Husband and wife bike to find a cure for cancer

For the past five years, Kelly Knowles has served as sideline support and cheerleader for her husband Ken as he biked almost 200 miles over two days in the Pan Mass Challenge.

Along with the couple’s three children, Caitlyn, Justin and Cam, Kelly has watched the action along the route which starts in Sturbridge, Massachusetts and ends at Provincetown.

“The kids have a blast watching all these people going by on their bikes. Everyone going by is smiling, everybody’s having a good time,” Kelly, 40, said. “I’ve loved being a spectator.”

During Ken’s sixth time in the Pan Mass Challenge last weekend, her entire perspective changed. She was no longer a spectator but a participant with her husband this time.

Ken, 41, had been trying to recruit her to ride for about three years, and while she had never biked much, this spring she gave in.

“I didn’t even have a road bike,” she said, adding she started training in April for the ride. Her first real training ride was nine miles. “I definitely think I felt it in the beginning and then it just sort of became routine. Then I would build up and build up.”

At the end, her average weekly training ride was 28 to 30 miles. Her longest was 60 miles.

For the uninitiated, the Pan Mass Challenge is an annual charity ride in Massachusetts that draws over 6,000 riders who raise money and ride for cancer research. The ride has a number of different routes, including six two-day routes that range from 132 to 192 miles and six one-day rides from 25 to 110 miles. Ken and Kelly did a two day route this year. I can’t even imagine. I made it through one spin cycle class at the gym and couldn’t walk for days.

Conditioning ahead of time for the ride was key and I am a bit in awe of how they managed to fit in their training rides in addition to work and life. Kelly is a nurse while Ken is co-owner of Eaglebrook Engineering and a former chairman of the Exeter Planning Board. Factor in being parents to three children and it’s even more of a challenge to find time to ride but they persisted. They got creative along the way as they built up to longer training rides. Ken would ride for a while, then Kelly would ride when he got home. Then both would finish their ride together.

When it got tough, they remembered why they were riding.

“You end up riding because you can is the best way to describe it,” Ken said, pointing out others can’t because they are no longer with us, or not physically able to ride.

The ride is personal for them. They rode this year in honor of two family members who lost their battles with cancer. Kelly’s Uncle Dennis, passed away in April while Ken’s Aunt Doreen, died two years ago. Pictures of both were taped onto their bikes during the ride.

Ken, who has been a recreational cycler for a number of years, rode in his first ride in honor of his business partner Mike Juliano. Mike, a triathlete, had been diagnosed with non-Hodgkin lymphoma and was unable to run, swim or ride for a year and a half during his treatment. It prompted Ken to try the PMC.

By the following year, Mike was riding alongside Ken during the PMC. The two trained together, riding 20 to 30 miles during their lunch period. Ken averages 100 to 150 miles a week on a bike.

While Ken rides in memory of those who had passed away, he also rode to honor survivors.

“I ride more because of the success stories,” Ken said, pointing to a colleague’s daughter who recovered from a brain tumor at age four that people usually did not survive. This year, she is 16 years old and rode with her father in the PMC. “I ride more because Mike’s recovery wouldn’t have been like that 15 years ago. Just the advancements in a relatively short time, I find more inspiring than anything else.”

While he did look down at the photo of his aunt while riding, Ken also watched people along the route. People with signs about how long they’d been attending. Or cancer survivors.

“There’s nothing that really compares,” he said. “There’s so much positive energy on the route that you can’t escape it.”

Kelly felt the same way.

“It’s just so positive, that feeling just sucks you in,” she said.

The Knowles started their route at 7 a.m. in Wellesley, Mass., and ended their first day about 2 p.m. in Bourne. The following day they went from Bourne to Provincetown. They rode with Ken’s business partner Mike and fellow Exeter resident Jim Farnham.

In order to take part, the ride sets minimum fundraising levels for participants. Both Ken and Kelly had to raise $4,800 each. They are still finalizing their donations and expect to reach almost $12,000 cumulatively. They are also still able to accept donations at www.pmc.org/kk0144 and www.pmc.org/kk0195.

The second day of the ride was much harder physically and mentally, Kelly said. Her legs hurt. She was tired but she thought to herself, “Yeah, my legs hurt, but it’s not cancer,” she said, adding she thought of the money being raised for cancer research and “I think of Mike who had beat it and was there riding next to you.”

She also though of her Uncle Dennis, a sports lover, and Ken’s aunt Doreen, a woman with a zest for life who was like a second mother to Ken. “She’d light up a room with a smile and a laugh,” Ken said.

As for whether they stayed next to each other during the ride, Ken was quick to respond. “We’re still happily married, so I rode next to her.”

Kelly added, “The one thing I told him when training is you better not leave me there.”

As she went from spectator to rider, Kelly found she had a new appreciation for her own spectator support squad. Along the route were their three children, both sets of parents, and her Aunt Donna, her Uncle Dennis’s widow. Seeing her aunt at the finish line was emotional to say the least.

“She was so proud and so happy. It was pretty great,” Kelly said, adding “It’s emotional but also you’re so elated. You’ve done it. I sat there and was like ‘Oh my God, I did it.”

Not surprisingly, the couple is already planning for next year’s ride.

“I think once you go in, it’s hard to go out,” Ken said. “There’s just this amazing feeling all weekend long.”

Kelly recalled talking with a woman whose husband was riding in what he said was his last PMC. The woman told her “it’s never going to be his last year.” Though it was only her first time, Kelly could relate.

“Once you’re in, you have this overwhelming feeling of wanting to do it again.”

— Lara Bricker is a former staff writer for the Exeter News-Letter, the author of two books of non-fiction and an Exeter resident. She can be reached at larabricker@hotmail.com on Facebook at Lara Bricker Author or on Twitter @larabricker.