#WhyIPMC guest blog by Ed Shapiro, Living Proof, 1st-year rider
Although, I have been a Cyclist for the past 40 years this is the 1st year I will be riding the PMC. Like many of you, the scourge of cancer has either threatened me personally or someone near and dear to me. Indeed, on the day I registered to ride this year's PMC, 2 close friends related to me ongoing battles with the disease. .jpg?width=300&name=Wilder%20Mid%20April%20(3).jpg)
As a survivor myself(Adenoid Cystic Carcinoma, diagnosed in 1998, 22 year survivor), I know the full range of emotions related to it: from life changing fear to the resolute grit to fight that emerges from seemingly nowhere. 
Since that time 22 years ago, I make the effort to look upon each day with gratitude.
An event like PMC allows me to express that gratitude, doing something I love as well as to helping end something I hate. .jpg?width=300&name=Eddie%20on%20School%20Road%20(2).jpg)
Last Friday, May 1st, along with all the other participants of this year's PMC, I got a note from Pan-Mass Executive Director, Billy Star. in which he reluctantly announced the cancellation of this year's PMC. While not entirely surprised because of all the safety issues related to COVID-19, I was never the less saddened by this news. Like all the other participants in this year's PMC August 2-day ride, I have been putting much energy into fundraising as well as training.
Billy went on to say that, in spite of this set back, the need to support The Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, doesn't go away. The war on Cancer must continue. Indeed, Billy announced that the PMC will be reimagined as a group effort performed separately. I heartily concur.
On August 1st and 2nd, to the extent that social distancing guidelines are relaxed, I will be riding support the battle against this scourge.