Sometime things come out of nowhere that shock the hell out of you.

I found out just through pure chance that a good friend of mine, that I have unfortunately not seen enough of in far too long, has a son with a brain tumor.  Little Will is only 15 months old and no child should have to deal with something like that, no parent should either.

What informed  me was a benefit ride for Little Will and his family that I saw on Bikereg.com.
Daddy (Big Will) was one of the guys I spent many weekends racing road, cyclocross and mountain bikes with back when we were all younger and had a lot less responsibility.  He is one of a close group of guys I spent countless weekends with all around New England.  There was no way I could miss this ride.  I had to give to this cause and go show my support.

Luckily Mia agreed to do the 50 mile loop with me.  So I would not have to go alone.

Will grew up in Petersham, MA and one of his best friends was the mastermind behind this ride.  There was both a 25 mile and 50 mile option.  Most on back roads with very little traffic and stunning views.  Will grew up in a beautiful area of Massachusetts.  Contrary to popular belief, Mass is not just Boston and “the burbs” there are quite a few areas that are really quite beautiful…They’re the areas that remind me of NH.  (ha ha ha)

The ride started in very chilly temps of just barely 30 degrees, luckily the sun was shining and there were fairly light winds.  The first 3-4 miles of the ride were pretty much downhill, which did not help given the temps, but soon enough the climbing started.  It was up and down for most of the day.  Nothing really brutal, just up and down.  There were only 2 really tough climbs.  One was just long, but not steep, and the other was just the opposite, it was short, but crazy steep in a few spots.

It was a lot of fun, and close to 100 people showed to give support to Will and his family.  When I talked to Will via emails earlier this week, he was not sure if he would make it out or not.  Little Will had a treatment yesterday, and usually the day after tends to be a bit rough.
Lucky enough Will was there when Mia and I finished and I got to see a good friend that I have not seen in a long time.  It was great to catch up and the prognosis for Little Will looks very good!

So a great day of riding, doing some good and giving some support to a friend.  It was well worth the cold temps and never ending hills!

Thanks for reading

-Pete