Before AIDS/LifeCycle 10 started, I promised I'd do a diary about it once it was over. This is that diary.
Technically there were nine California AIDS Rides but only eight are paid much attention to. Following ride number eight, in 2001, the original beneficiaries severed their relationship with the outside production company that had created the event and instead began AIDS/LifeCycle in 2002. This year's ALC was the tenth. Except for the first one (the only one I missed), all ALC's have begun on the Sunday of the week in which the month of June begins, which occasionally means that the ride commences on the 31st of May. Simply as a matter of circumstance, this first day of this year's ride was June 5th, meaning that it coincided with the 30th anniversary of the first published reports of what would soon become known as acquired immune deficiency syndrome.
Continue over the fold and I'll tell you--as best I can--what it was like.
Here's the short version. The ride was a success. Strike that. The ride was a HUGE success. As of Day 1 we'd managed to raise over $13 million, making it the largest single AIDS fundraising event EVER! My portion of that total was $6,932. Which is not too bad.
There were 2,361 cyclists. In addition a team of nearly 500 other volunteers served meals, set up and broke down camps, marked the route, gave us massages, provided medical attention, directed traffic on foot or on motorcycle, and otherwise kept us all in line. We were told at the end that this year's ride was the safest and healthiest one we'd had in quite a long time.
The ride covers a total of 545 miles in seven days. Here's the day-by-day breakdown:
Day 1: San Francisco to Santa Cruz. 84 miles
Day 2: Santa Cruz to King City. 107 miles
Day 3: King City to Paso Robles. 66 miles
Day 4: Paso Robles to Santa Maria. 96 miles
Day 5: Santa Maria to Lompoc. 41 miles
Day 6: Lompoc to Ventura. 88 miles
Day 7: Ventura to LA. 62 miles
It rained the day before we rode and it rained overnight following our first day of riding but, despite some dire forecasts, it didn't rain while we were riding. This might not seem like a big deal to some folks. But you have to understand that significant rain in California is a rarity in June. The bulk of riders come from California and, while we are schooled in how to ride in rain, we tend not to train in it or for it. It's also not fun--at least I don't especially enjoy it. Because California summers are dry, to us, "rain" means "cold."
I'd like to say I rode every mile but I didn't. I missed about 27 miles of riding on the second day because of poor planning on my part and because we knocked ourselves out obeying the law to the point that it led to a backup of bicycle traffic.
Here are some highlights of the week, some pictures and a video:
1 - To mark the 30th anniversary of the AIDS epidemic, on the day before we rode out, several hundred of us formed the number 30 in red, with the zero replaced by a red AIDS ribbon...
2 - I personally received an inordinate amount of attention during the week.
First, I was approached by the creators of "Imfromdriftwood," who collect LGBT video memoirs in association with Towleroad.com. Here is the result:
Day Four of the ride saw me profiled in the ride's daily newsletter. I think I spent the remainder of the week blushing.
A drawing of me was used as one of the rest stop themes...
(That's me having my picture taken with...me.)
3 - One of our lunch stops is in the town of Bradley, which has a population of only 120. It's about 30 miles north of Paso Robles. As far as I know, every single ride since the first one has stopped there. I suspect the locals didn't know quite what to make of us at first but over time they decided to be welcoming. There were far more of us than there were of them. Like many places in California, Bradley's hurting. The town has only an elementary school. When we ride through they hold a barbeque for us which provides a nice change of pace from the slightly monotonous sandwiches we normally receive for lunch. The locals also sell buttons, pens, cookies and teeshirts for donations. All of the proceeds go to fund programs at the elementary school; in fact our donations fund the greater part of their non-academic budget. This year, we received a special welcome. We cross this bridge on our way into town...
4 - I knew of at least one other Kossack making the trek to LA. After several days of looking I finally met up with TheOtherOne1979. We had a nice long chat. Once we finally made the connection we realized that we'd probably spoken several times already. Things like that often happen; you spend time trying to meet up with someone you know will be there but you have not actually had an in-person introduction to, only to discover you've already met.
I shot nearly 1,500 photos between the Friday night prior to the ride and the Tuesday after it ended when I completed my second shift at "bike retrieval," where riders returning to San Francisco show up to get their bikes back. It took some time to edit them all. Here's some highlights...
Bikes lined up, waiting to be ridden out of the Cow Palace...
The orange flags and the jerseys with the distinctive logo represent members of Positive Pedalers, those participants who are living with HIV. Of which I am one. Over three hundred of us (more than 10%) participated in AIDS/LifeCycle this year.
Opening ceremonies...
Bike traffic backed up in downtown Santa Cruz during the Monday morning commute...
Manresa State Beach in Aptos, California...
Riders at the top of Quadbuster, the toughest climb of the week...
The scenery on the far side of the hill...
One of the rest stop themes for the day...
The half-way point on the ride, just beyond the highest elevation of the route (the summit of State Highway 46, a climb we call "Evil Twins") is a traditional photo stop, particularly for first-timers...
Scenery on the outskirts of San Luis Obispo...
The town of Pismo Beach...
Day 5 began as "Dress in Red Day" so that we'd look like one enormous red ribbon...
...but, dominated as we are with a certain sense of style, "Dress in Red Day" soon became "Red Dress Day." And believe me, not all the men you see here in dresses are gay...
Guess which of these two is...
Nope...
...not gay.
Some of each...
Probably gay...
The final two days were a bit gloomy, particularly for Southern California. But they were still pretty...
Santa Barbara...
Our anniversary party...
Ventura...
Malibu...
Lining up for Closing Ceremonies...
And, at last...Victory...
I'm signed up for next year. Just call me Rider # 1646.
You'll have noticed I take quite a few pictures; in fact this year's total was about 1,500. That's just another thing I love about AIDS/LifeCycle--it lets me combine two of my favorite activities: cycling and photography. Actually, in choosing pictures to include in this diary I found myself thinking that I had missed some things I normally include. I usually take more pictures of the scenery but owing to the drabness of the weather I may have sloughed off on that aspect. Those with far too much time on their hands might be interested in visiting my Flickr site, which is devoted almost entirely to my rides. You can find it here, broken down into collections.