If you’re planning to be out and about early Saturday morning you might catch sight of more than 2,800 bicyclists rolling out of the Babson College campus at 6:45 a.m. onto Forest Street and heading along Central Avenue as they begin the 88-mile ride to Bourne as part of the Pan-Mass Challenge.
Babson is one of two starting points for the PMC, a national fundraising bike-a-thon across Massachusetts for the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. Now in its 46th year, the PMC, headquartered on Fourth Avenue in Needham, has raised more than a billion dollars for cancer research and patient care. The event is aiming to bring in $76 million with this ride.
Preparation is underway at Babson to accommodate the cyclists and more than 300 volunteers who will support them. The college has been hosting the ride since 2000, working all 25 years with PMC volunteer coordinators Jeff Rimpas and Les Laputz. “It’s a great relationship with Babson,” said Rimpas. “They’re very engaged as a partner and with the whole vibe and feel of the ride,” he said. “We’re lucky to have that.”
The riders will descend on the campus Friday afternoon to check in, attend an expo and dinner, and unpack their bikes and luggage. Saturday morning Rimpas, Laputz and volunteers from the PMC and Babson will be up at 3:30 a.m. to get ready for about 2,400 of the riders to return and assemble starting at 4 a.m. Most will drive and park in the Babson lots while about a third live close enough to ride their bikes to the campus.
Once organized, Laputz said it takes about 18-20 minutes for all the riders to be on their way. “Twenty minutes to get 2,000 people out of here. It’s impressive to watch,” he said. “We do a really short speaking program, sing the national anthem, play some music, do a countdown and we let them go,” said Rimpas. One of the speakers this year is former Red Sox relief pitcher Mike Timlin, who has done the ride in the past.
The process will repeat Sunday morning with a smaller group of about 600 cyclists who will do a shorter, one-day ride to Gillette Stadium. All riders will be welcomed back with a barbecue at Babson Sunday.
“We love having it here,” said John Rankin IV, coordinator of business development and facilities operations at Babson. “Everybody’s happy. Everybody’s willing to help each other,” he said. “It’s great to see a large group of people from different towns and different communities come together for a common goal.”
Overall, 6,500 riders are expected to participate in the PMC which draws cyclists from 12 countries and 47 states and territories. The other starting point is in Sturbridge, and those riders will merge with the Babson riders along the route to the Massachusetts Maritime Academy. Riders who do a second day will continue Sunday to Provincetown.
This year there are 128 participants from Needham. Like many of the cyclists, they ride in honor of loved ones affected by cancer. Longtime resident and regular cyclist Ron Molin, who is 72, is riding for the eighth time. “My mother died when I was 15 of cancer and I lost a brother when I was 7 years old of cancer,” he said. “So in their memories is why I started riding.” He belongs to Team FLAMES, a multigenerational mix of 140 people from different towns that includes cancer survivors. His wife and son also volunteer.
Rimpas and Laputz emphasize that the Pan-Mass Challenge is a ride, not a race. “It’s different than a race where people will say, ‘You got it!’ ” said Rimpas. “It’s people saying thank you.”
Molin says “thank you” is the thing they hear the most. “There are people all along the route. You’ll also see people say, ‘I’m here because of this ride. Or my child is here because of this ride’,” he said. “They’re saying thank you for riding but they’re really saying thank you for fundraising.”
“It does motivate you to keep on going,” said Molin. “And to also do it again the next year.”
More information about the ride, routes, and ways to donate can be found at the PMC website.
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