The letter

I don't know how we've gotten nearly to the end of June already. It's scary, although I think the expectation of sunny weather, that never quite arrives might have something to do with it. It feels as though June was a lost month. Well anyway, I've posted a copy of my fundraising letter below. I've already emailed it out to my e-donors and paper copies will go out later in the week. I decided I'd post it here for anyone who made their way to this site by some other way besides the letter.


Dear family and friends,

I'd like to open this letter by once again thanking all my donors for the 2008 PMC. It was another successful year for me and more importantly, the event as a whole; the final donation was over $35 million.

For anyone who doesn't know me well, I've been a cycling enthusiast for as long as I could pedal a bike. I decided to ride my first PMC four years ago simply because I liked riding, I wasn't that excited about racing and it was very plainly the most worthy cause I could think of.

Since that time, I have lost an aunt and an uncle to cancer, I have ridden two additional PMC events, have raised a total of just over $17,000 and become a regular, two-times-a-month platelet donor at the Worcester Red Cross donor center.

Almost no one can pretend they're on the outside of the cancer fight looking in anymore. There has been no one I've known that hasn't themselves or someone close to them been affected by these diseases.

As sad as it was losing both my aunt and uncle, and seeing my cousins go through the pain of losing a parent, I'm still motivated greatest by the work the Jimmy Fund supports. The thought of a young child's life being cut short before they've had a chance to experience just what I have in my short 27 years is truly heart wrenching. Add to it the physical, emotional and financial pain that comes with cancer and it becomes easy to stand to contribute a few dollars in the hope one day there will be no such suffering.

I realize this past year has been tumultuous for everyone financially; but remember, so affected are those families dealing with cancer. Now is the time to give them our support. 100% of every dollar you donate goes directly to the Jimmy Fund and the Dana Farber Cancer Institue.

On August 1st I will once again take my place in the start lanes among some 4500 riders to cycle 190 miles in two days, from Sturbridge, to Bourne and Provincetown, Massachusetts. We will have the support of still thousands more volunteers and roadside fans. I have again committed to raising the minimum required for this effort, $4,200 as of the 2009 PMC. So committed are PMC riders to the goal of fundraising, we are only allowed to join with the understanding we are responsible for any balance remaining between what we have raised and the minimum required.

If 4500 mostly average people are willing to undertake this task, perhaps you are willing to be one of our esteemed donors. Doing so will give you the knowledge you have contributed to one of the most respected cancer centers in the country and one of the highest rated charities according to CharityNavigator.com. Please also don't forget your employer may have some type of donation matching policy. If you require information regarding the Pan Mass Challenge 501(c)(3) tax exempt status, I can provide it on request.

I have been logging my training and fund raising progress on my website, www.MarcPMC.com. To contribute, simply visit my site and click the first link in the site heading. If you wish to donate via personal check instead of credit card, please contact me at marc[dot]moseley[at]gmail[dot]com or send it directly to me at the address listed below. Please make checks out to “Pan Mass Challenge.”

For everyone contributing this year and those who have in the past, you have my deepest thanks.

~Marc

63 Healy Road
Dudley, MA 01571

Fighting the uphill battle

Fundraising update-

We've passed $550 as of today, with some very generous early donations. Thanks to everyone who has donated so far.

I did my hill workout yesterday in weather that, once again, did not inspire the urge to ride. Motivation is a funny thing. Everyone has a different technique, it seems, to get them started on a task that most of their head is telling them to quit and go do something else. Mine is pretty simple, and seems to be tied into my personality flaw of being overly devoted to a set plan. I am a flexible person, and feel like I can change with the tides as need be, but only when I've planned and mentally prepared to do so. Irony in motion, yes?

That's a bit of an exaggeration, but is the essence of that slice of my personality. In cases like physical training, however, it can be quite the asset. It would have been so easy yesterday to scoff at the 58 degree weather and heavy mist; to stay inside and read or do a little more inside housework. I planned, however, to ride my hill workout, barring heavy rain. I stuck to the plan because that was easiest for me.

