pt at large

Ride To Defeat ALS 2022: Scenes from September 18, 2022

Scenes of the day at The Longfellow Club in Wayland, MA.

September 18, 2022

A contingent of Pete Farricker's Ultimate Frisbee teammates show up for every ride and donate generously. The "Spirit of the Game" award was created to honor Pete Farricker's impact on the sport.

Several teams raised money for friends and relatives

with prompting from WCVB Meterologist Cindy Fitzgibbon the crowd shouts "Good Morning America!" ...she aired it on her "Eye Opener" weather forecast show the next day.

Presentations by Executive Director John Hedstrom and WCVB meteorologist Cindy Fitzgibbon.

Relaxing after the ride

Cheering arrivals...

Returning riders...

Photos by Paul A. Tamburello, Jr.

History of Positive Spin for ALS, Ride to Defeat ALS

Written in December 2022,  a week after Rebecca "Becca" Wertheimer sent me the transcription of our interview at the Ride To Defeat ALS, held at the Longfellow Club in Wayland, MA September 18, 2022.

Becca created "STORIED", a terrific vehicle in a time when social media generally high-jacks authentic story telling.

Great interview by Rebecca "Becca" Wertheimer who created "STORIED". I composed this after she sent sent me the transcription of our interview at the Ride To Defeat ALS, held at the Longfellow Club in Wayland, MA September 18, 2022.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/q891r333iefghy2/Paul%20Tamburello%20and%20Myke%20Farricker%20ALS%20ride%202022.wav?dl=0

Consider this a 20 minute podcast in which Becca asks how and why I created the ride, how and why I got the idea to carry the names of Honorary Riders in my bike bag during each ride, and my connection with Myke Farricker over the years. Myke's brother Pete, who succumbed to ALS, a member of a world championship frisbee team, is the red-headed athlete on our T-shirts.

Myke is the co-owner of the Longfellow Clubs in Natick and Wayland, MA where the ride has been held for over 20 years. Myke adds to the story right after I finish.

Riders sat down to share their stories of why they rode in the fund raiser and for whom they were riding. https://www.storiedme.com

Storied is the answer to preserving family history, lore and funny tales. It is a unique way to facilitate sharing what you love, admire, and have learned from those around you."

As a Licensed Clinical Social Worker for over a decade, I have spent hours honing the skills of listening, asking questions, and helping people feel comfortable sharing. With Storied, I use these skills to promote joy and connection

Becca welcomes every interviewee, makes it an easy space for everyone to tell their story. True to her purpose, she promoted joy for me and Myke as we had the opportunity to tell the " creation story" of the ride.

Myke recalled how we met at a personal growth seminar in the 1970s and later joined forces to merge my solo Positive Spin for ALS and a group ALS fund-raiser held at The Longfellow Club into the Positive Spin for ALS and now the current Ride To Defeat ALS.

The Ride To Defeat ALS raised $435,000 in 2022 and $3,555,225 total in the ride from 1995, which includes $300,000 from my solo rides

Riders did the "TALK WITH ME SHARE WITH THEM" process to say why and for whom they were riding. I've never such an opportunity to tell what I call the creation story of the ride that began with a visit to a neurologist at Mass General Hospital in 1975 and continues to this day. Once I began, the words came out in a torrent and in the most appropriate time and place to tell them, the September 18, 2022 Ride To Defeat ALS.

Myke had the shirts and hats made for our first rides in 2003!

This event is the great grandmother of ALS fund raisers. A Positive Spin for ALS that I created in 1995 was the first bike ride in the country dedicated to raise money for research and direct services to ALS patients. Now known as Ride to Defeat ALS, it became the template for rides that now take place in California, Florida, Idaho, Illinois, Massachusetts, Michigan, Oregon, and Washington.

As I note in my story with Becca, my solo fund-raising rides before merging to make it a participatory ride were 1995-2004 - I sent appeal letters before every ride and followed with Thank You letters to each contributor within a few weeks of completing the "Spins."

As referenced above, Sue McNichols showing up as I was preparing to get on my bike at Plymouth Rock, handing me an envelope then driving away is one of many amazing stories about my rides.

Appeal letter and Honorary Rider inserts that were in each appeal letter that I sent for my ride in 2020. The recording of  "my story" in the link above explains how I was inspired to create "Honorary Riders,"  the "connective tissue" between me and the ALS community over the years.

FACTOID #1: While pedaling through Myles Standish State Forest south of Plymouth, MA in 1995, I said to self, "You're putting a positive spin on how you're dealing with this life change...if I do this ride again, that's what I'm going to name it...A Positive Spin for ALS"...and so it became!

FACTOID #2: During my June 14, 1997 ride, I was interviewed on air by Matt Pitta, WQRC Hyannis, MA. I had borrowed one of the first mobile phones from a friend so he could reach me and conduct the interview while I was pedaling through through Myles Standish Park. Way cool.

Ceremonial Rdes To Honor ALS Patients...A Tradition

November 26, 2022

Ceremonial rides To Honor ALS Patients

One way or another since 2004, Myke Farricker and I have created a commemorative event to honor ALS patients past and present.

Myke is co-owner of The Longfellow Club in Wayland, MA, the staging area for the first rides when the Positive Spin for ALS became a group event and  Ride To Defeat ALS, The rides have raised over 3 million dollars for the ALS cause.

The first were short ceremonial bike rides in Wayland in 2002 the day after the "Positive Spin for ALS", later renamed "Ride To Defeat ALS", was completed.

In years after that, we strapped our bikes onto  Myke's Prius, drove to Truro, MA, parked at a motel at the crest of Route 6 with a magnificent view of Provincetown, and pedaled about 9 miles to First Landing Park and the jetty at the very end of US Route 6A.

As in years past, we met with Susan Lyman whose husband Doug, a beloved EMT and volunteer fireman, died of the disease. We walk onto the jetty, the tangy smell of the salt marshes nearby, and in a moment of silence, honor the patients Myke and I have raised money for. For Myke, it’s personal. His brother Pete, known as Wheels" by his team mates, was a member of the Rude Boys 1982 UPA U.S. National Championship team,  lost his life to ALS in 2001.

The tradition continues to cement a bond between me, Myke, and Susan. The challenge of finding a cure for amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, first diagnosed in 1869, continues. So will the Ride To Defeat ALS.

Myke and I are proud that the “Positive Spin for ALS” is the template for seven "Ride to Defeat ALS" rides now sponsored by ALS Association chapters around the country. They’re currently held in California, Illinois, Florida, Michigan, Oregon, Washington, and Massachusetts.

 https://ptatlarge.typepad.com/ptatlarge/2014/10/annual-post-spin-spin-myke-and-pt-hit-the-road-for-provincetown.html

 

Historic marker at First Landing Park at the very end of U.S. Route 6 A..behind the marker is.the jetty where we take moments to honor the men and women who contributed or whose names were sent with contributions to the Positive Spin for ALS then the Ride to Defeat ALS

Myke had the shirts and caps made for our ceremonial ride in 2008. Myke's brother Pete "Wheels" Farricker was on the world championship Frisbee team, The Rude Boys,  in 1982.

Every year we walk onto the jetty...moments of silence for every patient whose names were sent with contriburtions or who contributed themselves.

Mission accomplished November 26, 2022...

The MA Chapter ALS Association added this paving stone in my honor in 2002.

Myke, Susan and Paul at the paving stone honoring the rides made by Myke, Paul, and Sam Trumbo from the staging area about nine miles away in Truro, MA.

Susan Lyman has greeted us at every ceremonial ride...

November 26, 2022

Susan and her husband Ken Stebbins

Sam Trumbo made the ceremonial ride from the Salt Pond Visitor Center in Eastham to First Landing Park with  Myke and me in 2007

https://www.nps.gov/caco/planyourvisit/visitorcenters.htm

History...we keep on truckin' for the cause,

https://ptatlarge.typepad.com/ptatlarge/als_positive_spin_for_als_stories/

More history...

