Lost Adventures on the PMC

Grabbing a banana at Gillette

After we caught up to the sea of riders, (not too difficult), we continued on a quick pace to Gillette Stadium, arriving much earlier than I anticipated (even with the late start!) We caught up to Phil and Ben Rotner and ran into Cyclopaths Ethan, Jeff and Arthur, who all started their ride in Bourne. We all chatted and I took a photo or two, (not many on Sunday), and then we hit the road.

After crossing Route 1 in Foxboro, I knew in my head that we were supposed to bear right towards Walpole, but saw a stream of riders heading straight. There were no directional arrows or signs anywhere. A large pack of 20-30 cyclists were on the side of the road, checking their Garmins and making phone calls to figure out the direction. A second group of riders passed us, so we decided to continue on.

Ha ha ha... we got "lost".

About five or six miles in, we caught up to a group of a dozen riders and joined them for the return trip to Wellesley -- retracing the route we took DOWN to Gillette. (One of the riders in the group knew the way.) I told Will that we could either head back to Gillette and get back on the right route, or stick with the pack no matter how fast or slow they rode. Will agreed to stick with the group. (I wouldn't have been able to get us back to Wellesley on my own -- there were at least two or three points where I could have made another wrong turn.)

The pace was a little too fast for Will, but he gutted it out and kept up for most of the way. Just a few miles from the finish, our "Lost Route" merged with the official return route and we saw a stream of PMC riders on the street ahead. Hooray! Ironically, Jeff, Arthur, Phil & Ben pulled up behind us a minute after the merge! Too funny.

Unfortunately, Will started getting leg cramps, about a mile or two from the finish and needed to pull over. (We lost pace with our "lost" group at that point, and didn't get a chance to say thank you to our ride leader! He saved the day!)

Will loses our wager, dons a skirt.
Crazy PMC!

Will was toast. Since we were just a mile from the finish, I was able to slow the pace down for him to coast back in to Wellesley. He conceded that I had a better ride and he should have trained harder. It was nice to cross the finish line with him... and he looked over at me when it was all over and said, "OK, where's the skirt."

Ha ha ha... I wagered that if I beat him to the finish line this year, he'd have to put on a skirt after the PMC. (Of course the skirt travelled with me to Patriot Place and back for this special moment.) He put it right on, posed for pics, and wore it all afternoon in the PMC tent. Ha! What a sport!

It was a GREAT ride, despite the missing route markers and getting lost. Definitely a fun, crazy and memorable PMC -- The best one of eleven.