Recaps

The PMC is still processing their stats on this year's ride, and Les and I are still processing the experience as a whole, but in the meantime, here are some nice photo and video recaps that have started to trickle in:

Billy Starr - My Road to the PMC from David Hellman on Vimeo.

From the official PMC highlight photos:

PMC ReMix

From

Ptown to Boston ferry

We were trying to keep a positive attitute, but after all the ferry
mis-information, the impounding of our bikes, the ripping of my bag,
and the physical and mental exhaution we were experiencing- we were
kind of grouchy. But, we finally managed to get on a ferry. Praise the
bike gods we were not stuck in ptown!
Danielle and I decided to get a couple vodka cranberrys and to our
suprise they were the drink special! Things were looking up!
Then we met a lovely woman by the name of Brenda. She had come up to
us and appologized for her leaving a towel next to our seats. We said,
no big deal, she sat, we started to chat and that's when I glanced at
her name tag(sidenote: I love name tags. Everyone should wear one) her
name was Brenda White. She was from Revere and this was her 29th year
riding. Wait, what 29!!!! This was the PMC's 30 year anniversary!
She invited us up to the top of the boat to join her other pmc
veterans. The rest of the trip was filled with amazing stories and
Brenda even made us her specail cocktail with vitamins and vodka.
Meeting Brenda was the perfect PMC icing on our amazing PMC cake.
We love ya Brenda!

Still smiling :)

Heading home

DC posting:
The photo is hard to see but that's Billy Starr making a scene- it's 3:04 and his ferry was supposed to leave at 3!!!

We're waiting for our high speed ferry on the dock. Billys "party boat" is for veteran riders. We'll have tickets for that soon enough.

For now, we're just lucky to have gotten on ANY ferry! We finished at 11 and with our ferry scheduled to leave only 45 minutes later, we knew there was no way we'd make it. We needed food, showers and most of all, we needed to enjoy the overwhelming moment that had just happened. So we approached a volunteer to see about bumping back our departure time (and I might add that these volunteers were AMAZING the entire time) but the news wasn't good... The ferry was over a mile away... and even though that's nothing compared to 192 miles of biking, the prospect of lugging our bikes, bags and tired asses another mile was just too much. Thankfully, after some cajoling, we landed ourselves a on standby for the 3:45 ferry, which will give us a minute to sit, relax, have a beer and revel in what we've just accomplished.

Then- Home. Sleep. Refuel. The last part will be helped along by Les and Danielle's Day of Pampering tomorrow- hour long massages, hair cuts, and a Coldplay concert (which we'll be getting to via limo!). After all that we'll do more thoughtful recaps. For now we're just happy to be heading home and thankful for an unforgettable first PMC weekend.

Done Son!

24 miles to go!!!

Dc posting:

My grandma would have loved this day- overcast and gray. And most
importantly for cycling, it's cool. Perfect for the final stretch.
Only 24 miles to go!! In theory we're racing to make the 11:45 ferry
but it's gonna be close... Plus we wanna hang out in p-town and soak
up what we just accomplised. Hopefully we can do standby and don't get
stranded on the cape cause there's nooo way we'll be biking back up to
Boston.

(the photo is of bikers sitting on packs of ice haha)

Half way done day 2

Sleeping Quarters..on top of desks, no pillows, dorm heat,

Water stop 1

First 20 miles of day 2: rollercoaster of fun. Seriously that was
awesome.

Pmc ain't a track meet it's a marathon

Let's rest before the final 82.

Victory beer

Mile 110!

10 more!!!!!!

PMC boyfriends

DC posting:
Les and I are on the hunt for PMC boyfriends. It makes perfect sense.
We love to bike, PMC men love to bike. We love rock hard legs and abs,
PMC men *have* rock hard legs and abs. You do the math.
Our hunt has been tough so far cause our prey is well camoflauged in
the mass of 5,200 cyclists all wearing the same jersey. But that
hasn't stopped us. The PMC supplied us with name tags for the back of
our bikes. Their purpose was to encourage pleasant biking behavior-
the difference between "passing on your left, lesley" and "MOVE OVER."
Well Les and I have found another use for them. Drive-by (bike-by?)
flirting. "on your left, loooooooouis" ( the equivalent of a
verbal :wink wink:).
No one has officially asked us to go steady yet but I think we're
setting the stage for landing boyfriends at dinner.
We even have an opening line planned. "can I buy you a beer?" (they're
free). Yep, after 85 miles, that's the best we've got. Maybe that's
why we find ourselves on this hunt in the first place. Hmm.
Well till this all pans out, Les is covered. Just look at how she's
enjoying these chocolate, salty balls.

80 down 30 more to go

I'm pretty sure when this is over I'm gonna strip down, look in the
mirror and see a killer six pack cause My abs are killing me! And so
are my knees. Shit. They feel like they might bust through my knee
caps. No more hills please !!!!!!!

SpeakIng of hills on the last monster 60%incline( maybe I'm
eaggerating) I thought, shit this hills sucks!!!! But then I thought
what would suck worse, this hill or having cancer??

Camel back, yes

Camel bladder, no. Rest stop time.

More cowbell

Dc posting:

We've reached our lunch break. 70 miles down. Everything after this
point is more miles than I've ever done in one day. But I feel totally
confident.

What's helping get us through it all is of course encourgement from
you guys but also the smiling crowds and heartfelt signs peppering the
route. We haven't gone more than 2 miles without seeing someone
cheering, spraying us with a hose or playing bag pipes at the top of a
tough hill (Betsy- I know you're jealous ;-) ). But more than
anything, we've been greeted with cowbells.

Actually the cowbells started last night during registration when the
volunteers rang them every time they checked in a new rider. A
completely dorky and awesome ritual.

The cowbells haven't stopped since. And thank goodness. The training
has definitely paid off- these first 70 miles have been easier than
expected and generally very enjoyable (even in spite of the rolling
hills that dominated the first leg of our journey). But the next 40
for today are a jump ball. So pleeeeease, bring on the cowbell.

Sent via iPhone.

H20 stop 2 for the pmc, stop one for us!

Beautiful morning. Amazing experience.

The beginning

6am:

Witch's hat

On the bus

"It's bad when dunkin donuts isn't even open yet!!"

"That sleep was really just a nap"

"Rough night. My body was turned off but my mind was already racing."

The sky is starting to lighten. When's the last time you really took
in a sunrise?

Sent via iPhone.

"We'll be needing a 3:45am wake up call"

Still dark outside and the day has begun. Leaving the hotel to meet
for breakfast, pep rally and the start of the ride.