2010 MA Chapter announement of 2010 Positive Spin for ALS

The event took place on Sunday, June 13, 2010 at the Longfellow Club in Wayland.  Now in its 16th year, the Positive Spin is The ALS Association Massachusetts Chapter's longest running event.  It began with just one rider - Paul Tamburello - and has since grown to include several hundred people riding in support of the fight against ALS.  The Spin offers a challenge for riders of all skill levels.  Whether you ride individually or as part of a team, it is an incredible day for all who participate!

 

https://ptatlarge.typepad.com/ptatlarge/2014/10/annual-post-spin-spin-myke-and-pt-hit-the-road-for-provincetown.html

 

 
 
 
 

25th Annual Ride for ALS: Part 3 Photos, Videos

25th Annual Fund Raising Bike Ride for ALS

Ride to Defeat ALS, September 22, 2019

The Longfellow Health Club,  524 Boston Post Rd, Wayland, MA 01778

"I Ride For Nanna"...

This pretty much summarizes the spirit of the day. Every one of the 305 riders carried the name of someone with ALS in their hearts or written on their bibs.Whether they rode the 70 mile ride (7 AM), the 50 mile ride (8:30 AM), the 25 mile ride (10 AM) or the 10 mile Family Ride (11 AM), they rode with purpose and the intent to end the scourge of ALS.  ALS, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, better known as "Lou Gehrig's Disease, was identified in 1869. We have found cures for cancer. ALS...not yet.

An 'orphan disease' is defined as a condition that affects fewer than 200,000 people nationwide. Approximately 5000 men and women are diagnosed with ALS every year. In 2018, an estimated 1,735,350 new cases of cancer were diagnosed in the United States. It doesn’t take much math to see why ALS is considered an “orphan disease” and offers drug companies less incentive to fund research. Trust me, the researchers digging in to find a cure are as relentless as the disease in their work.

Despite the nature of this brutal disease that renders the body incapable of voluntary movement and eventually ability to speak, eat, move, and even breathe, the mood today was incongruously celebratory.

Out of the 365 days of the year, this was one day in which people dealing with ALS could smile, feel good, have a lighter heart precisely because of a manifest sense of togetherness and commonality of purpose, a tribe on the warpath to defeat ALS, here to raise money to find a cure and support the MA Chapter programs to care for their Nana’s, neighbors, fathers, mothers, colleagues...the list goes on.  The money raised today has a number. The spirits raised today is incalculable. The Ride to Defeat ALS puts the rubber on the road and galvanizes hope and action with this one day fund raiser.

Registration and Participant Center FAQs

Before, during, after...everything you need to know about the day's rides, plus fees and fund raising requirement FAQs here.

The 10 mile family ride assembles at 11 AM...

25th Anniversary Ride!

Mission accomplished for this day... researchers and care-givers resume their work tomorrow.

Carol Ranson, Myke Farricker, DJ Mr. Jonathan

Myke Farricker and a contingent of Rude Boys who rode in memory of  Pete "Wheels" Farricker

The 10 mile ride is sent on their way...

Team Hope...

Team Hope members in their blue shirts were all over the place today. So were AppleFriends4ALS, Team Roy, Dalpe's Victory Crusaders, Spirit Team, Wheels for Welchie, Mitch's Marauders, Johnny's Reply, Biogen Rolling Clones, and George's Team and a score more.

Special Events Coordinator and Myke Farricker (co-owner of The Longfellow Health Club) after sending off the 10 Mile ride

The Rude Boys raised $10,000 in honor of Pete "Wheels" Farricker, a member of the world champion Ultimate Frisbee Team

Ride founders Paul Tamburello and Myke Farricker with Special Events Coordinator Ashley Corbin

MA Chapter E.D. John Hedstrom, Special Events Coordinator Ashley Corbin

A hug from Dad...

Channel 5 Cindy Fitzgibbon, today's MC, opens the program

Food and beverages tent busy all day long

Motorcycles! A NEW 40 Mile motorcycle route that will leave from the Longfellow Health Club at 10:30 AM, and should take about 1 hour and 15 minutes to ride.

Revved up and ready to ride...a great new tradition to add horsepower to the anniversary ride...they'll be back again next year.

Photos by Paul A. Tamburello, Jr.

 

 

25th Anniversary Ride for ALS: Notes From A Founder

The great grandmother (and first) of all bike ride fund raising events in the country...maybe even the world, for the ALS cause!

September 22, 2019 - 25th Anniversary Ride To Defeat ALS - 305 riders, 48 teams, about a dozen motorcycle riders (yes motorcycles!)  raised over $270,000 (and still counting) for research and for support services provided by the MA Chapter ALS Association

Months of planning and organizing rolled out perfectly under a sunny cloudless blue sky …Ashley Corbin's program script knitted together everything that sets this event apart, the deep sense of commitment to finding a cure, the involvement of people who have a direct stake in finding it - patients, their families and caregivers - and volunteers who want to be part of such a one of a kind event. Positively healing, nurturing, community building and soul-settling just by being there.

The beginning of the story...The first "A Positive Spin for ALS," a solo ride from Plymouth Rock to Provincetown, MA, happened in 1995,  created by Paul Tamburello. It later merged into the participatory event "Ride to Defeat ALS" staged from The Longfellow Health Club in Wayland, MA. It has raised over 2 million dollars for the ALS cause since 1995. A pretty good number considering approximately 5000 cases a year are diagnosed compared to an estimated 1,735,350 new cases of cancer that were diagnosed in the United States in 2018.

ALS organizations have come a long way since 1995, are better equipped to support men and women diagnosed with ALS, closer to a cure but not there yet. Yesterday was a flawlessly organized milestone, the 25th Anniversary Ride for the ALS, descended from  A Positive Spin for ALS,  the first and longest running bike ride find raiser in the USA for the ALS cause. 

This anniversary year, we resumed the "Roll Call of Honorary Riders," a feature of the original A Positive Spin for ALS. Myke Farricker co-owner of The Longfellow Health Clubs (and one of the founders of the fund raising bike ride with which Paul Tamburello merged his Positive Spin for ALS0 and I read the names of the men and women for whom todays bikers raised money and rode one of the four routes . Somber, reflective, celebratory all at once, it is what a musician friend of mine refers to as "Calling down the spirits."

 

The Rude Boys contingent reminds us every year of the the legacy of Pete “Wheels”  Farricker, their friend and teammate whose character so indelibly impacted the sport of Ultimate Frisbee that the organization created the Farricker Spirit Award ("The Farricker Spirit Award is given to the player in the men's division of the USA Ultimate's National Championship Series adjudged to have exhibited personal responsibility, integrity, and fairness combined with a high standard of playing ability.") They've come from near and far. If one of them couldn't get here, they rode a route somewhere else in Pete's honor.

 

I’m grateful for my friendship with Myke Farricker that began years ago when we met at a personal growth seminar and restarted when the Longfellow Club hosted a fund raising ride for ALS.

 

I thank the stars that Ashley Corbin took over the ride in 2016. Myke recalled that the number of riders and contributions  rose significantly every year since she took over. Numbers aren’t everything. How about adding having an open heart, being approachable, a good listener, being a certifiable inside and out of the box thinker with a well of energy deeper than Poland Springs. That begins to explain Ashley Corbin.

 

Vignettes from the day: 

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Small world connection - Steve Kowalski. a recently diagnosed man who works for Apple. I told him that my school system, Brookline, MA, was an early adopter of computer technology, and that in around 1986, my school, The Pierce School, received a lab full of Apple IIe desktops. My job was to learn how to use them then teach my fourth graders how to use them. His response floored me.

 

“I was involved in the rollout of that computer,” he says, then says, “Do you know Jane Manzelli?” 

