Dave Cambria has been riding in the Pan Mass Challenge for 15 years. Fifteen years of training and fund-raising, and still each year there is a moment where he is overwhelmed, just as he was the first year. 

Miles into the ride, there is a rest stop and lined up across the stop are photographs of the children receiving treatment at the Dana Farber Cancer Institute. 

“You ball your eyes out,” Cambria said. “How do you not do that?”

Cambria is a member of Team Fraid Knots, which includes a number of Barrington residents. The Fraid Knots started riding in the PMC in 2012 — at that time, Garrett Ames’s son, Charlie, had been diagnosed with cancer. Now, 11 years later, Charlie is cancer-free and heading into his senior year in college. And the Fraid Knots are still together and still raising money through the Pan Mass Challenge — the group recently eclipsed the $1 million mark.

“It was all to support Garrett and his family,” said Chip Wilkerson, another member of the Fraid Knots. 

Wilkerson said that with cancer, people often feel powerless. The Pan Mass Challenge provides them an opportunity to do something in the fight against cancer, he said, and 100 percent of the money raised through the riders goes to patient care. 

Each rider is required to raise $6,000 to participate in this year’s Pan Mass Challenge. The Fraid Knots have established special events to help with the fund-raising. There is a Kentucky Derby party and about three years ago, riders established a special kids ride. 

About 140 kids show up, pay a small entry fee, and participate in a ride around the Country Club Plat neighborhood. Claire Moscrop played a key role in organizing the kids ride. Claire’s husband, Tony, is a member of the Fraid Knots and said the kids ride opened up a whole new avenue for fund-raising. 

The Fraid Knots have deepened their connection between the ride and the community by offering a banner for people to sign. Garrett Ames said people are welcome to add a name to the banner of someone who has been impacted by cancer. 

“We’re truly honored to ride for anybody in your life,” Ames said. 

The Pan Mass Challenge offers a few different routes — there are two-day rides, including one from Sturbridge, Mass. to Provincetown, Mass., single-day rides from Sturbridge to Bourne or Bourne to Provincetown; and a one-day 100-mile Wellesley Century. 

Fraid Knots member Matt Leffers is riding in a new, unpaved 50-miler. Leffers said he is looking forward to the ride, and feels an obligation to participate in the PMC each year. Leffers said each year, donors reach out to him and ask if he is riding again.

“The donors set aside money every year,” he said. “That gives me a sense of responsibility, year after year.”

The Fraid Knots also said that they have been blessed by a great group of residents and businesses who sponsor them each year — Bluewater Bar and Grille, Grapes and Grains, Brickyard Wine and Spirits, Compass, Residential, NBX and Ron Resmini.