He hasn't kept a penny of it, though. On the contrary, the money he's been raising for years in the Pan-Massachusetts Challenge (PMC) bicycle marathon—and will continue raising for years to come—goes toward the Jimmy Fund, which in turn funds childhood cancer care and research at the nonprofit Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston, Mass.

"I cast a net and whatever comes in comes in. I don't like to pester people," he says of his method for obtaining sponsorships. What began as a small group of family members and friends has grown via word of mouth and email to become a real source of inspiration for him.

"What really helps me do this on a year-to-year basis is the people who call me or write me to make sure I'm doing the PMC again. They expect me to keep doing it so they can keep supporting it," he says humbly.

The right place and time connection goes back to the 1980s, when he was a Massachusetts resident. One of his best friends, Chris Spear, had been riding in the PMC for several years and persuaded Seigel to join him; he also persuaded Seigel to buy a Canondale R600 racing bicycle.

After his first PCM in 1991, Seigel was hooked. And so every summer he and his wife, Elizabeth Cooper, drive cross country to New England. Along with being a physical fitness devotee, he has more personal reasons for doing the two-day, 192-mile ride between the towns of Sturbridge and Provincetown. Three members of his immediate family are long-term cancer survivors: his father of colon cancer; his mother and aunt of breast cancer. A friend of his sister's has also fought a winning battle against cancer, as has the 11-year-old son of one of his close friends.

"These people are surviving because of research and new treatment methods. If you didn't have the funding for research, you wouldn't have all these survivors," asserts Seigel, who met some prospective survivors when he toured the children's wing of the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in 1998.

Seigel says his goal is to raise $1,000 for each year he has been participating in the PMC. That means his aim for 2002 was $12,000, since this is his 12th year. So far, he's between $8,000 and $9,000, but some sponsorship money is still coming in.

As far as training goes, Seigel stays in shape by frequently riding what he calls his "home turf loop"—45 miles of trails in the Santa Cruz Mountains, including Big Basin State Park. He also enjoys riding in other Bay Area locales. Between the hours spent on his bicycle and those at his job as a software engineer, Seigel isn't exactly loaded with free time, but he still manages to serve as a volunteer firefighter with Santa Cruz County Fire and Rescue Company No. 26.

For information about joining next year's Pan-Massachusetts Challenge, call 800.WE-CYCLE or visit www.pmc.org. Information about the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute is available by calling 866.408.3324 or visiting www.dfci.harvard.edu. Seigel can be contacted at ajs62@earthlink.net.