 

“Yes! She was a motivating force promoting computer technology, gave us in-service workshops, told us this was the wave of the future, and she was right. She also lived in Watertown a half mile away from me.”

 

“I worked with her to get those computers into your system!” Steve says.

 

When I give him my email address so he can send me a confirmation for my donation that Apple will match, he smiles when he sees my Apple email address. Amazing...You could have knocked me over with a feather.

 

Steve tells me that in order to be doubled, I need to write the check to him and he will send to Apple. “You won’t be able to claim your contribution as a deduction since you’re making it out for me but it will be doubled,” Steve says.

 

In honor of the 25th anniversary, I donated $100 for each year of the ride. Whatever deduction I might gain was dwarfed by the fact that Apple would match the funds employee Steve Kowalski made to this fund raiser.  Steve's team (AppleFriends4ALS) received the "Most Spirited Team Award."

 

This out of the blue connection was stunning, right out the theory of six degrees of separation.

 +++

Doug McIlvaine, recently diagnosed, was the bravest speaker today. He started shaky and like an engine pulling a heavy load, picked up speed. I watched in awe and admiration as he gained momentum and purpose telling us how he wanted to live his life after being diagnosed and finished by hammering home the theme of hope (his Team Hope was everywhere today). Today we matched Hope with action. The positive effect of his message was not lost on anyone today.

+++

Roland’s wife Sandy ( on the Honorary Rider list) died May 2, a little over 4 months ago. Their son Austin borrowed a bike to ride in last year's event. He got the cycling bug, bought his own bike and rode today. A very together young man, he said his dad was waffling about coming to the ride, that he encouraged him to come. Roland not only showed up but did the 25 mile ride. Good medicine for both of them. Austin tells me how he and his dad cared for Sandy, managed the feeding tube, daily suction of saliva from her mouth, and the support, equipment, and advice  from MA Chapter ALS Association. There was alot of love between father and son as sometimes their roles reversed. And hundreds of very brave people taking part in the Ride to Defeat ALS.

 +++

Larry Shaps, whose brother has ALS, tells me about the book “Chicken Soup For The Soul” by Joan London , The Caregiver Edition.

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/13259702-chicken-soup-for-the-soul

 

Larry talked at length and with gratitude for the support from MA Chapter ALS Association for equipment, resources to manage the disease,  and the comfort of human connections when they needed it.  Scores of people here today got love and support from the MA chapter. That and the inclusive community nature of the event are what drives them here.

 +++

Music...from morning right to the finale. Mr. Jonathan Is My DJ is a whiz at reading a crowd. The guy has a library in his laptop that could fuel a two week party. He picks music that's keeps the mood festive and upbeat in just the right balance.

 

“We’re singing this for Ash…” Devri an Irish/Country/ Western Swing band with energy to spare sings…”500 Miles,”released in 1988 by The Proclaimers, a Scottish band composed of identical twin brothers, Charlie and Craig Reid (born 5 March 1962, in Leith) “We de do it at a faster pace than the original” says Declan. leader of the band, after the song finished and boy oh boy they rock it with fierce foot stompin’ energy.

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Motorcycles

That was the coolest new wrinkle in the 25th ride. A bunch of motorcycle dudes and gals all decked out in their gear, they were an imposing sight at last year's ride. I asked  one of them what the connection was and learned a friend was riding for a motorcycle buddy diagnosed with ALS. Ashley Corbin connected with them. "Ride on your motorcyles!"  It makes so much sense. It invites this tight community to do something that gives the public a kinder and more gentle outlook on them as a group often stereotyped negatively.

 

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A contingent of Rude Boys (and Girls)

This group of former Ultimate Frisbee champions contributes $10,000 every year to the ride in Pete's name. They have become one of the signature teams and contributors of this ride. The way they bond as a community, attack the ride in their own in imitable style, is a testament to Pete’s charisma, sportsmanship, and spirit and it's effect on everyone who played with or against him in his career of playing Ultimate Frisbee...that would include these Rude Boys  who unfailingly bring the spirit with them every time they take to the road in Pete’s honor. How much of an impact did Pete have on the game? How about the USA Ultimate, The United States National Governing Body for the Sport of Ultimate creating a Spirit of the Game Award in 2002: Farricker Spirit Award is given to the player in the men's division of the USA Ultimate's National Championship Series adjudged to have exhibited personal responsibility, integrity, and fairness combined with a high standard of playing ability.

+++

More Pete

One more thing from the website link above: About Peter Farricker

Peter "Wheels" Farricker was a person of spirit — teammate, friend, brother, son, husband and father. He was swift, clever, funny, smart, kind, and he attracted people with an ease and calmness many admired. Fair on the field, he was strong in skill, superior outside the lines. He was champion in many ways. Taken seriously without being overly serious, loved by many, he was and is for many of us a model of what we hope we can be.

 ++++

The Domino effect

Pete would  appreciate that that there were dozens of riders and men and women on Sunday who, like  him,  exemplified spirit and courage. It was inspiring...the beauty of it is that it rubbed off on anyone who witnessed it.

Photo courtesy of Jarvis Chen

Paul A.Tamburello, Jr.

25th Annual Ride for ALS: Routes, Details

2019 Route Descriptions

70 Mile Route  - 6:00 am Check in- 7:00 am Start
50 Mile Route  - 7:30 am Check in- 8:30 am Start
25 Mile Route  - 9:00 am Check in- 10:00 am Start
10 Mile Route   -10:00am Check in- 11:00 am Start

All rides will start and finish at the premier racquet and fitness facility, The Longfellow Club, and ride through the scenic suburbs of Boston.

The 70-Mile Ride | 7:00 AM Start

Riders will journey through “The Crossroads of New England”.  These riders will be riding a combination of the 50 and 25 mile route and get a tour of the scenic Metro-West region.

Riders on the route are fully-supported by the Safety Team, SAG Team, and rest stops strategically located throughout the routes.

The 50-Mile Ride | 8:30 AM Start

Riders will start their ride through the peaceful open spaces of Wayland and ride through the charming Village of Sudbury.  Riders will be thrilled to arrive in the “outdoor lovers’ paradise” of Hudson with its’ scenic New England charm.  As they continue to cycle, riders will be treated to the picturesque community of Bolton and then onto the beautiful sights of the small community of Stow which boasts several apple orchards.  After breezing through the forests of Acton, the riders will then embark upon the “natural world of beauty” in Concord and finish back at the Longfellow Club in Wayland.

Riders on the route are fully-supported by the Safety Team, SAG Team, and rest stops located every 4-10 miles.

The 25-Mile Ride | 10:00 AM Start

Riders will start their ride through the semi-rural setting of Wayland and ride through the open spaces of forests, marshes and fields which surround the river.  They will then go through Sudbury’s charming village taking in the picturesque atmosphere of wildlife and conservation land.  Riders will have a quick spin through Concord’s natural world of beauty and then back through Sudbury and to the finish at the Longfellow Club.

Riders on the route are fully-supported by the Safety Team, SAG Team, and rest stops located every 4-10 miles.

The 10 Mile Family Ride | 11:00 AM Start

Riders will start their ride through the semi-rural setting of Wayland and ride the peaceful open spaces to Sudbury.  Here they will enjoy the beauty of this charming historic mill village and serene neighborhoods.  The ride will bring them back to the Longfellow Club

Riders on the route are fully-supported by the Safety Team and SAG Team.

++++++++++++++

Before the Ride

Safety Training
The strength and endurance required to complete a ride will vary depending on your fitness level.  To train, start with a length of time that you are comfortable with, then work your way up gradually to just below the miles you have committed.  Consider cross-training in your training plan to decrease injury while building muscular strength and cardiovascular fitness.

