge we had now gone over 70 miles and only had 40 miles to go. There is loud music, a huge tent with tables piled high with lots of great food. Everyone is spread out relaxing in the sun or shade of the tent. The mood is ebullient and everyone is friendly. The food tastes spectacular. I grab a sandwich, a pile of boiled eggs, some snack foods, basically a little of everything in front of me. We find a spot on the grass and take a much-needed longer rest than at any other water stop. The whole time I was at this stop, lots of people came up to me to say something nice. The positive energy is palpable. A lot of people asked really good questions. How do I balance? How do I start from a dead stop? How do I get up hills? And how the heck do I train enough to get one leg ready for this? All great questions and here is where I put in a shameless plug for my forthcoming book Who Says I Can’t? where all these questions are answered and which you can pre-order on this site and which will be in print in October.

Lakeville Pedal Partners visit

The PMC’s PR firm TeakMedia arranged for me to stop when I got to the Lakeville water stop about 90 min after lunch to meet Brian. Brian had Ewing’s Sarcoma and had lost his leg below the knee in December. He is a pedal partner for the Red Sox team but they really wanted me to meet him partly to try to motivate him to getting out and biking. When I arrived at Lakeville TeakMedia found me right away and took me over to the tent where Brian and his family were waiting. I tried to ignore the TV cameras that were right in our faces and just had a chat with Brian. He was understandably intimidated and shy but I got him talking a bit and I even got him to smile. He is into sports and I told him that with a knee he can do a lot. He would ride a bike with his leg unlike me because he would get power out of that leg. Same thing for skiing and many other sports. Knees are kind of important. Way more important than ankles. When I was done talking to Brian a reporter for the Boston Globe wanted to talk to me. He could not make it out to be on site but still was doing an article about the PMC. It turned out to be a pretty big article and it featured Brian and me meeting. Then it was off to be interviewed on camera by first NECN and then NESN. All of this took more than half an hour and the patience of my riding partners had worn out. They were ready to move on. Everyone was worried that we might be too late to still get on the list for a massage and that was now the dominating thought occupying our brains. Besides too long a break makes the leg(s) stiffen up. Finally, everyone was done with me and we could get back out on the road. It was just a bit over 20 miles to the very end of day 1.

Final push for day 1

The last 15 miles of day 1 I do what I call gutting it out. I am just pushing and pulling the peddle pretty mindlessly. The butt is very sore, the leg is numb, the body just wants a shower and a rest but since you are not there yet, you have to just relegate all that discomfort to some other place in the brain and keep pushing down and pulling up. The little village of Onset signals the end is really close. Just one more stretch of straight road and we are in Bourne. The smell of the ocean is suddenly strong.

Onset signals the end is in sight

Bourne

In Bourne we got our first finger of the day. A couple of young kids doesn’t realize how important what we are doing is and is annoyed we are slowing things down for him. So he flips the group of us the bird. I pour on the gas to catch up to them at the next stop sign and yell to them “Who you mad at? We have a right to the road too.” Won’t make a difference. Unfortunately there will always be jerks towards bikes. I think day 1 was pretty devoid of problems actually. As we get right up to the canal we turn into the Mass Maritime Academy where we stay the night. There are huge cheering crowds lining both sides of the street. First thing we see is bike parking. A lot of people beat us in but its not a race. We are very glad to leave the bikes for the night. No hurry to get back on that thing for a while. I get my crutches off the back of the bike, extend them to full height and start the long walk to where the food tents and the ship are. The ship is where I will be staying the night.

