Hot off the Pan Mass trek, Second Mate Pete Weiss not only rode fifty miles, he was also the lead rider at the PMC Fenway Park event. Weiss is both an accomplished athlete and a cancer survivor.
Weiss has been with the Academy since 1980. Currently, he is Second Mate on our training ship - Kennedy. He assists the Chief Mate in the administration and efficiency of the Deck Department, accomplishes Second Mate Navigation Administration and serves as Global Maritime Distress Safety System Operator and Vessel Security Officer. All in a day’s work! Somewhere he found the time to train for this grueling bicycle fundraiser, and just two years cancer free.
Weiss has been involved in hosting the Pan Mass Challenge overnight for 25 years. The Academy has offered bed and board to riders for over two decades. During this time Weiss was always a bicycling aficionado, pedaling 2,000 recreational miles a year. It wasn’t until after his run in with colon cancer that the Second Mate decided to play a more personal role in the event.
Diagnosed with colon cancer in 2008, Weiss was told that his cure would be no big deal. “When all was said and done, I not only suffered all known side effects from the meds and chemo, according to my doctors, I invented a few new ones,” he recalled. In spite of these nasty battles, he won the war. After finishing chemotherapy, Weiss started riding twenty-three miles a day, four or five times a week in preparation for the event.
On August 7, 2011, as one of five thousand cyclists and a grateful survivor, Weiss raised $1,800 and pedaled for those who were not so lucky. He plans to do it again next year.