Experimenting with cycling gear, nutrition and hydration is an essential part of training.  Use trial and error to figure out how your body reacts to specific gear, fluids and snacks during exercise. Always, listen to your body. Drink when you are thirsty. Eat when you are hungry. Stop and rest when you are tired. Make sure you have adequate sleep. Eat small amounts of carbohydrates every hour during exercise to maintain your blood sugar and provide your muscles with a source of fuel.  Alternate between water and sports drink. This combination of beverages will help replace the nutrients your body is using and may prevent dehydration or mineral imbalances that are common during endurance activities. 

Fundraising
We have many online tools to help you get to your goal! Click here to access the 2018 Rider Packet or e-mail [email protected] to learn more!

Chapter Communications
Make sure to check your email and our Facebook page to stay up to date on the latest news!

During the Ride

Check-In
You’ll need to stop by the check-in area to pick it your registration packet the morning of the event. Your packet includes a goodie bag with cool stuff from sponsors, a Ride t-shirt, rider number bib. You must meet the $250 fundraising minimum before you can Ride. You must check back in with the registration volunteers to let us know you have returned to the Longfellow Club safely. 

Jersey Orders
If you've raised $500 by the morning of the event, you can order your jersey at the Jersey Order table. If you're not sure what size to order, please try on one of the samples. (If you have not raised the $500, you will have 4 weeks after the event to meet the minimum. We will contact you about your size.)

Day-of Registration
If you are registering on event day, you will be required to pay the registration fee, $75, and the $250 fundraising minimum.

Meals
Each rest stop will be stocked with goodies to keep you going! Lunch will be served, starting at 12 PM, until the last rider gets back to the Longfellow Club.

Route Markings & Maps
The routes will be marked in a color corresponding to the distance you are riding. It will be posted on this site and also reviewed before each wave of riders departs. Maps (aka cue sheets) will be available for download through the Participant Center and will also be at the maps table next to check-in and at the start line.

Safety Team
We will have a SAG vehicle prepared to pick you up along the route, should you have any bike maintenance or medical issues. We will have medical personnel and bike maintenance volunteers at the Longfellow Club in case you need immediate medical attention or need simple bike maintance. Please make sure you pick up the cue sheet at the registration table with the cell phone number to call in case of emergencies. 

Rest Stops
Rest stops are located every 4-10 miles. The route maps will show the distance to each rest stop. Each rest stop will have water, gatorade, and snacks to keep you hydrated and fueled to continue on your ride. 

Finish Line
Once you cross the finish line, there will be plenty of food, music, and activities for the family. 

25th Annual Ride for ALS: Part 1

2019 RIDE PROGRAM

Sunday, September 22, 2019
Longfellow Tennis and Health Club
Wayland, MA

The great grandmother (and first) of all bike ride fund raising events in the country...maybe even the world, for the ALS cause!

12:15 PM –
John Hedstrom, MA Chapter ALS Association E.D.:

"Welcome to the 2019 Ride to Defeat ALS – and it’s the 25th anniversary of the ride! It’s great to see so many people gathered here today to raise awareness, for ALS, and to raise funds to support our cutting-edge research, vital patient care services and critical advocacy work at both the state and federal levels."

John introduces Cindy Fitzgibbon

"Back for her 3rd year as our Emcee is Cindy Fitzgibbon of NewsCenter 5's EyeOpener and Midday Meteorologist. Fitzgibbon is active in the Natick community where she lives with her husband and two boys.
It is my pleasure to introduce Cindy Fitzgibbon, Channel 5 Meteorologist, who will serve as our MC today."

Cindy Fitzgibbon:

"We’re not only here to show our support for those with ALS and their families, but we’re also here to raise essential funds that help the ALS Association provide support and services right here in the Massachusetts. Your fundraising dollars support things like home visits for newly diagnosed patients, support groups, insurance and benefits counseling, medical equipment loaners and funding the Curt and Shonda Shilling Certified Treatment Center of Excellence in Burlington."

"Last year, we introduced a new program called our Quality of Life Grants program. Grants of $500 per patient are awarded for items such as generators, DME Repairs, personal emergency response systems, hospital beds and transportation. With this program, we have been able to assist more than 40 families, to offset some of the extreme cost of care. We have seen the importance of giving support to children who have a loved one affected by ALS with our involvement for the past 4 years with the Hope Loves Company camp. To continue the outreach of support for kids, we have added a Y Cares Program to our fall symposium which will provide them with education about ALS. Our Technology Integration Specialist, Elisabeth Dolloff has increased the technology and communication program for the chapter exponentially. We have more communication devices and equipment than ever, and she has worked diligently this past year to help set up a program to provide specialized equipment and resources for those with ALS to be able to do voice banking, which allows them to have their own voice linked to technology."

"These are real-life services which help our neighbors, friends, and family and they would not be possible without your help. Thank you to all of you who raised funds for today’s Ride!"

"We would now like to take a moment to personally recognize today’s top fundraisers and top teams. A huge thank you to each and every one of you for your dedication and extraordinary efforts to help us further our mission!"

Special Events Coordinator Ashley Corbin presents awards as Cindy reads the names.

"Top Fundraiser: Geoff Marchant

If the team captain for the following teams could come forward and collect the prizes for your team:

Top Fundraising Team: Team Hope
Rookie Team of the Year: Team Hope OR Johnny’s Reply TBD
Most Spirted Team: AppleFriends4ALS

Congratulations! Give yourself a much-deserved round of applause!"

"The Massachusetts Chapter staff is made up of a group of dedicated people who worked tirelessly, and show tremendous commitment to the advancement of the mission of The ALS Association."

"Let’s meet the staff. Please wave when I introduce you:
John Hedstrom, Executive Director
David Bodah, Deputy Executive Director
Ashley Vellante, Special Events Manager
Loretta Lane, Communications and Advocacy Manager
Shannon Sullivan, Care Services Manager
Eileen Garry, Care Services Coordinator
John Adebayo, Care Services Coordinator
Elisabeth Dolloff- Speech and Language Pathologist and AAC Specialist
Heidi Henderson, Finance Manager

And last but not least…the person responsible for organizing this spectacular event -

Ashley Corbin, Special Events Manager"

"We are grateful to the many businesses that have supported our ride this year by becoming a corporate sponsor."

"A huge thank you to our 2019 Corporate Sponsors Victory HVAC, Village Bank, AASP-MA, Environmental Chemical, The Longfellow Health Club and Franks Spoke N Wheel. Our Ride Route Sponsors and Partners: Zarb Corporation, Accurate Graphics, High5Em, Castle Island Brewery, Mobility Works, Assabet River Bicycles, Atkinson Pool, Cultivate Care Farm, and Lincoln Sudbury High School."

"Special thanks to our lunch sponsors: Blue Ribbon BBQ, Jose’s Mexican Restaurant, and Crosby Marketplace.

We would also like to thank our in-kind sponsors for their generous donations to the event.

A couple of housekeeping reminders, - be sure to stop by the Tribute Wall to add a note or photo to share why you rode today. Also, if you haven’t already done so, make you sure you get a Ride Team picture with our excellent professional photographer, Jarvis Chen. Jarvis give a wave so people know who you are!"

Cindy introduces Patient Speaker Doug McIlavaine

"Our next speaker is here with his new ride team, Team Hope, who have been a huge part of the ride this year. He was diagnosed with ALS earlier this year and is here today to share his story with you. Please join me in welcoming Doug McIlavaine."

Doug shares his story. (5 minutes)
Back to Cindy

"Thank you Doug for your courage and sharing your story with us."

"A special recognition today is to a couple of important people, who without them, there would not be a Ride to Defeat ALS. Paul Tamburello started the ride 25 years ago, and  teamed up with Myke Farricker in 2002. Their original “Positive Spin for ALS” was the first bikeathon in the country dedicated to raising money for research and services for those with ALS. Myke graciously hosts us every year here at the Longfellow Health Club and goes above and beyond to support the event. We would like to invite both of them up here, and Paul is going to share some important history of the Ride."

Paul Tamburello speaks:
"Welcome to the great grandmother of all ALS Fund Raising Bike Rides…!
Every one of us here today has someone riding on our shoulders. 

