Weary Pan-Mass Challenge Riders have received refreshments and encouragement from Rochester’s Boucher family for the past 13 years.

The Pan-Mass Challenge is a two-day, 192-mile bike-a-thon held the first weekend of August every year. Since 1980, it has raised $455 million for pediatric and adult patient care and cancer research.

Ron and Lucille Boucher’s home on Neck Road is about 10 away miles from Bourne, where riders sleep before cycling toward the finish line in Provincetown the next day.

Riders entered Rochester on Snipatuit Road near Freetown, turned right onto Neck Road, then headed east into Wareham on Saturday.

“We stay until the last rider comes through,” said Lucille. “They’re the ones who need this the most. If we run out of ice or water, we head out and get more.”

On Saturday, the Bouchers, along with their daughter and grandchildren, offered fruit, ice-cold water, candy and sports drinks for participants.

Also, the family opened up their RV for riders in need of a restroom.

Through the years, Lucille said they’ve added items offered to riders, such as licorice. Other times, the family is flexible in making sure participants get what they need to complete the ride.

One year, a rider stopped and complained of intense back pain.

“I told him I could rub his back if it would make him feel better,” Lucille recalled. “And he said OK.”

The following year, the rider returned and thanked her.

“He said if it hadn’t been for that back rub, he might not have finished the ride,” Lucille said.

As a cancer survivor herself, she said this is how the family supports the efforts of the riders.

This year, more than 6,000 people signed up to participate.

The goal is to raise $45 million for the Jimmy Fund, which would bring the Pan-Mass Challenge’s 35-year fundraising total to half a billion dollars.

One hundred percent of every dollar riders raise directly funds cancer research at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute.

For more on the Pan-Mass Challenge, visit www.pmc.org.