The roads were a little greasy, but my tires are pretty grippy. My hill workout takes me due west along CT-197 to CT-171 through Bigelow Hollow in Union, CT. Once I reach the opposite side of the Hollow, I turn around and come back through. The climbs are not terribly long, none of them over a mile in length, however, average gradients surpass 10% and local spots easily hit 15-18% and possibly higher, depending on who you believe.

I snapped a couple pictures yesterday showing the start of the second part of the west side of the Hollow. Pictures can never do any grade justice, but I'll post them anyway. The picture above is approaching the initial grade, which I believe in this spot is about 18% (just past where the car is). The picture below is a little closer to that grade. I post this view because, when I hit this point, I usually think to myself that this curves ahead sign is, for once, perfectly represetative of the road ahead: curvey, and almost vertical.

The ride is 30 miles with 2,600 feet of elevation gain. It's not a huge amount, although the first day of the PMC is 108 miles and 2,500 feet of elevation gain. There are some more hills in North Woodstock/West Dudley I could add to the route in a few weeks if I need the extra challenge.

Last week I did the route with an average speed of 15.68 mph. This week I did it in 16.20 mph. While I don't think my legs improved as much as the speed gain shows, I think what did happen is my ability to recover after long rides has definitely improved. I had two rest days before each time I did this ride. The ride just before this workout was close to 70 miles and the ride before the first time I did this workout was just 30 miles

So, at this point in the training I feel good and healthy. I hope it continues this way (*knocks wood*).

PS- HAPPY BIRTHDAY, DAD!

The miles continue

I rode Saturday and Sunday this weekend to make up for missing a day last week. Spring weather makes riding to a schedule very difficult. One really has to work around the rain. Once again this spring, it seems like there's always the threat of a shower yet when it does rain, it is never in enough volume to help all my withering flowers and vegetables. My ride Saturday was 30 miles with my good friend Nate. Also a good mechanic, I roped him into wrenching if I have a bike tune up fundraiser at my house.

My long ride this weekend was supposed to be 60 miles, and ended up being 67, on Sunday morning. Close enough I guess. It was a very scenic ride starting at my house in Dudley, and going north on 31 to some back roads through the Brookfields. I kept heading north on route 67 through New Braintree and into Barre where I picked up 122. I followed that towards Rutland and Paxton, where I started overtaking another cyclist.

I passed him and he stayed with me. It was clear after I passed him he was a very fit rider, and could have ridden away from me fairly easily, but we each took turns pulling and chatted briefly between. He was riding a LeMond Zurich, which sparked the initial conversation since I ride a LeMond Victoire. Nice guy, but he lived in Paxton so we parted ways at the intersection with 31 where I headed back south.

The rest of the ride was uneventful. The weather was gorgeous, and I got home with barely enough time to shower and leave for Newton, where I was looking at windows for the house and then heading for Norwood where I had a late lunch with my girlfriend, Meredith.

The fundraiser to which I alluded above will hopefully take place the third weekend in July (7/18 or 7/19). As I mentioned, it will be at my house in Dudley. What I'd like to do is offer a $40 tune up for anyone with a bike in any condition. If it needs new parts we'll recommend what to buy. The tune up will include a complete drivetrain cleaning/degreasing and relube, derailleur adjustment, cable cleaning, regreasing and adjusting, wheel truing, brake adjustment/inspection, all bearings checked (crank, wheels, headset) and a seat rail/post clean and lube if needed. I'm also considering including rewrapping bar tape on road bikes, maybe $5 extra for that. I'd have volunteer mechanics and all proceeds, of course, would go towards the PMC.

If you live close enough to Dudley to participate, I'll send you an email or other notice shortly if I do arrange it. I'm going to do a few more things to gauge if there will be enough interest.

A special thanks to Freddy Manzi

Freddy Manzi, owner of Manzi's Barbershop in on Main Street in Webster, MA is a man I've known literally my entire life. I have had the uncanny ability to grow hair from a very young age, and ever since then I've been stopping in to Manzi's every month for a trim. He's been a friend of the family's for longer than that, having grown up around my mom's family in Webster. I'm proud to say he was the first person to donate this year was well as being kind enough to disply my flier in his shop and do a little 'selling' for me.