They’re our Honorary Riders, with us in spirit or in person."

"A little history: In my appeal letters before my solo rides from Plymouth Rock to Provincetown, I included an insert with a return envelope that said, “I will place the names of all contributors in my bike bag when I wheel to Provincetown. Whether you wish to contribute or not, if you know the names of any ALS patients, past or present, whom you want to “ride” with me, please send their names to me. I will be honored with their company.”

Every name got packed into my bike bag on the handlebars. To commemorate and to celebrate the spirit of the Honorary Riders, Myke Farricker, Susan Lyman of Provincetown, and I stood on the jetty at the end of Route 6A to read the names of those men and women in what we called a “Roll Call of Honorary Riders.”

Names matter.

We’re about to reintroduce that powerful tradition today. In the words of a musician friend, “We’re calling down the spirit.”

Before we begin, I have to tell you one story. Scrawled on the insert returned to me before the 1999 Positive Spin for ALS was this note…”Bring Sally for the ride, she’d love it. Smoking Section, though. TEE HEE” in caps.

I called the sender and told him that until this year my bike bag had been a “Smoke Free” zone, but after receiving his letter, I opened a Smoking Section and sat his mom, “Smokin’ Sally,” smack in the middle of it. We both laughed at the image. I’m sure everyone in this crowd knows living with ALS doesn’t mean living without laughter.  Honorary riders, get ready!"

Myke Farricker (co-owner of The Longfellow Club) and Paul read the names. See list below...We thank each of you riders for being here today, and for riding in honor of your loved ones.

Back to Cindy

"We now have a few special awards we would like to present to some teams who have been an extensive part of our Ride.
Could we have a team captain from each of the following teams: Inker’s/Cathy’s Team, Spirit Team, George’s Team and Team Roy. You are being recognized today for your annual participation in the ride for 10 plus years!
Could we also have a team captain from each of the following teams: Boston Aussie’s, Dave Z’s Antiques, Hudson Outbacks, Team BuLL, Team Beson, Mitch’s Marauders, Shelley’s Heroes and Team Mrs. B – all of you have been part of the ride for 5 plus years. Let’s give a huge round of applause to these teams for their amazing dedication!

Now let’s celebrate all that has been accomplished here today and for the past 25 years – enjoy your lunch and stick around for the band!"

Note: DJ Mr. Jonathan was busy spinning upbeat music all morning long as teams assembled, rode, and returned to The Longfellow Club in Wayland. The band Devri treated the crowd to more upbeat music when the speaking program ended. Lots of positive energy all day long.

HONORARY RIDERS

 

25th Anniversary Ride for ALS: Part 2: Message from the Special Events Coordinator

September 22, 2019

The great grandmother (and first) of all bike ride fund raising events in the country...maybe even the world, for the ALS cause!

Message from Special Events Coordinator Ashley Corbin...

"It is hard to begin to find the words to express the genuine appreciation and thankfulness that we have for each of you who participated in our 2019 Ride to Defeat ALS. Yesterday was an incredible day from start to finish and each of you who were with us yesterday - whether you were a rider, volunteer, family member or part of someone's cheer squad, you all made the day the most memorable ride that we have ever had!! It was wonderful to see so many familiar faces, and see the hugs that were given out as if it was a large family reunion - and that is what we are, we are a family in this fight together!! The bar was set high for this year, and you all took on that goal and did an incredible job making this event a huge success!! With our 48 teams, and a total of 305 riders, you all not only reached the $260,000 goal but went over the goal at $270,000 and counting!! 

The amount of love, encouragement and hope was present in every part of the day, and we have all of you to thank for being there and pouring your hearts in to this ride. The sun was shining down on our celebration of 25 years of riding to end ALS, and we cherish the memories we shared with all of you yesterday, and we look forward to many more in the future!! We would also like to thank our wonderful photographer Jarvis for capturing the day for us - here is the link to his photos from this year! 2019 Ride to Defeat ALS

From the bottom of my heart, and from all off us at the MA ALS Association - THANK YOU!!!! 

Love, Ashley Corbin and MA ALS Association Staff

Photo courtesy of Jarvis Chen

2018 Post Spin Spin

October 3, 2018

The 24th Positive Spin for ALS, now named Ride To Defeat ALS, was held in Wayland, MA, on September 23, 2018. https://ptatlarge.typepad.com/ptatlarge/2018/09/ride-to-defeat-als-24-years-until-a-cure.html

Every year since 2001, Myke Farricker and I have made a ceremonial ride after our official fund raising rides have been completed. For the past ten years, we've driven to Truro, hopped on our bikes and made an eight mile jaunt to First Landing Park next to the breakwater at the end of Route 6A in Provincetown, MA, where we stand and honor the men and women whose lives have been changed by a diagnosis of ALS, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, also known as Lou Gehrig's Disease. This is personal. Myke's brother Pete, and my dear friend Janet Speers were lost to ALS.

We are usually joined by Susan Lyman of Provincetown, whose husband, Doug Trumbo, was a popular member of the Provincetown EMS team and died of the disease in 1996. Susan read about my Positive Spin in the Provincetown Banner. She a and her kids Sam and Hannah met me at the Pilgrim Landing Park when I completed my "Spin" in 1998.

While on the breakwater this year, we met Moffat, the world traveling bunny rabbit, with his globe trotting owner Christy Howard and her husband Jim, who were on a tour of New England from their home in Colorado. The chance meeting was amazing for several reasons. One of Jim's mentors succumbed to ALS. What are the chances our paths would cross at the moment Myke and I rode to First Landing Park in Provincetown?

We're proud of our work to raise money for the ALS Association MA Chapter and to support men and women and their families who are coping with the disease. What...you've never heard of the Zarb Corporation? Myke will tell you about it!

 
I mean, how can you not start a conversation with two people carrying a well-loved stuffed rabbit?

Christy and Jim Howard celebrated their 25th wedding anniversary with a two week jam-packed tour of New England. Of course, Moffat was along for the ride. Moffat is the perfect intermediary for teaching history to her primary grade students. She's pretty good at it.

Christy was named 2017 State History Teacher of the year in Colorado by the Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History. She was nominated for National History Teacher of 2019, pretty rarefied territory.

 

Christy takes photos of Moffat, brings them back to her classroom and viola, uses photos of the peripatetic rabbit as teaching tools. Even Susan, Myke, and I got a photo opp on the jetty.

 

After we met on the jetty, we walked through First Landing Park.

She'll undoubtedly use the photo of Moffat on the plaque to talk about the Pilgrim's first landing and teach history,  geography and maybe squeeze in some math.

One of the reasons they chose Provincetown? They're Teddy Roosevelt fans. President Roosevelt laid the cornerstone of the 252 foot granite Pilgrim Monument in 1907.  And of course Moffat had to include that you-can-see-it-from-10-miles-at -sea tallest granite monument int the United States in his travels. (Photo by Christy Howard)

To complete the TR connection, they dined at the historic Red Inn where President Roosevelt and his wife dined on their visit.

Moffat is now part of the lore of our ride!

Sam participated in the ride in Wayland in his senior high school year in 2006. In 2007, his freshman and sophomore years in college, he  joined me and Myke for three Post Spins Spins from the Outer Reach Motel in Truro to the First Landing Park. The whole family raised funds through 2009.

Sam hasn't ridden with us since moving to Baltimore but...thanks to Moffat, he's thinking about rejoining us next year!

"So this year is the 21st year of my family knowing you and sharing in your mission to ride to defeat ALS! What a ride and joy it has been!" says Susan.

Who knows, our ride and why we do it might even show up in Moffat's adventures some day.

 

Ride To Defeat ALS: 24 Years Until a Cure - The Videos

Story...

