BY KEVIN SHALVEY

Nancy and Howard Roever came to speed-biking at different times -- he before their marriage and she when the couple started riding in the Pan-Mass Challenge, an annual bike tour to raise money for cancer research.

“He’s always biked. Since the Pan-Mass Challenge, I just got involved and I love it. But, I’m no Lance Armstrong,” said Nancy.

This year, the Bow couple will undertake the two-day, 200-mile bike ride to honor Sammy, an 8-year-old Bow girl who has bone cancer.

Sammy was diagnosed with cancer in July 2006 and, in January 2007, had one of her legs amputated above the knee.

“I have two kids of my own, and I just couldn’t imagine that,” said Howard, who will trek the Pan-Mass Challenge on Aug. 4 and 5.

The two will ride as part of a team for the Aug. 3 and 4 ride from Wellesley, Mass., to Provincetown, Mass., a route for which each participant must raise at least $3,600.

The Roevers started participating in the Pan-Mass Challenge through Nancy’s work at a pharmaceutical sales company.

The company was planning to sponsor the race in some way -- maybe supporting a rest stop -- but Nancy had a different idea.

“There were a lot of people in our district who were athletic, so I said, ‘Let’s ride,’” Nancy said.

And there’s a rest stop on the course dedicated to children with cancer, Nancy said.

“It’s sad because when you’re riding in they have these huge photos on the lawn,” she said.

“It’s a pretty neat ride. It can be tough at times but it’s pretty scenic, especially as you get near the end on the Cape,” said Roever.

Biking isn’t new for Howard Roever, so the 200-mile ride should be no sweat, although it is graded as “more difficult” on www.pmc.org.

“When I was younger, I used to do a lot of touring,” he said.

Now that he’s married with two children, Roever doesn’t get onto the bike as much as he used to. Along with the Pan-Mass Challenges, though, he did participate in a six-day ride across Montana in 2001.

The Roevers ask that anyone who wants to donate to the Pan-Mass Challenge for Sammy do so before Sept. 1. Donors should write a check payable to the Pan-Mass Challenge and mail it to Nancy Roever at 9 Kelso Drive, Bow, NH 03304.

“If everybody in town could give $5, just think of how much we could raise,” Howard said.

Osteosarcoma is the most common type of bone cancer, according to the American Cancer Society. Each year, about 900 Americans of all ages are diagnosed with it. Of those, about 400 are younger than 20 years old.

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