The Pan Mass Challenge is nearly upon us again, as teams of riders prepare to bike 190 miles across the state of Massachusetts this weekend to help in the fight against cancer.

Among those teams is Team NECN, consisting of employees here at the station. To donate to the cause, visit the Team NECN PMC donor page. Remember, every little bit helps.

To share their reasons for going through months of training, fundraising and finally making the trek across the Bay State, NECN meteorologists Joe Joyce and Danielle Niles joined director of digital media Ted McEnroe on the set of Good Morning Live.

“Once you do it once, you understand what is going on,” four-time rider Joyce said. “It’s a very emotional, spiritual thing that once you’re a part of, you never want to walk away from.”

Niles has a more personal reason for getting on the bike and riding the PMC.

“My sister was diagnosed with thyroid cancer back in the fall,” first-time rider Niles said. “She’s gone through surgeries and treatments — she’s back to 100-percent — but she’s really my motivating factor for riding in this. She’s absolutely amazing, I look up to her so much.”

For McEnroe, it was his involvement behind the scenes covering the PMC in the past five years, as well as someone he never had the opportunity to meet, that compelled him to ride.

“I’m riding this year for someone I’ve never met — my father-in-law,” rookie rider McEnroe said. “My wife’s father met so much to her and would have met a lot to me, and I never got to know him. And it occurred to me that it’s not just the people you know. When someone in your family is fighting cancer and it’s that experience, but there’s also the experience for the people that you’ve never actually even gotten to know.”