 

 Can I Get A Witness?... DJ Mr. Jonathan hits it on the head when he plays "Some Kind of Wonderful" by Grand Funk Railroad. We all got some kind of wonderful today when over 200 riders raised over $236,500. Note the burly bikers (at 22 second mark) who roared into the parking lot on their Harleys then stood along the finish line to cheer for one of their buddies who rode a much quieter (and slower!) bike for his his boss who has ALS.

 Friends and family cheered every returning rider...

The WAKE UP CALL!
Grand finale at the Longfellow Tennis and Health Club, Wayland Massachusetts: it took 4 takes and lots of laughter for WCVB Channel 5's Cindy Fitzgibbon to organize this "Good Morning!" video for her show!
http://ptatlarge.typepad.com/ptatlarge/2018/09/ride-to-defeat-als-24-years-until-a-cure.html

Videos by Paul A. Tamburello, Jr.

Ride To Defeat ALS: 24 Years Until a Cure

Sunday September 23, 2018

24th Annual Fund Raiser for ALS...from Positive Spin for ALS to Ride To Defeat ALS

The Longfellow Tennis and Health Club, 524 Boston Post Road, Wayland, MA 01778

11 AM

Ashley Corbin, Special Events Manager Extraordinaire for the ALS Association MA Chapter, does the count down for the 25 mile Pete's Ride. Pete Farricker was a member of the 1982 World Champion Rude Boys Frisbee Team. Pete's joyous sense of team, community, competition and fierce but overwhelmingly fair demeanor was the embodiment of Ultimate Frisbee's Spirit of the Game. https://www.usaultimate.org/about/ultimate/spirit_of_the_game.aspx  and https://www.usaultimate.org/spiritawards/#farricker

His teammates rallied around him when he was diagnosed with ALS in 1999. Pete died from the disease. His spirit did not. Their dedication lives on every year through the Spirit Rides held around the country http://www.spiritride.org/index.cfm  The Spirit Ride is now also in memory of another Ultimate Frisbee legend, Kathy Pufhal. The Spirit Rides raise serious money for the ALS Association MA Chapter and for Cancer Research.

The most successful ride yet, staged from The Longfellow Tennis and Health Club in Wayland ...raised over $230,000 with 270 riders on the 25, 50, and 75 mile routes in and around the Wayland, MA area. A radio operator spent the entire day monitoring communications between water stops and SAG wagons along each route. Every rider was accounted for!

 

Six men and women coping with ALS were present (more than at any previous ride), two of them with huge retinues of riders and supporters...

Welchie's Team (John Welch in green cap) was a rolling green wave of support on the road and on the ground. "Some of my riders didn't know how to adjust the valve so they could pump up their tires!" John said cheerfully. Good for showing them how, John!

 Riders, teams and patients relax...

and wait to cheer team members as they finish the ride...

Hot and cold food, fruit, ice cream, snacks for all, donated by local businesses. Even a cold beer at the end of a long ride!

Executive Director of MA Chapter ALS Association Lyn Aronson and Channel 5 TV personality Cindy Fitzgibbin get ready for final announcements.

 
Apple employee Steve gave stirring and uplifting remarks as hundreds gathered after riders had finished. "Apple not only matches donations made by employees, but right now they are doing a double match – for example, Steve made a $1000 donation to his team, and Apple sent a matching gift of $2000. In addition, they donate money per hour for any employee who volunteers at an event, and with the amount of employees that were there volunteering and riding, they are getting $1500 donated to the ride!" said Ashley Corbin, the Special Events Manager.

 

Steve Mooney, alumnus of the 1982 World Champion Rude Boys Ultimate Frisbee Team, MA Chapter ALS Association Executive Director Lyn Aronson with Myke Farricker, co-owner of the Longfellow Tennis & Health Club. Members of the Rude Boys team show up every year to support the event, sort of a mini reunion, and donate thousands of dollars to the ride.

PT, Myke and photo bomber Ashley Corbin

This was one of the most seamlessly coordinated rides I've ever witnessed. Individual riders, teams of riders, and people who showed up to support the ride were met by volunteers who welcomed and checked in riders, answered questions, handed out T-shirts, served food and beverages. There was an air of certainty surrounding the event. As Patriots coach Bill Belichick would say, "Everyone did their job."

I organized my solo Plymouth Rock to Provincetown "Positive Spin for ALS" from 1995 - 2004 for ONE rider, myself. I spent months preparing for it every year. I cannot imagine the time and skill it takes to pull off something like the Ride To Defeat ALS. It took me ten years to raise $300,000. Today's riders raised almost that much in eight hours!

Organizing for over 200 riders is the tip of the iceberg. Planning meetings, recruiting reliable volunteers, assigning them to jobs, printing road signs, buying supplies for water stops, printing route maps or making Apps for riders to use on the road, asking vendors to supply food and drink, hiring a DJ, enlisting a TV personality to put the ride on the media map...I could go on. Event coordinator Ashley Corbin was the coolest cucumber at Longfellow all day long. Unflappable.  As a former member the Board of Directors of the MA Chapter ALS Association, I fully realize the value, in terms of fund raising, positive infectious spirit, and creative thinking, Ashley brings to bear. She's a gem of an asset to the MA Chapter ALS Association. 

Events like this are bittersweet. ALS has no cure. That's why we are here...with resolve in the face of daunting odds, to control what we can, fight grief with with action, and keep moving forward. Having the event work so sure-footedly is a blessing.

  

Speaking of photo bombers, there's Mr. Jonathan, the fabulous DJ who skillfully read the crowd and provided songs to fit every mood of the day, behind us. And the Elite Wheels Team T shirts, sponsored by the Zarb Corporation...to be explained in a later  post.

Photos mostly by Paul A. Tamburello, Jr.

VIDEOS http://ptatlarge.typepad.com/ptatlarge/2018/09/ride-to-defeat-als-24-years-until-a-cure-the-videos.html

 

Annual Post Spin Spin: Myke and pt hit the road for Provincetown

Founders Myke Farricker and Paul Tamburello have teamed up since 2003 to make ceremonial bike rides after the Ride To Defeat ALS , formerly known as 'A Positive Spin for ALS', has taken place.

 

Since 2007, our ride has been a short haul from The Outer Reach Resort in Truro to the Pilgrim First Landing Park at the very end of Route 6A. Averaging a little over 14 mph for 7.5 miles the ride goes by in a flash, especially with Myke cracking jokes as he drafts me. We get serious when we reach the park and jetty and recount the cause and the people we ride for. Myke's brother Pete, my dear friend Janet Speers and hundreds of others, are just two of the "honorary riders," we've taken with us over the years.

 

One finger, four fingers...2014!

Two rituals at every post spin spin: ceremony at on the jetty and a photo opp.

We acknowledge the men and women who've succumbed to or are living with the disease and the vow to keep on trucking till a cure is found. Myke honors his brother Pete, who was always on a list of "honorary riders," names of ALS patients I carried with me every year sent me by friends and families and read aloud on the jetty after each ride.

 Photo opp! Myke and Paul at the paving stone they commissioned in the Landing Park in 2007.

Photos by Marie Christine, a tourist from Austria who was on a ten day tour of northeast Canada and America with her husband Teodore!

 

Record Breaking 20th Anniversary Bike Ride: Ride To Defeat ALS, formerly known as A Positive Spin for ALS

Ride To Defeat ALS, formerly known as A Positive Spin for ALS, turns 20!

As of the end of the day, raised $190,000...final tally might push it close to $200,000...stay tuned!

This event, dating back to 1995, is the great grandmother of ALS bikeathons. A Positive Spin for ALS was the first bike ride in the country dedicated to raise money for research and direct services to ALS patients. Now known as Ride to Defeat ALS, the rides take place in California, Florida, Idaho, Illinois, Massachusetts, Michigan, Oregon, and Washington.

