I’ve never been so passionate about something in my life.”

John Birs

Bristol resident John Birs loves to put miles on his bike — a typical weekend might see him getting together with friends to log 50 or 60 miles on a Saturday, with a (slightly) shorter ride on Sunday. He also does other distance rides, including the MS 150 in June. But the highlight of his riding season was this past weekend: The Pan-Mass Challenge (PMC).

The PMC is a 192-mile ride from Sturbridge to Provincetown that takes place over the course of two days every summer. Participants raise money that goes to benefit the Dana Farber Cancer Institute. Last year, the more than 6,500 riders raised $64 million, a goal they are hoping to surpass this year by another $2 million. The funds will continue to trickle in until Nov. 12, when they present the check to Dana Farber, and they are on track to hit their goal.

Birs alone has raised $108,045 in his five years with the ride. He’s at $32,849 this year alone, making him among the 10 percent top fundraisers for the event.

“I’m a small fry, but I try hard,” he said. “It’s the greatest feeling.”

He gives much credit to the generosity of family, friends, and clients. “Everyone knows someone who has been touched by cancer.”

“It’s a great event,” he said. “I’ve never been more passionate about something in my life.”

The event includes a sleepover at the Mass Maritime Academy at Bourne, a little past the midpoint, at about 110 miles. Day 2 mileage is 82, from Bourne to Provincetown.

Riders stay in dormitories or, if they’d rather, pitch tents on the lawn. The first night includes an event called the “Living Proof Tribute,” in which survivors speak to the amassed riders about the impact of Dana Farber on their survival and recovery.

“Pedal partners” — survivors — are also featured at the rest stops to keep motivation high and remind riders why they are riding. People also line the route with signs of their own, thanking the riders. “It’s just remarkable,” said Birs. “Dana Farber, and what they are doing to improve the outcome of people with cancer — that’s what it’s all about.”

The need for speed

For Birs, it’s not (just) a scenic ride, coupled with the opportunity to do good. He wants to crush it. He tries to maintain a speed of around 18 mph for the entirety of the grueling ride — and he achieved that this year, with a 17.8 mph pace on day one, and 18 on day two — despite the punishing heat. That places him in the top 1 percent of finishers, and he achieved a personal best on both days, even though it reached 98 degrees on Saturday, and 96 on Sunday. “I won’t pretend it was easy,” said Birs.

“The heat and humidity place 2022 as one of the top three brutal heat rides of all time, along with 1983 and 1988,” said Billy Starr, founder and director of the PMC, now in its 43rd year.

Birs encourages anyone who is interested to get involved, noting the tremendous cooperation with public safety officials along the route, calling it “a perfectly well-oiled machine.” And for fat-tire enthusiasts, there a gravel ride in the Berkshires in October.

For Birs, his favorite part of the annual weekend is the very beginning of day 2, when riders depart the Mass Maritime Academy at dawn and head over the Bourne bridge, with the view of the rising sun at the end of the Cape Cod Canal.

You might think that at the end of 192 miles over two days in the August heat that Birs would be ready to put his bike away for a few days — you’d be wrong. “There’s so much emotional adrenaline, I just want to do it again.”