How many miles is Ken riding and why?

Greetings and welcome to my ride blog, where over the course of two bicycle fund-raising events in July and August I'll be blogging about the sights, sounds, and experiences during 800 miles of pedaling to support two incredibly important charities. You don't need to make a donation of course to enjoy this blog, but if you want to support my ride for The Anchor House Foundation click here and to support my Pan Mass Challenge ride click here. Here's what I'll be doing:

Anchor House Ride for the Runaways: Lexington VA to Trenton NJ

July 13 to July 19: I'll be riding 500 miles over 7 days in my seventh Anchor House Ride for the Runaways. The Anchor House Foundation (http://anchorhousenj.org)  is an amazing organization that provides a refuge for homeless, runaway, abused and at-risk children in central New Jersey. The Ride for the Runaways is Anchor House’s biggest fundraising activity of the year and helps keep the doors open for this incredible organization. This year, the rides's 36th, will start from Lexington VA where we'll cycle up through the spectacular Shenandoah Valley angling towards Hagerstown Md, and then across northern Maryland into lovely Lancaster County and eastwards to our destination just outside of Trenton, NJ. What will make this ride special is that my 23 year old son Adam will be joining me. I am of course very stoked about this! 

            Pan Mass Challenge Ride: West Stockbridge to Provincetown, MA

After taking a few weeks off to rest and to work (!), I'll be biking 280 miles over three days in my thrid Pan Mass Challenge ride. Last year's ride, my second PMC, was an incredibly emotional experience for me- cycling with cancer survivors, current cancer patients, and people lining the route thanking us for raising money for cancer research, many of them holding up signs saying how long they were cancer free. We raised an amazing $40 million in all- 100% of that money dedicated to cancer treatment and research. This year, I am again going the extra mile in this fight against cancer. Along with a friend,  I will start on August 1st in West Stockbridge MA on the NY state line and bike an extra 87 miles to the official start in Sturbridge MA. We will then bike over the next two days to Provincetown, making this truly a Pan Massachusetts challenge, pedaling 280 miles in all.  

I'm tapering down my training now in this week before the ride. I've logged a little over 1800 miles since January 1- about half on my racing bike (a Serotta Ottrott) and the other half on my commuting bike(s). I'm ready to ride!