Rides of 70, 50, 25 and 10 mile routes all beginning and ending at The Longfellow Club in Wayland, MA to benefit
Massachusetts Chapter ALS Association
September 28, 2014

Riders returning from their respective routes got rousing welcome back cheers from The Hudson Hawks Cheerleading team...9 and 10-year-old girls from Hudson, MA, who cheer for the Town of Hudson's youth football program. VIDEO

who took a short ice cream break after hours of cheering. VIDEO2

 

Hudson parent Kristine Connor's son Brad, Jr. (14) made the ten-mile ride in memory of Kristine's father, Brad, who died of ALS.  Her daughter Rachele (9 )is one of the Hudson Hawks whose upbeat welcome back cheers gave a boost to riders and spectators alike. (Photo top right) This dad rode ten miles trailing his son  VIDEO Kristine Connor

Thank you, Sponsors! Lester's BBQ and Legal Seafood's chowder truck provided tasty sustenance to hundreds today.

Long-time Longfellow Club employee Dick Gellis takes on "The Ice Bucket Challenge"...The challenge got national attention when popularized by Boston College former baseball star Pete Frates, diagnosed with ALS at age 29.

 

"This is for PETE!.." Dick shouted before getting doused, referring to Pete "Wheels" Farricker, brother of Longfellow Club Co-Owner Myke Farricker, who passed away from ALS in 1999. Pete was a world-class frisbee player with The Rude Boys who were so good they have their own Wickipedia page.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rude_Boys_(Ultimate)

 

As of August 29, over three million had taken the "Ice Bucket Challenge" raising over 100 million dollars for the ALS Association. Dozens more took the challenge today, including these two young riders and the three members of the band "Tree" who sang while the riders were on the road.

Photo opps, flowers and hugs to returning riders

 

Team Roy, top fund raisers: Leader Paul Roy, Jr.(third from right,photo above left) and his team raised over $6000 in memory of Paul’s father Roy who died of the disease 8 years ago. His mom, sisters and friends all ride and raise money in Paul Roy’s name and honor. Unidentified team above right.

The food tables with sandwiches, fruit, snacks and drinks. Riders and guests really dug in when the trucks from Lester's Roadside BBQ  and Legal Seafood (hot chowder) pulled up next to the tables.

pt with Myke Farricker, Pete's brother. Myke, co-owner of The Longfellow Clubs in Wayland and Natick, has arranged to host the ride at the Wayland club's site. In 2003, a ride an ALS fund raising bike event held at the Wayland club was merged with Paul Tamburello's  "A Positive Spin for ALS," which began in 1995.

A Positive Spin for ALS was the first bike ride in the country dedicated to raise money for research and direct services to ALS patients. Now known as Ride to Defeat ALS, the rides take place in California, Florida, Idaho, Illinois, Massachusetts, Michigan, Oregon, and Washington.

 

Ron Wallace of Lexington and his family. Ron was introduced by MC Emily Riemer of WCVB TV Channel 5 and bravely spoke of his ALS and support of the MA Chapter.

 
Treats for bodies and ears! Massage provided to grateful riders by Elements Massage of Wayland; recorded music provided by Mr.Jonathan. "I don't have a playlist. I have a sense of what song or music fits with the moment and play it," he says. Nobody does it better.

MC Emily Riemer of WCVB TV Channel 5, media sponsor of Ride To Defeat ALS, organizes riders, friends and families for a video to be played on Channel 5's Eye Opener the next morning. Executive Director Lynn Aaronson of the MA Chapter ALS Association (standing on right, photo on right above). VIDEO

 

Prizes given for groups raising the most money ...plus a huge scrumptious cake baked by The Prince Street Café and Bakery to celebrate!

Without scores of volunteers, this event doesn't happen. And without Jodie Dogner, who flew in from Chicago to supervise the ride for the third year in a row, it doesn't happen as smoothly. This woman is positively unflappable, a problem solver and buoyant force of the first order.

 

Myke, pt and Phil "Guido" Adams (left), alums of The 1982 Rude Boys Ultimate Frisbee Team and teammate of Pete "Wheels" Farricker. Pete was so respected that the US Ultimate Frisbee Organization created a "Spirit of the Game" award in his name. "The Farricker Spirit Award is given to the player in the open division of the USA Ultimate's Club Championship Series adjudged to have exhibited personal responsibility, integrity, and fairness combined with a high standard of playing ability."

For nearly ten years, Pete's former team members have organized "Spirit Rides" to raise money for various causes. They're a pretty inventive bunch and have stretched the definition of "rides" as they've gotten, ahem, older. "We put on events on the date of the Ride all over the USA and Hawaii: Marin County; Los Angeles; Park City, Utah; Dallas; Atlanta; Virginia; Connecticut; Northhampton, MA; Martha’s Vineyard; Philadelphia; Long Island. We’ve danced on beaches, put baseball cards in our kids’ bike wheels and had them ride through our neighborhoods, played disc golf, ridden our own bikes, and held walks," Adams says to describe the various fund raisers.

Today, 15 of Pete''s friends, former teammates and their families rode to honor his memory. They presented the ALS Association with a check for $10,000.

Pete, remembered by Golf Digest Chairman and Editor-in-Chief Jerry Tarde, was the highly-regarded Equipment Editor of the Connecticut based magazine. The 25-mile ride is named in his honor.

This old banner still flies near the entrance to The Longfellow Club in Wayland weeks before the annual bike ride. The spirit of both rides is the same: find a cure. Since 2003 the success of the ride has been insured as the Longfellow Club, under the leadership of Pete's brother Myke, has provided the location for the day's events.

Photos and videos by Paul A. Tamburello, Jr.

A Positive Spin for ALS Turns A Page

The Positive Spin for ALS Turns A Page

 

On September 9, 2012, the "Positive Spin for ALS" got a make-over. The ALS Association renamed the fund raiser “Ride to Defeat ALS” and is using it as a template for other rides across the country. An 18th birthday seems like a good time to tell a coming-of- age story.  

A diagnosis with a neuromuscular disease is what spurred me to create the event. My disease, spinal muscular atrophy, has been a very slowly developing condition. Every time I hit the dance floor, or rake leaves, or put on my shirt, I'm grateful for its slow progress.

+++++++++

“You don't have ALS," my neurologist at MGH told me in 1993. I'd gone through months of testing to determine why my left arm and shoulder felt weak and wouldn't keep up the repetitions during my aerobics classes. The disease I was diagnosed with, spinal muscular atrophy (SMA), was progressive but non-fatal.

Many of the men and women who had been in the Massachusetts General Hospital waiting room with me got the devastating news they'd contracted ALS, a neurodegenerative disease known better as “Lou Gehrig's Disease”. I felt I'd been spared and wondered why. I vowed to do something for others who weren't as lucky.

As a fourth grade teacher with summers off, I’d spent several vacations making long distance bike rides with destinations from Montreal, to Westport, CT to Truro on Cape Cod. Why not combine my love of cycling with a new twist – raising money for ALS.

So in 1995 I created the "Positive Spin for ALS", a solo 87-mile bike trek from Plymouth Rock in Plymouth, MA to Provincetown, MA. I sent appeal letters to everyone I knew, explained  why I was riding and how  their contributions would help. 2004 marked the last year of my 34 year career teaching fourth graders in  Brookline, MA, and the tenth and final year raising money for the ALS Association with my solo Positive Spin. I raised over $300,000 for the ALS cause.

Myke Farricker, co-owner of The Longfellow Club in Wayland, MA lost his brother Pete, a world champion ultimate frisbee player, to ALS in 2001. Myke was one of the organizers of the Ride4ALS in Wayland, MA, that raised money for ALS in 2001 and 2002.

In 2003, Myke and I merged the rides under the brand "Positive Spin for ALS," a fund raiser that continues to roll with 70, 50, 25, and 10 mile routes that start and end at The Longfellow Club in Wayland, MA. The 25-mile route, Pete's Ride, is named in memory of Myke's brother. Concurrent with the rides from Wayoand, I continued a solo version of the Positive Spin from Plymouth Rock to Provincetown in 2003 and 2004, my final fund raising ride.

