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Taking A Long Ride For A Good Cause Attorney treks 192 miles to raise cash to fight cancer JUNE 30, 2008- CONNECTICUT LAW TRIBUNE, Christian Nolan, Staff Writer Eighty miles into a 112-mile bike-a-thon, and with another steep hill awaiting his already tiring legs, Geoffrey A. Hecht digs deep for some inspiration. “My father is going to get me up the hill,” thinks Hecht, whose father, Morton, died from brain cancer in 1999. I talk to myself. ‘Why am I doing this?’… but you snap out of it quickly. Think of the kids, and then you feel ashamed. What they’re going through is the tough thing.” Hecht, a general practice lawyer at Caplan, Hecht and Mendel in New Haven, has biked every year since 1993 in the Pan Massachusetts Challenge, an annual bike-a-thon to raise money for cancer research and treatment. PMC donates 100 percent of every rider-raised dollar to Boston's Dana- Farber Cancer Institute, through its Jimmy Fund. The bike challenge has raised $204 million since 1980 and Hecht expects to personally reach the $100,000 fundraising mark this summer. The PMC goes through 46 Massachusetts towns, with more than 5,500 cyclists participating. There are seven routes to choose from, depending on one's cycling strength. Hecht, 62, still participates in the original two-day route - 192 miles from Sturbridge to Provincetown. The first day, on Aug. 2 this year, begins in Sturbridge and ends 112 miles later at the Massachusetts Maritime Academy. The next day, it's 80 miles to Provincetown. “It’s a wonderful weekend. It’s just part of the summer and nothing gets in the way. Everyone who knows us know what the bike ride is,” said Hecht, adding that his wife serves as a volunteer for the event. Hecht has practiced law in Connecticut for 38 years. For years, a close friend of his from Massachusetts biked in the challenge. Hecht would give him a check as a donation. In 1993, that all changed. “I said, ‘No, I’m not sending you a check. I’m coming for the ride.’ ” Spinning Classes Hecht, who had been an infrequent cyclist, began training that year by gradually increasing the length of his bike rides. Since then, he’s kept in cycling shape year-round by taking a spinning class on a stationary bike three days a week. Hecht said he starts the class early and finishes late, getting in 75 straight minutes. He said it takes him roughly that amount of time to go 20 miles during the PMC. Every 20 miles is a rest stop with nourishment. “You don’t just get on a bike and go 192 miles,” said Hecht. But, he said, “it’s not as strenuous as people envision it… Pace yourself and realize it’s not a race.” In total, the 192 miles takes him about 13.5 hours of actual riding time. Hecht has a friend in Kent who donates annually and one year he decided, as part of training, to make the 50-mile trek from the New Haven area to the Litchfield Hills. His son, Joshua Hecht, in his second year as an attorney at Caplan, Hecht & Mendel, went with him, getting a taste of what it takes. “If I’m in his shape when I’m that age, I’d be pretty happy,” Joshua Hecht said. “I sense 200 miles might be a little too much for me.” Geoffrey Hecht said the two-day PMC ride is very “emotional.” Many children battling cancer are there to show their support to the bikers, bringing signs that say, for example, “Because of you, I’m still alive.” “That gets to you,” said Hecht, who added that he became even more emotionally vested in the event after his father died of cancer in 1999. Despite his emotions, Hecht still keeps a sense of humor when riding. He loves hot dogs, and the first-day stop at Maritime Academy has a cookout where frankfurters are in abundance. So his friends fastened with Velcro a rubber hot dog to the handlebars of his bike. “I looked at it 112 miles before I could eat a real one but it got me there.” Copyright (c) 2008 Connecticut Law Tribune |
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