This year will mark my 33rd New England Classic, a 7-day, 550-mile fundraising ride for the American Diabetes Association and its Camp Carefree for kids living with diabetes.
I started this ride in 1992 as an American Diabetes Association staff member. We had 39 intrepid folks who took the chance and helped us raise the funds to help cure diabetes, establish programming for people with diabetes, and fund camps for kids with diabetes like Camp Carefree.
Diabetes is an insidious disease. On a daily basis, diabetes can have deadly consequences if not carefully managed. In the long term, its complications include an increased risk of heart disease, stroke, kidney failure, limb amputations and blindness. More than 38 million Americans live with diabetes.
On the New England Classic, my job is easy compard to the riders who pedal up mountain roads and take on physical challenges every day for a week. I am there to support their efforts - and I hope you will support mine.
People living with diabetes face an uphill climb and physical challenges every day for a lifetime – until we find a cure. Please consider making a donation to support our efforts to make a difference in the lives of people with diabetes.
New England Classic Charity Bike Tour 150/550 - 2025
The New England Classic Charity Bike Tour is a multi-day fundraising cycling event that offers two-day and seven-day options starting Saturday, July 12, 2025 in Billerica, Mass. at Courtyard Marriott. The 150-mile NEC 150 and 550-mile NEC 550 travel the same route for the first two days. Indoor, air-conditioned accommodations and breakfast and dinner are included with the fundraising minimum of $600 for the NEC 150 and $3,000 for the NEC 550.
The 2025 New England Classic Charity Bike Tour will benefit the American Diabetes Association. Through research, education and advocacy, the ADA pursues its mission to prevent and cure diabetes and to improve the lives of all people affected by diabetes. More than 30 million Americans live with diabetes.
NEC 150 riders travel the back roads of the Merrimack Valley of Massachusetts into southern New Hampshire and along the seacoast with a destination of Durham, N.H. The Day 2 route takes riders to coastal Maine past beaches, rocky coves and quaint villages. Day 2 ends with dinner and a celebration, then riders take chartered buses back to Bedford while their bicycles are transported there safely.
As Day Three begins, the NEC 550 riders will leave coastal Maine, heading west into the White Mountains region, where the challenge rolls north through Conway and on to the Attitash Grand Summit Resort in Bartlett, New Hampshire.
The journey continues on Day Four with a climb up Crawford Notch on the way to Bethlehem and Littleton, N.H., before turning South at the Connecticut River and riding through the Upper Valley. After a night in West Lebanon, NH, riders cross the river into Vermont and pedal on scenic Route 100 to the Killington area and the welcome comfort of a ski resort.
The trek continues through Vermont and then back into the Monadnock region of New Hampshire with an overnight in Keene, N.H. The final leg heads to Central Massachusetts, winding its way to the finish at the Courtyard by Marriott in Billerica, Massachusetts, on Friday, July 18.
The New England Classic Charity Bike Tour (NEC Bike Tour) is organized and operated exclusively for charitable purposes. The purpose of the NEC Bike Tour is to raise funds exclusively for charitable purposes in support of the American Diabetes Association and their summer camp for kids with diabetes, Camp Carefree.