SALISBURY — Lakeville resident Rachel Marshall is preparing to ride across Massachusetts in the Pan-Mass Challenge (PMC), an annual bike-a-thon that brings together more than 6,000 riders. But Marshall isn’t clipping in for the athletic pursuit or the accolades. She is riding for the second year to honor her late father, Jon Siegel, who died in February after a battle with glioblastoma, an aggressive form of brain cancer.
“It’s really about the experience and being there for each other, showing up, philanthropy and the connections along the way,” Marshall said of the ride, which has grown over the past 50 years into one of the most successful athletic fundraisers.
Although the PMC will officially take place Aug. 1 and 2, a tradition known as "Day Zero" brings riders to Stockbridge, Massachusetts, creating an unofficial starting point for riders looking to go the extra mile. Started by Siegel and Team Huckleberry Captain, Dave, the tradition became known as riding "a true Pan-Mass." The Hucks, for short, in addition to several other teams, continue that legacy and will begin their 2026 ride in Stockbridge on July 31. With multiple routes and starting points, the event ultimately concludes on Cape Cod.
Marshall poses with her dad, Jon Siegel, on a bike at a block party in Massachusetts. They rode together on neighborhood trails, beginning a tradition of riding with and for each other.Provided
For decades, Marshall volunteered at the PMC, supporting her father and his team, making posters and welcoming riders at the finish line. Friends and family would ask whether she might ride herself someday.
“When Dad got diagnosed, I thought, ‘Well, I have to ride. I have to.’”
After Siegel’s diagnosis, the father-daughter duo — along with the Hucks — started and finished the ride together, taking an iconic post-ride photo with each lifting their bikes above their heads.
Rachel Marshall (right) and late father Jon Siegel, hoist their bikes in the air at the Provincetown Inn finish line on Cape Cod after riding in their first and only ride as a father-daughter duo in 2025. The ride marked Siegel's final PMC, and he rode tandem with his brother.Provided
“Before, it was just something that I was proud of my dad for doing,” Marshall said, describing her father as a positive and selfless person. “He was doing something that was part of his identity, part of who he was, and being in service to others.”
Marshall said the Hucks are more than a team. They’re a family, and they have supported her through the loss of her father. She recently biked to his grave with team member Ellen, whom she calls her “Huck mom.” When Marshall needed to buy and fit her first real road bike after Siegel’s diagnosis, members of the Hucks went with her.
“I had a village,” she said.
Last year, Marshall raised just over $19,000. Ahead of the 2026 ride, she has raised more than $23,000 toward a goal of $25,000. The PMC donates 100% of every rider-raised dollar to Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and has raised more than $1 billion to date.
Marshall said the camaraderie and atmosphere surrounding the ride are uplifting.
“If you ever feel like you’re giving up on the world, go to a Pan-Mass event,” she smiled.
There’s a saying that the Huckleberry team lives by: “No Huck left behind.”
For Marshall, that mantra has taken on meaning far beyond the miles traveled by bike. It was the pull to ride alongside her father after his diagnosis, the support of the Hucks after his death, and the draw to continue pedaling after his death.
In addition to riding with her late father in the 2025 Pan-Mass Challenge, Marshall was a lifelong PMC volunteer. Pictured with father Jon Siegel (middle), Marshall historically volunteered at Mass Maritime in Bourne, Massachusetts, where she welcomed riders to the finish line. Her poster represents Team Huckleberry's mantra: 'No Huck Left Behind.'Provided
While reflecting on the challenges of caring for her father through glioblastoma, Marshall said she was grateful to be there for him after the care he had given her over the years.
When Marshall struggled with addiction, it was her father who discovered Mountainside Treatment Center in North Canaan, where she eventually found a place to rebuild her life.
“I wouldn’t be where I am without my dad’s engagement, involvement and understanding of this disease,” she said.
After leaving Mountainside as a patient, Marshall later returned as an employee, taking on increasing responsibilities throughout her tenure.
When she eventually left Mountainside, Marshall saw an opportunity to support people in a different way. Inspired by the example her father set of showing up for others and serving his community, she founded The Rusted Rock, which provides personal support services focused on executive functioning, life transitions, recovery support, and navigating periods of feeling "stuck.
“I want people to understand that they can love themselves, and that life can be hard, but it doesn’t have to be a challenge to walk through it every day.”
Donations for Team Huckleberry can be made at http://profile.pmc.org/rs0242
This fish took a Wooly Bugger in basic black, with rubber legs. Always get the rubber legs.
Then I hit on a succession of inflatable pontoon and belly boats, powered by oars and/or swim fins, and there I have remained.
Did I forget to mention that no motors are allowed on this lake? Well, no motors are allowed, and it’s no good arguing that a small electric trolling motor couldn’t possibly hurt anything. Ask me how I know this.
It’s a quiet, rejuvenating few weeks. The phone gets enough signal on one end of the deck to receive messages and maybe make a call if the wind is right. If something comes up, it’s only 15 minutes to so-called civilization.
When not fishing, I read, visit assorted cousins, listen to baseball on the AM radio and/or stare blankly into the middle distance.
Bassing with a fly rod in still water is a different game than chasing trout in streams.
A medium-fast-action rod, 8 to 10 feet, in line weight 7 or 8 is the starting point. The flies are big, and the wind is constant, so the angler needs some power, tempered with a bit of finesse.
I usually bring two rods. One is rigged with a floating line with a heavy front taper for turning over surface flies such as poppers.
The other has either a sink-tip or intermediate line. The lake is not all that deep, and the Woolly Buggers, Clousers and other streamers are heavy. The idea is to stay out of the vegetation while getting close to where the lunkers are hunkered down.
