Close to 20 years ago Karen Plantinga had signed up for a three-day bike ride for Aids starting in Boston and ending up in New York. Unfortunately, day one was cancelled due to a hurricane in the area, but the Northbridge resident was able to complete the second day ride (45 miles) and the final-day ride (75 miles). Now, on the first weekend of August, she is looking to ride her first-ever Pan Mass Challenge (PMC). Plantinga will be riding the 162-mile route from Wellesley to Provincetown.

The PMC is a bike-a-thon that annually raises more money for charity than any other single athletic fundraising event in the country. Last year, they raised a record setting $75 million bringing their lifetime fundraising for the Dana Farber Cancer Institute to over $1 billion since their inception in 1980 with 100-percent of ride money raised is donated.

This year more than 6500 riders and 3500 volunteers from around the globe will look to make an unparalleled impact on the fight against cancer.

Plantinga wasn’t specifically looking to get on a bike as she had been a long-time cheerleader at one of the stops for the riders, especially her friend Laurie Herndon. Laurie and her brother Kevin Murphy had ridden in the PMC on a triple tandem bike for the past twenty years.

“In February I happened to be having dinner with Laurie and I asked who her third rider was this year and she told me that the seat was open. Then asked if I wanted to ride with them?” Plantinga said. “I told her to give me a few days to think about it and eventually signed up to do it. In the past, I was always at the water spot to cheer them on with support when they rode through.”

Once she began contemplating the thought of riding with Laurie and Kevin, she came to the conclusion that it was no brainer, and when she signed up she was all in, and ready to take on the historical PMC ride. While she had begun to train on her own bike, it wasn’t until June that she finally was able to get on the triple tandem bike with Laurie and Kevin.

“They explained everything to me and what needed to be done. Being in the front Kevin calls out everything, Laurie is in the middle and I’ll be in the back and responsible for notifying the others when cars are near,” she said. “I’ve been on a bike all summer, but being on that bike was definitely different. It seems to wiggle and sway, but you just have to go with it and trust them. At times I had to just close my eyes as we were going around corners.”

Luckily Plantinga did well on her first ride, at least that’s what they told her. Keep in mind that the PMC is not a race, but a controlled ride with a lot of people taking part, not to mention all the people along the routes reassuring them. The most important part of the ride, according to Plantinga, was not letting her friends down.

“Laurie broke it down and told me that there were four water stops and to think of it as four 20-mile rides,” she said. “The PMC is amazing and totally supports all the riders and volunteers and sets you up for success. I feel that I have talked to all the right people and have trained the right way to be successful.”

Most people who get involved with the PMC have been involved with someone who has been inflicted with cancer in some way. Plantinga lost her mother Patsy in 2020 to Chronic Myeloid Leukemia and her husband Daryl had been diagnosed in 1992, three years before the two had met. 

Daryl and Karen were married in 1997 and in 2002 after the birth of their son Kyle, Daryl was diagnosed with Renal Cell Carcinoma (RCC), which was removed successfully and recently in 2023 a scan showed he had Papillary RCC, which was also successfully removed. Needless to say, Plantinga has had her share of being involved with cancer.

“Going on a two-day bike ride covering over 160 miles may sound scary, but it’s nothing compared to the challenges patients have to deal with,” Plantinga said. “To ride and support the Dana Farber is an honor and since its founding in 1980 the PMC riders have raised more than a billion dollars for lifesaving cancer research, treatment and patient care at the Dana Faber Cancer Institute.”

While Plantinga likes to stay in shape on a regular basis, she is very optimistic about the 162-mile ride to Provincetown over the two days and is looking forward to riding with Laurie and Kevin – she is just hoping not to disappoint them.

“Everyone is touched by cancer in some way or form,” she said. “Riding in the PMC is a great way to help the cause while also raising awareness.”