At the MMA

After doing this for many years, naturally I have a routine for what to do once I get to the MMA. First I sign up for massage. I am able to get one at 5:30 which is great. That gives me plenty of time to set up my berth and have some food and drink. I have to climb a weird ladder to the ship that requires full dexterity with crutches on one step and bare foot on the next. I make it and notice a bunch of people are around the top of the ladder watching to see what would happen if I missed a step. It would be pretty bad. I find my berth. Its in a huge room with probably 40 or so others all stacked 3 high. I always go for a top one. Its a challenge to climb up to the top but you can sit up there and no hit your head and you get the best air conditioning up there as well. I set up my berth with my sleeping stuff and head off to the showers. The shower feels fantastic after a long hot day with lots of road grime on us. A quick minute to get dressed and I am back down the tricky ladder on crutches and out to the beers and food. Stacy shows up right then and carries two beers over to where we are going to sit. Great music is being played on a stage set up right next to the beer stand. I eat a ton of food. Two burgers, a hot dog, corn, potatoes, cookies and all the while sipping a total of three beers. Soon it was time for the massage. I tell the massage student to just focus on the one leg for the whole time. That gives me a pretty good massage when 15 minutes is dedicated to just one leg. It really helps the soreness and probably keeps it from cramping up. From there we have to go straight over to the Living Proof photo. All the riders who are cancer survivors are included in a giant group photo called Living Proof. We all get bright red T-shirts this year that say so. Now the challenge is to stay away until 8. I set that as the earliest time I can turn in so that I have a chance of sleeping until their 4:15 revelry.

Day 2 starts

I never sleep well on the ship. Its the strange place, the uncomfortable bed, the tiredness, the excitement and more. At least I brought earplugs so the noises of 40 guys snoring or whatever did not bother me. From about 3 on I was watching the clock knowing I really needed to stay in bed until at least 4 or I would have to wait outside too long for Stacy to be ready. But come 4 I put my stuff back into the huge backpack, got up and now navigated the ladder on crutches carrying a 20 lb pack as well. Dropped off the pack in the truck for Family Finish and it was time for breakfast. They have great hot breakfast sandwiches. Stacy showed up right then and we quickly ate some nourishment and decided we could begin the walk down to the bikes. We were far from the first to leave but still it was pretty early. I had it was exactly 5:00 when we pulled out from MMA.

5:00 AM riding again

It was still very dark. Again, we went slowly to make sure we warmed up. Everyone was quiet again. Soon we saw the Bourne Bridge looming. They cordon off the right lane for us. Its a really big hill to us. And quite long. The down slope took up to a long swooping curve back around under the bridge and onto the canal bike path. This path runs almost due east for the full length of the canal. Some years you get to see a dramatic sunrise right in our faces. This year it was cloudy so while it was lightening up, there was no sun in our eyes. The bike path is flat, smooth and fast. I was holding just shy of 20 mph. At this hour we had to share it with no one. A few fisherman were off to our left doing some very early Sunday morning fishing in the canal. We cross under the Sagamore bridge, go through the power station and then the path ends and we are on little roads like 6A heading out the Cape. We get into a road that parallel the big Route 6 and its a long roller coaster. These must have been ancient dunes that were paved over. The hills are short and everyone is keeping up a very fast pace.

Barnstable

The first 20 miles goes extremely quickly and we are already at the first water stop in Barnstable. We get coffee and a muffin and are off again. Once again we are on back roads through Yarmouth, Dennis and into Brewster. Just then I felt the thump thump of a tire that has gotten out of round as it slowly goes flat. The dread hit me fast. The worst part of the flat is that so many people get to pass you “for free”. I had worked hard to be where I was and now I was going to lose at least 15 minutes. I am not slow at changing a tire but I am not that fast either. I was all set and starting to pump it up with my baby pump attached to my bike and a PMC support van stopped and offered to take over and pump it right. That sped me up and within another 2 minutes I was on my way as good as new. Stacy would now be wondering where I was as when I got the flat she was just a couple of hundred yards ahead of me. I knew she would wait at the next water stop.

Brewster

Last year the town of Brewster got quite mad at the PMC. They had a summit with Billy to yell at him for how we behaved. I have to admit, every year I get pretty disgusted with some of the pelotons who get some sort of testosterone poisoning and loose all sense of reasonableness. They pass slower riders too close and too fast. They don’t move over for cars. Some ride all the way over in the oncoming lane. Its a bad scene. So we all had lots of warnings to behave from Billy and now as we entered Brewster. There were cones to keep us in place. Signs and cops were all over making sure we played nice. I hope it all worked because the PMC can never get kicked out of a town on the Cape because it would block us from going to Provincetown. Just as we left Brewster center there was the usual gigantic crowd at a camp call CCSC where all the kids scream as riders come by. This time I happened to be riding by myself and I could tell when they collectively noticed that I was riding with only one leg as the roar magnified in intensity and they went totally crazy. That made me smile. Just after that is Nickerson State Park and our next water stop.

