#WhyIPMC guest blog by 38-year rider Charlie Larsen
In 1981 our son, David was getting radiation treatment in Boston for a malignant tumor. That July I read about this wacky bike ride in the Boston Globe that 30 or so people had done the year before, and there was going to be another one in September. One feels helpless when family members have cancer, but this was a tangible way to actually do something.
For all but one of the next 15 or 20 PMC's, I was the largest fundraiser, proving it is much easier to raise money for the PMC when you don't live in Boston. The one year I lost, the biggest fundraiser was Fred Klinghoffer, a friend from New Jersey that I brought into the PMC the year before. In my 37 PMC's I've raised over $3 million, even though I became "Charlie who?" to some of my largest supporters soon after I retired.
Last year was going to be my ride as my hope was realized to have three generations of Larsen's riding in the event from Sturbridge. What a thrill it was to draft behind Claire, my oldest granddaughter, on the windy part of the approach into P-town! Now I have to ride again this year because I have the chance to ride with two daughters and two granddaughters!