Proceeds from the ride support research to find a cure and patient service programs sponsored by the ALS Association MA Chapter. Since its inception, the “Positive Spin for ALS” has raised close to 1.5 million dollars for the ALS cause. I’m proud to have raised over $300,000 in my ten years of Positive Spins (1995-2004). The 18th ride took place on September 9 and raised over $110,000.

Beginning in 2003, Myke and I remained at the event's hub at the Longfellow Club in Wayland on the event day. But no way we weren’t going to do some riding ourselves. We began to making short ceremonial Positive Spins in the days following the event, naming them our “Post Spin Spins.”

In 2007, we began a shorter ceremonial ride from Truro, MA to Provincetown, MA. For the first three years, we were joined by Sam Trumbo, whose dad Doug Trumbo died of the disease in 1997. Sam's mom Susan Lyman had helped generate publicity and donations when my ride ended in Provincetown. Susan has always greeted Myke and me at the Pilgrims' First Landing Park at the end of route 6A in Provincetown.

From 1997 to 2004, my Positive Spin ended with a "Roll Call of Honorary Riders," names of men and women, living with or having succumbed to ALS, sent to me by friends or family, a list I packed into my bike bag.

Myke, Susan and I continue the ritual of standing on the jetty at the water's edge in a moment of silence, a tribute to  the “Honorary Riders” who “rode’ with me through the years, to Myke's brother Pete, and Susan's late husband Doug.

This year, the “Positive Spin for ALS”, the country's first bike ride fund raiser to benefit ALS, has been renamed "Ride to Defeat ALS" by the national ALS Association.

Myke and I are proud that the “Positive Spin for ALS” is the template for seven "Ride to Defeat ALS" rides now sponsored by ALS Association chapters around the country. They’re currently held in California, Illinois, Florida, Michigan, Oregon, Washington, and Massachusetts.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

 

Myke Farricker and Paul Tamburello finish their "Post Spin Spin" in Provincetown, MA on September 28, 2012

Susan Lyman of Provincetown has been connected to the Positive Spin since 1998.

Paul, Myke, and Sam Trumbo (from 2007-2010) have made ceremonial rides from Truro, MA to Provincetown, MA

The 16th Positive Spin for ALS: Powered by "Wheels"

16th Positive Spin for ALS
The Longfellow Club
Boston Post Road
Wayland, MA
Sponsored by the ALS Association MA Chapter

The 16th Positive Spin for ALS kicked into gear on Sunday, June 13. One hundred fifty seven participants biked from the Longfellow Club in Wayland through some of the most picturesque countryside in eastern Massachusetts.

They rode for their fathers, their mothers, their sons, daughters, neighbors, friends, colleagues - all of whom are among the 5600 people diagnosed every year with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, ALS .

For the riders, pedaling one of the 10, 25, 50, or 70 mile courses today was a personal salvo against the cruelest of all neurological diseases.

ALS, also known as "Lou Gehrig's Disease," is a progressive, fatal disease that attacks motor neurons in the brain and spinal cord that control functions such as walking, talking and breathing. Symptoms include muscular wasting, loss of speech, and eventual total paralysis. Identified in 1869, there is no known cure for it...yet.

The ride raised money to support research for a cure for the disease and for the ALS Massachusetts Chapter’s outstanding programs for patients and caregivers in the region.

The special wrinkle in this year’s event was the arrival of a sea of riders in orange T shirts. The fifty Orange shirted men and women all had a connection with the late Pete “Wheels” Farricker, who died of the disease ten years ago.   

Pete Farricker was an Ultimate Frisbee legend whose fame crested on his athletic ability, big-hearted nature, goofy sense of humor, and life-affirming personality. His fierce competitive spirit at the highest level of the sport was matched to a sense of fair play that is the bedrock of this highly charged, fast paced game. 

If the General Mills Company had any sense at all, they would have stuck Pete’s face on their Wheaties Box for a season honoring his membership on National and World Ultimate Frisbee Championship teams.

“We were devastated when Pete emailed us to tell us of his illness in 1999.  We were in our late 30s, not really at that time in our life when mortality was in the lexicon,” former teammate Phil Adams said.

“We mobilized. We organized a reflection/celebration of Pete's life about 6 weeks before he passed, and from that we launched the Peter Farricker Foundation to do two things.  Name Ultimate's “Spirit of the Game” trophy after Pete (kind of like Hockey's Lady Bing trophy) with an endowment to fund it in perpetuity, and raise money for ALS.”
 
The Pete Farricker Spirit Award is given to the player in the open division of the USA Ultimate's Club Championship Series adjudged to have exhibited personal responsibility, integrity, and fairness combined with a high standard of playing ability.
 
Phil Adams, one of six members of the board of directors of the Peter Farricker Foundation, has been the spark plug in the foundation’s engine for the past few years, nudging Pete’s friends to ride in the Positive Spin for ALS. Last year, as about 20 former Ultimate Frisbee jocks huddled around the BBQ after riding the 2009 PSALS, Adams nudged a little harder.
 
"This is great that we can get people to ride in Wayland, but can't we also have our buddies who can't make it to Wayland ride "with us" wherever they are?  Can't Fin ride in Boulder, and Jimmy in San Diego and Gus in Jacksonville, and Kent in Park City?" Adams asked.

Never underestimate this group. Pete Farricker was family to these guys who competed with him when they were twenty something and invincible. Now the guys are family men, businessmen, and immersed in their disparate communities. They’re older, have lost their fleetness afoot but not their fond memories of a man who played hard and made the game fun. They showed up with their checkbooks.

Sunday afternoon, Phil Adams presented a check for $10,000 to ALS Association Massachusetts Chapter President Debra Sharpe.

Photo: T.J. Reilly, Partner at New York Life Insurance Company, Providence, RI and Chairman of the ALS Association MA Chapter Board of Directors; Myke Farricker, key event organizer and co-owner of the Longfellow Clubs; Phil Adams, Chairman of the Peter Farricker Foundation; Debra Sharpe, President of the ALS Association MA Chapter; Paul Tamburello, founder of  A Positive Spin for ALS

Pete’s former team mates are spread across the country. The Positive Spin for ALS in Wayland wasn’t the only place they gathered to raise money and honor his memory. Pete Farricker “Spirit Of The Game” events took place all across the land. Ten years after his death, Pete’s shadow has stretched way beyond the 70 by 40 yard dimensions of the regulation Frisbee field.

“We had over 125 people in 19 locations riding or mountain biking or playing ultimate or walking or playing disc golf or doing Yoga - in the name of Pete… and Ultimate's "spirit of the game" Adams said.

Transforming grief into energy to find a cure for ALS and to support patients and caregivers was what I had in mind when I founded the Positive Spin for ALS in 1995. Pete Farricker's team mates are putting their own spin on the concept.

Photo: Steve Mooney and Myke Farricker of the Peter Farricker Foundation and Paul Tamburello

Pete’s brother Myke Farricker is co-owner of the Longfellow Clubs in Wayland and Natick. Since 2003, Myke has been on site from dawn to dusk on the day of the Spin. A master at event logistics, he has arranged to have his crew set up tents for registration, medical staffing and food, and cook hundreds of burgers and hot dogs for hungry riders. All done with a smile and trademark Farricker wise-ass humor.

The “Wheels” are already in gear for next year. Those orange T shirts will be visible again in 2011. Whether they’re riding in the Positive Spin for ALS in Wayland or creating their own mini events across the country, they’re taking the “Spirit Of The Game” to a higher level.

 

 Zoe Farricker, Myke Farricker, Paul Tamburello, Ian Polombo, who completed the 25 mile ride ("Pete's Ride")
 

Myke Farricker and veteran volunteers Pat Gill and Donna Cook, who baked 300 cookies for the event.