AIDS LifeCycle – Riding Towards a Cure for HIV / AIDS

Posted by Daily Post from Bluxome Street on April 27, 2014 in LGBT | Leave a comment

From June 1 – 7, I will ride from San Francisco to Los Angeles as part of AIDS LifeCycle (ALC) as rider 2158.

When I first learned about ALC I thought there was a weak connection between a 545-mile bike trip, and the fight against HIV/AIDS. ALC totes the slogan: Ride to End AIDS. Honestly, riding a bike doesn’t end AIDS. Riding a bike to Los Angeles is shocking and will encourage friends to donate, but this isn’t a direct link. The real change we are facilitating is increasing donations to the San Francisco AIDS Foundation; they’re the ones who are ending AIDS.

Then I decided to do AIDS LifeCycle and started to train. Through training, as my quads began to grow I learned great tips to help me ride. I learned how to pace myself up hills, and get enough electrolytes when I reached the top. I learned to breathe through my nose on the downhill, and offer apologies to the flies when I forgot. I learned that bike shorts are not just overpriced spandex, and that regular application of sunscreen is necessary to avoid the strangest tan lines one could ever imagine.

And then it all made sense. In the process of training and fundraising for this ride, I have been granted an entirely new perspective on HIV/AIDS, I have been welcomed into a community of people who all are dedicated to ending this epidemic, and I have been gifted with the knowledge, that even a challenge as insurmountable as eradicating HIV/AIDS, is possible as long as we just keep pedaling, view it as a series of smaller achievable goals, and refuse to let doubt or fear prevent us from continuing to fight on.

Currently I have raised $1,787, but hope to get as close to my original goal of $10,000, but donations of any amount mean so much to me. Please donate online.