I use short nylon leaders, 7.5 feet with 1X tippet out of the package, and modify them constantly with additional sections of fluorocarbon tippet, snaps and droppers.
Surface action is usually minimal during the day unless it’s overcast. The lake runs east-west, so the angler can track the midmorning and late-afternoon shadows and work those areas.
Or the angler can wait until about 6:30 p.m., when things start to pick up.
Or get out there at the crack of dawn, which is best if surface action is the goal.
For subsurface fishing, some experimentation is required to find the right combination of flies, leader and sink rate. The angler also has to decide whether to troll.
There are a few places where a dry-dropper rig is appropriate, the dry being an extremely buoyant popper with a piece of stout fluorocarbon tippet tied to the bend of the hook and something heavy and wiggly at the end, like a stonefly nymph with rubber legs. (Always get the rubber legs.)
If this sounds like a bobber, it’s because it is. Don’t tell anyone. The purists don’t like it.
A net with a long handle is necessary. There is no leverage when sitting in what amounts to a floating chair.
I do not bring my phone for fish pictures. I will drop it into the depths. Ask me how I know this.
Instead I bring a small point-and-shoot camera. These get lost too, but perversely I have better luck keeping the cheap gear safe than the expensive items.
Sunscreen is applied liberally and frequently. After 50-odd years of being outside, I now have to visit the dermatologist every so often to have my face edited, and I don’t enjoy it.
A baseball cap does nothing for the ears and neck. I have a hat with a wide brim and a vented top, so it doesn’t get too hot. It looks stupid, but this is an acceptable risk.
Finally, a word about the quarry. Largemouth bass are not picky eaters. When engaged they usually dive and tug. Once in a while they leap. They are easily discouraged, however, and after a minute or two come meekly to the net.
Smallmouth, not so much. These aren’t especially big, but every smallie I’ve ever met thought it was much bigger than it actually was. Expect acrobatics.
Perch usually grab my fly when I don’t want them to.
Perch are in the August mix, usually when I don’t want them to be.Patrick L. Sullivan
Panfish are everywhere. They are extremely cooperative. Chasing sunnies is a good way to get a newcomer started.
And then there are the pickerel. These are nasty fish. Very antisocial. I keep a pair of long-handled pliers handy to get the fly out of their mouths safely while admiring the large number of very sharp teeth. They will bite the pliers. Do not use your fingers. Again, ask me how I know this.
Upon release, it’s not unusual to observe the pickerel hanging around a few yards away, glaring and plotting hideous revenge.
So this is the August routine, occasionally leavened with a scramble into a brook trout stream if conditions allow.
It’s peaceful. Kind of boring, in a good way.
And then in the fall the game shifts back to rivers and streams for trout.
Want more of our stories on Google? Click here to make us a Preferred Source.
MOMIX is one of the featured performers at this year’s Arts Connected fundraiser on Aug. 29.
Barry Blitt created an original piece for the fundraiser that will adorn a limited edition T-Shirt for sale during the event.Provided
The evening will feature live plein air painting by artists from Plein Air Litchfield, performances by Our Culture Is Beautiful (OCIB), fire performer Cinderfella, and Susan Becker Aziz’s monumental humpback whale puppet, originally created for Paul Winter’s “Missa Gaia.” Guests will also have the opportunity to purchase artwork from a curated exhibition, with proceeds supporting the Arts Council’s mission to strengthen and promote the arts throughout Northwest Connecticut.
This year’s honorary host committee includes Meryl Streep, Diane von Furstenberg, Tim Daly, Téa Leoni, Maria Horn, Patti LuPone, Jack O’Brien, Sam Waterston and Paul Winter. Creative cocktail attire is encouraged, and attendance is limited. The event is open to guests 21 and older.
For more information or to purchase tickets, visit artsnwct.org
The pavilion-style theater at Hudson Valley Shakespeare.
During a recent performance of “King Lear” on a spectacular July evening, actors materialized from and faded into the stunning backdrop as if it were no longer the Hudson Highlands, but the wild hills and dales of Celtic Britain.
The company opened its satisfyingly direct rendition of Shakespeare’s dark and expansive meditation on love, family and human nature on June 12, and will run the show through Sept 17.
A much lighter Shakespeare classic, “As You Like It,” is also running through Sept. 18, as is the non-Shakespearean late-20th-century classic “Les Misérables,” which runs until Sept. 28.
In “King Lear,” the audience was not so much transported as localized by the performance, which takes place on the floor-level stage and expansive lawn behind it, both of which boast one of the best views lower New York State has to offer.
Alec Linden
The pavilion-style theater, with naturalistic curves and a low profile, mirrors the topography of the prominent hill it sits atop. The landscape that frames it all, centered on the dramatic passage of the Hudson River as it meanders between peaks of Storm King Mountain and Breakneck Ridge, serves not just as a background, but as a living, breathing part of the action as Lear and his kingdom descend into madness. When darkness fell across the ridges in the distance, the body count rose.
It’s not all doom and gloom at Hudson Valley Shakespeare, though. Just hours before the murders and betrayals, the same lawn hosted dozens of happy picnickers enjoying the evening in true high-summer fashion, complete with live music. As is tradition at the theater, which was previously hosted at nearby Boscobel House and Gardens for 34 years under a tent, guests are invited to arrive early and enjoy the grounds with a meal.
For those who’d rather not pack their own food, pre-made picnic sets are available for advance order. Alternatively, theatergoers can dine at the expansive, regionally-sourced buffet offered at the venue’s restaurant, aptly named Folio ($35 for adults, $25 for children 5-12 and free for children under five).
For schedules, tickets and more information, visit hvshakespeare.org.
Want more of our stories on Google? Click here to make us a Preferred Source.