Aside from being a stand up guy with a heart of gold, he's also a fantastic barber, so if you're in need of a trim, I highly recommend his services.

Training is sometimes difficult...

Weird, right?

Today was one of those days I didn't really feel that much like riding. The temperature was in the high 50's. It was misty, overcast and rain was around, but the forecast showed a window for a few hours. I decided to go out and do a 27 mile loop that I really like. It has a couple good climbs, some great downhill, a long uphill shallow grade section and a rotary (which is fun on a bike for some reason).

I wore a long sleeve polypro under my jersey and my fleece lined knee warmers. The knee warmers were extremely helpful for keeping the muscles and tendons around my knees warm and... well, not really flexible, since they never are but... less like spring loaded steel cable that normal I guess.

I made pretty good time on the ride, as I did yesterday. I'm in my fourth/fifth-ish week of steady riding and I can see the gains already. I'm not looking forward to the first plateau. I might take it easy for the rest of the week and only do a short ride this weekend (another 30 miler) to let my legs recover for the onslaught that is to come in June and July. It would be good to take a few days to really stretch thoroughly and loosen up the leg muscles and tissue with the foam roler, as well as doing a little core strength work (in the form of cleaning up some big tree limbs I took down Monday).

I put up some 8.5 x 11 fliers at Park 'n' Shop and Jimmy's Pizza with tear off tabs with this website on it. The flier explained I was a Dudley local and a little about the PMC. I hope to get some donations from that effort. I'll have another one to go in Manzi's barber shop in Webster. With the fundraising minimum raised to $4,200, I've got to get going early and strong.

Like I have with the training. Here's a picture of me after returning. Yes, the smile was forced and I know it's easy to tell. What I was wearing in the picture kept me comfortable today, although in some spots I was a bit warm and did get sweaty, but that's kinda the norm for me.

New wheels... same attitude

Quick post tonight... I decided to change out my old Spinergy Rev-X super stiff's for a conventional pair of aluminum spoked wheels. After these carbon wheels get old and see a lot of use, the fatigue begins to get to the carbon, and areas of high stress start trying to crack. Unfortunately, Spinergy built these wheels with rivets where the spokes connect to the rim, and consequently created huge stress risers at those points. Rather than take the chance of suffering a catastrophic failure while I'm cruising down a steep hill around 50 mph, I switched to a pair of Easton E70's.


Certainly not the head turners that the Spinergy's were, but of course the durability makes up for it. Plus these are actually a bit lighter and should climb and accelerate better.

Also put on my new chain and cleaned the drivetrain. One less thing to worry about. My list of other chores grows longer still, but hopefully I'll get to some of that this weekend. As well as my long ride, which is 50 miles according to my 1 week advanced schedule.

Over half way through May?

How did this happen? So much to do, so little time.

I managed to put in a pretty solid effort last week. Weekly total was 120 miles. My long ride was 40 miles on Saturday. Yearly totals are as follows: 325.30 miles; 20,927 ft of elevation gain.

I'm trying to stay below an increase of 20% per week as distance goes. I'm technically a week ahead of schedule on the long ride program posted below. At the recommendation of my beautiful and intelligent girlfriend, I'll probably take a week on the easy side, maybe the first week in June if I still have no knee pain then, and then be back on correcting timing for the long ride schedule.

This week I'll stay under 140-ish miles. I have a 50 mile ride next weekend, so I'll probably do a 30 mile ride after work tomorrow and ride into work twice.

I'm coming to think that general schedule, about 90 miles during the work week plus whatever the long ride calls for on the weekend, is about right in terms of training as well as leaving time during the week for my other endeavors (gardening, yard work, housework and fund raising of course).

Speaking of which, now that I've got this website all straightened around and working, expect to see some email from me shortly. Not long after that I'll be sending out the annual letter and fund raising request. As with last year, there will be some tokens of appreciation if you give a certain amount. Those will be announced in the letter.

So far it's looking like a good year in terms of training, weather and my own health (knocks lots of wood). We'll pray it stays that way.