JOURNAL
-
Fifty miles of gravel for Dana-Farber
Hi there, On October 3, I’m riding the PMC Unpaved, the Pan-Mass Challenge’s gravel event in the Berkshires. Fifty miles and five thousand feet of climbing, out of Camp Mah-Kee-Nac in Lenox. It will be my fifth year. Every dollar raised by riders goes to Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. Not most of it. All of it. The PMC covers its operating costs separately, so what you give passes through whole. Since 2022, friends and family have put just over $20,000 into these rides, almost all of it in gifts of $25 and $50. It does not work because a few people…
-
Back to the Northwest
Portland & the Oregon Coast In April of 2024, Jess and I flew west to Portland, Oregon, to celebrate the wedding of two friends from our earlier life in the Pacific Northwest. It was one of only a few trips we’ve taken without the kids, and the change of pace felt good, it was a chance to get away together and slip back into the grey, moody rhythm of the Northwest. We spent the first few days in Portland ahead of the wedding, exploring the city by e-bike along its many bike paths. The rides carried us past some of…
-
A Season in the Dirt: spring baseball
Franklin Youth Baseball We’re approaching the terminus of my boys’ third and first grade years and I’m turning back the dial in my mind on how quickly we got here. They say time flies when you’re having fun—but I suspect there are additional catalysts at play. Maybe it was the rain, which felt almost scheduled to arrive each weekend. Or was it the cold that hung on just a little too long, as if winter hadn’t shaken us quite yet. It is New England after all and the weather is fickle. Maybe it was the pace of our days; stacked…