Ashland Native Joel Loitherstein Rides PMC

In November of 1991 Joel Loitherstein lost his father (Lenny) to lung cancer and six months later his wife (Senator Karen Spilka) lost her mother (Dorothy) to breast cancer. Then when a friend on the Pan Mass Challenge board was diagnosed with cancer Loitherstein knew that he had to do something and decided to take part in the PMC.
“I had done some 30-mile bike rides and I thought that I was in decent enough shape to do this, but the Jimmy Fund ride is 192-miles in two days and was totally different than what I was used to,” he said.
His first ride was in 1995 and although the first day he found the weather accommodating, day two was an entirely different story as he rode from Sandwich to Provincetown in a heavy rain.
“With it pouring that Sunday I quickly found myself in pain as I rode. It seemed like I had on a soggy diaper,” Loitherstein said. “Not only did I realize that if I was to do this further I was going to need to do some more cycling, but I also figured that if I can complete this, in this type of conditions, then I can do just about anything.”
Having completed his first PMC ride, the Ashland native was able to bring in $2,500 worth of donations to the Jimmy Fund that year. Last year he collected some $12,000, found himself in the top 10%, and was classified as a heavy hitter once again. As this year’s ride finds its last few donations trickling in Loitherstein’s donation total has eclipsed the $175,000 mark that he has given to the cause.
After suffering from heat stroke during the first day of last year’s ride and being unable to complete the two days Loitherstein looked to do something about it.
“I figured that I couldn’t get any younger, so I decided to lose some weight to help me with my ride,” he said.
Three years ago, riding in his 20th PMC, the Ashland native, who had trained all year using his father’s old bike, figured that he’d put the bike to use in the 192-mile ride to honor his father.
“My father’s bike was a single speed and was a lot heavier than today’s bikes,” he said. “Riding that thing was like night and day to what I was used to. I had to build up a lot of momentum to get that bike up the hills and there are a lot of extremely difficult hills along the way.”
Now a days Loitherstein takes part in a bunch of charity rides throughout the year, but considers the PMC the Cadillac of bike rides. Since he first suited up for the ride 23 years ago he has joined a team out of Franklin called Phat Tuesdays.
“Someone had mentioned that a group of guys rode out of Franklin every Tuesday night so I began riding with them,” he said. “In the beginning there was a lot more training on my part to ride with these guys, but I eventually got up to speed and began riding with them at the PMC as a team.”