Cheryl Flynn set out on the morning of Saturday, August 1, on a 175-mile bike ride from Worcester to Provincetown, wearing a white jersey with "For Liz" printed on the back. Her late wife, Liz Crowell, died at the end of 2024 after a years-long battle with a rare form of cervical cancer. Now Flynn is finishing the ride Crowell never could.

Flynn, a Concord resident, is pedaling the full two-day Pan-Mass Challenge route alongside her friend Denise Jantzen, The Concord Bridge reported. They call themselves the Golden Gear Girls, a nod to their ages and the TV show "The Golden Girls." Their matching white jerseys with blue and gold accents carry different names: Flynn's reads "For Liz," Jantzen's reads "For Mom."

Crowell was a writer, poet, mother, and longtime Concord resident who first rode the PMC in 2020, when the event went virtual during the pandemic. She created a fundraising page, raised at least $12,000 to earn "heavy hitter" status, and spent weeks riding a 10-mile loop around Concord and Carlisle.

"She was like, 'I'm going to ride the Pan-Mass Challenge, because this isn't going to tell me how I'm going to live my life. I need to give back. I want to be active. I want to show my kids that I'm going to do as much as I can,'" Flynn told The Concord Bridge.

Crowell rode the PMC for two more years after 2020. Her final ride in 2023 ended early when a fall broke her elbow. By 2024, her cancer had progressed too far to ride.

A friend's idea becomes a mission

The idea came from Jantzen, who had donated to the PMC for years but never ridden. Jantzen lost her mother to cancer and said the disease keeps touching people around her: a close friend fighting cancer, a babysitter's baby struggling with pediatric cancer, and a 16-year-old neighbor's daughter also battling the disease.

For Flynn, the long training rides became a form of grief therapy. She said that when you're grieving, you spend a lot of time alone in your head, and hours on a bike feel the same. The memories come back: riding together, raising their children, the trips they took.

After years as Crowell's caregiver through surgeries, treatments, and hospital visits, Flynn said she had to relearn self-care. She rides now with her children's wellbeing in mind, knowing she is all they have.

She remembers their first blind date, set up by mutual friends. Crowell commented on how well Flynn's car defroster worked. It's those small, ordinary moments Flynn holds closest now.

The bigger ride

The 2026 Pan-Mass Challenge, held Saturday, August 1, and Sunday, August 2, brings together nearly 6,500 cyclists and more than 3,500 volunteers aiming to raise a record $79 million for Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, according to a PMC press release. Since 1980, the event has raised $1.125 billion for Dana-Farber. One hundred percent of every rider-raised dollar goes directly to the institute.

Residents who want to support Flynn and Jantzen can search for "Cheryl Flynn" or "Golden Gear Girls" at donate.pmc.org.