Nickerson State Park

To me this is the best water stop. You are half way and the bike path is coming up next. There is a lot of food and drink as usual and loud rock and roll is playing. Everyone was coming up to me saying nice things. Luckily I met up with Stacy and after a little fuel I was again ready to do.

Bike path

We leave Nickerson on the flat, fast and fun bike path. After a short while we get back off the path and are on the little roads of Orleans. We are at the Cape’s elbow and will be going due north for a while until Wellfleet when we will turn the corner again and start going west. After Orleans we hit Eastham and get back on the bike trail again. This time we will be on for quite a while. Its flat again but has a slight upgrade. I found a couple who were going a nice steady 20 and drafted off of them. Stacy in turn drafted off of me. We rode like that for at least 10 miles. The path ends for good in Wellfleet.

Wellfleet

Right as we get off the path we get onto the long hill of Ocean Drive. I love this hill, as adrenaline pushes me to accelerate uphill and pass dozens of people pushing with all my might. To the right are beautiful views of the open ocean. The hill is long but I maintain a very fast pace passing everyone and racing to the top at breakneck speed. Its just something I do on that hill. A few winding turns down hill after that and before you know it we are at the final waterstop of the 2009 PMC on the edge of Wellfleet. This stop specializes in fresh fruit and boy I think this is the best fruit in the world. We dally a bit at this stop because we know the ride is about to come to an end and the next section is not the most fun anyway. As we leave Wellfleet and head into Truro we hit some of the longest and hardest hills of the Cape. By the top of each of these hills I am totally winded and panting. Hills like this do make me feel the diminished lung capacity which I don’t have to be reminded of very often thanks to keeping in good swimming shape.

Route 6

In Truru we are on the narrowest part of the Cape, there is no more 6A, the only choice is to use route 6. We are shoulder riding with lots of cars racing by. This is just not a fun part of the ride. At it very narrowest point, you can see the ocean on the left and the “lake” (really salt water) on your right. This is when you first see the Pilgrim monument in Provincetown center and know you are seeing the end of the ride. Still, it is 10 more miles to that point. This narrowest part of the Cape is usually a wind tunnel and I assure you, the wind is always a head wind. But this year that wind was pretty light and I was able to keep my speed up to a respectable level.

Provincelands Pain

We officially entered Provincetown and remain on the route 6 shoulder for a few miles than take a sharp turn to the right into Provincelands. Provincelands is 3 big dunes to remind us why we are doing this ride. Here I have to really gut it out digging quite deep to get the strength in my leg to push up each of these hills. Everyone can feel the end but dreads these last few hills. Some 2-leggers have had it and are walking. But as we count up to 3, its really over, its flat now. We get back to route 6 and a right turn takes you to the Provincetown Inn finish. I take the left turn towards Family Finish because ending here makes us very close to the Ferry terminal and places where we can get lunch.

Family Finish

As I finally pull into the finish are there is a huge cheering crowd that roars as I come around the corner – that feels good. Carole was working the medical tent and comes to see me. I can’t believe it, its only 10:30! I got directed up the hill to the showers where I collect my bag and head over to the shower trucks. Truck showers feel great. I take stock of my leg now that I have really completed 192 miles on it in two days. Its actually ok. The thing that really hurts is that part of my anatomy that sits on the bike saddle.

Really done

After the shower we go get lunch, and beers. I order fried clams, fried potatoes, fried onion rings and more beer. We sat in sun with friends right on the water. Everyone we see says congratulations. I feel very good about the fact that even in this tough year, I managed to raise over $6K.

At one point, it dawned on me that now I have to switch gears quickly as I have to start thinking about the big Alcatraz swim that is less than two weeks away.