4 PMC Rider Love Stories

In honor of Valentine's Day, we asked PMC riders to share their PMC love stories with us. From meeting on PMC weekend to incorporating the PMC into wedding day traditions, these riders have love stories that are intertwined with the Pan-Mass Challenge. Read on to hear four couples' stories!

Jeff & Julie Zaveloff: A PMC Weekend Proposal

“My wife and I met at the 2019 PMC. It was definitely love at first sight. I had planned to propose to her during the 2020 PMC, but that became the Reimagined version. We rode the day two route anyway, starting out in Plymouth, and I carried the ring in my jersey pocket 92 miles with me to the finish at the Provincetown Inn, where I proposed in the middle of the rotary because no one else was around. We've been married for four plus years now and are ready to ride the 2025 PMC.”

– Submitted by Jeff

Jeff Zaveloff, 13-year PMC rider; Team Patriots Platelet Pedalers
Julie Zaveloff, 9-year PMC rider; Team Patriots Platelet Pedalers

Kelly & Blair Herdrick: Riders Who Featured the PMC During Their Wedding

“I met my now husband in 2019 just a few months after finishing the PMC for the second time. He learned early on how near and dear the ride was to my family and how passionate I was about riding. I rode the PMC for the first time in 2015 in honor of my father who was currently undergoing treatment for CLL with deleted 17p at Dana Farber. In 2019, while undergoing chemo for post stem cell transplant recurrent CLL, my dad and I rode and crossed the finish line together!

The spring after my first date with Blair, he dragged his 25+ year old Trek mountain bike from storage and started riding again. It was on our first ride together that I fell in love with riding all over again. He was patient, he paused and enjoyed the in between. I realized how narrow minded I had become, focusing on only the beginning and end of the ride, forgetting the beauty in between. He didn't complain once about his clunky heavy mountain bike while I breezed along on my road bike and then paused for him to catch up. 

Blair quickly became a part of my dad's dream to complete his fifth PMC, my third, and Blair's first. In December 2021, my dad was diagnosed with MDS, and in June 2022, he passed of AML. I lost my rock, my mentor, my father. Blair was not only there to support me, but my whole family through a time we never imagined we would get through. There was no question that we would ride in memory of my father. 

We were married in June 2023 in my parents backyard and our wedding registry was donations to our Pan-Mass Challenge ride! Not only did we send our PMC fundraising information in all our wedding communications, but we also had a table at our wedding featuring all of the ways to donate including our Venmo QR codes! As a result, the two of us raised over $18,000 towards our PMC 2023!”

– Submitted by Kelly

Kelly Herdrick, 7-year PMC rider; Team Big Jon
Blair Herdrick, 2-year PMC rider; Team Big Jon

Rich & Beata Fernandez: Love on the PMC Party Ferry

"We met on the party ferry in 1999. Beata wrote her name and phone number on my hand and we went on our first date two weeks later, August 19. We were engaged the next year, got married in 2001, and now have two kids.

She had randomly met a friend of mine on the ride (Beata had just moved up to Boston was encouraged to give the PMC a try as she loved biking), who introduced us on the ferry back to Boston. 

As we were talking, all was going well. At one point, Beata went up to the top deck and my brother and I were still in the dance area. Springsteen came on – she’s a Jersey girl and I’m from Philly – and I turned to my brother and said if she doesn’t come back to dance to Bruce, it’s over. One minute later, she came dancing through the doors and we danced the rest of the way back to Boston.

I knew on my third date I was going to marry her."

– Submitted by Rich

Rich Fernandez, 28-year PMC rider
Beata Fernandez, 25-year PMC rider; Team 3G

Johnny & Meaghan Morin: A Bike Ride First Date

We met while doing what we both love – riding bikes and raising money for cancer research. That sounds so romantic and dreamy, and I guess it is, but in reality, it took four years for us to start dating. 

Meaghan: “I had been single a long time, and I knew I was just waiting for the right guy. Well, once the right guy was available, I asked him out on a date. He didn't know it was a date at first; he thought we were just going for a bike ride. I had rearranged my whole Labor Day weekend to go on a bike ride with him and am glad that he figured out it was a date!”

Johnny: “Every year at the Pan-Mass Challenge, I would look forward to seeing Meghan's infectious smile as I harassed her into buying our team t-shirt. During the PMC, I would look for her and see if I could help her out with a nice draft. In 2014, after the PMC, when she asked me to go for a bike ride, I didn't think much about it. At mile 23 of our 50-mile ride, it dawned on me that this was a date. So naturally, I made her climb the toughest hill in the area!”

Meaghan: “Even after he made me climb the crazy hill, I was still interested in seeing where this would go!

So, here we are, almost six years after first meeting, still riding bikes, raising money for cancer, and looking forward to our long journey together.

Our friend who officiated our ceremony is an 11-year rider and one of Johnny's best friends.  He introduced Johnny and me at the 2010 PMC.  

Johnny and I wrote our vows separately, and we both made a promise to each other to ride the PMC as long as we can!

My mom's toast talked about how biking is not only good for our health but also for our hearts.  

We gave a toast to our guests, and it was focused around the power of the PMC, why we both ride, and what we have accomplished. Our wedding had around 100 guests, and 19 of them were PMC riders. We tallied all the money raised by these friends over their years riding, and we reached $3 million just from that room alone!

We also realized that every one of our guests (the non-riders) had donated to one of our rides over the years.

In lieu of favors, we made a donation to Amie White's team. This was very important to us since Amie was a big cheerleader for Johnny and me. Greg White was there at the wedding as well.

It is hard to put in words how the PMC has changed my life, and I know Johnny says the same.  I have met so many people who have impacted who I am and what I stand for, and now I have the love of my life at my side, feeling the same way. To have such a shared passion that impacts others in such a positive way is rare.”

– Submitted by Meaghan & Johnny

Johnny Morin, 20-year rider; Team Bikes Fight Cancer
Meghan Morin, 18-year rider; Team Stirling Strong