Crossing the Finish Line with PartnerMD

Yesterday, we all met up at Kathy’s Diner in Mechanic Falls ME.  Those of us who were not already riding that shift unloaded our bikes and kitted up, including Team PartnerMD.  Then, we rode single file the final 12 miles to the Dempsey Cancer Center in Lewiston.  We greeted a couple of random cyclists on the road as we approached the town.  It turned out to be “Fast Freddie” Rodriguez and a couple of his buddies, Tom Danielson and Alison Starnes.  They looked really fast. They rode us in through the streets of Lewiston to the Dempsey Center where the staff lined the street and welcomed us in with tremendous enthusiasm and cow bells!  Then, we ran up the stairs to eat the cheese and crackers and fruit that they had waiting for us.  What a welcome!  We have several rooms at the Ramada Inn in Lewiston.   I definitely want to come back to Maine.  We are already discussing how we can tweak the route to make the ride better every year.  We did the Dempsey Challenge walk this morning, and I got to walk with Sam Smith, our massage therapist extraordinaire, and chat with her for a while.  Later, a bunch of us drove out to the LL Bean Outlet in Freeport.  I was amazed when a clerk in one of the stores there glanced at my C3 vest, and promptly asked, “So, how did the ride go?”  I didn’t expect anyone outside of the Dempsey Center to know anything about us.  It’s wonderful to be welcomed with open arms!