The two-day Pan-Massachusetts Challenge bike ride retained its title as the most successful athletic fund-raising event in the nation again this year.
When combined with the totals accumulated through the Lance Armstrong Foundation's Peloton Project and countless other charity bike rides, it demonstrates another powerful ability for cycling to do good.
The Pan-Mass Challenge bicycle tour raised $23 million for cancer research and treatment at Boston's Dana Farber Cancer Institute, donated through its Jimmy Fund.
About 4,000 cyclists rode in this year's 26th annual event in August that routed bike riders 192 miles from Sturbridge in western Massachusetts to Provincetown at the tip of Cape Cod. Since it began, the ride has donated $145 million to the Jimmy Fund.
In announcing the windfall on Saturday, ride founder and director Billy Starr explained the riders don't compete to be first to the finish line; they try to raise the most money. The bike riders become so committed that 70 percent return every year.
Meanwhile, the Lance Armstrong Foundation's Ride for the Roses event in Austin raised $7.3 million this year to match Armstrong's 7 Tour de France wins.
Next year's Pan-Mass Challenge bike ride is scheduled for Aug. 5 and 6.
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