Why I Ride ...

Even though I retired from Dassault Systèmes in November 2021, I've once again committed to raising money for cancer research at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute by participating in the 2023 Pan-Mass Challenge (PMC) as a Virtual Rider with Team Dassault at the ripe old age of 72! This will be my 11th year in a row with the PMC, after riding for the previous 10 years. The first year I rode 25 miles to see if I could even do it, then for 3 years I completed the 50-mile route from Babson College in Wellesley to Patriot Place in Foxboro and back. For the next 2 years after that, I completed the 84-mile route from Wellesley to the Mass Maritime Academy in Bourne. In 2018, we rode the last 50 miles in a driving rain! In 2019 I went back to the 50-mile ride from Wellesley to Patriot Place and back, and in 2020 and 2021, my riding buddy, Dennis Corain, and I did a 46-mile "reimagined" ride throughout beautiful southeastern Massachusetts where we configured our own route due to the pandemic. In 2022, I signed up for the 50-mile Wellesley-to-Wellesley ride again with Dennis, but at the last minute he had to bow out, so I rode by myself. Due to the extreme heat and humidity on the day I rode (96 degrees and 95% humidity, third hottest in PMC history), I was only able to complete 41 of the 50 miles before I had to either stop or keel over. Another Team Dassault rider was riding with me at the time, and called the PMC van to take me to the finish line - a true teammate! After that experience, I decided to take a year off and participate as a Virtual Rider, which means I am still fundraising for Dana-Farber. I am still riding for exercise and fun, but could not commit to the amount of training I would need this year to ride another 50 miles. Who knows, maybe next year I'll get back in the saddle again.