A couple of weeks ago, @sfbob posted a diary about the AIDS/LifeCycle . This caught my attention because I was preparing to ride my first AIDS/LifeCycle. Subsequently, we connected via kosmail.
I’m happy to report that we met at lunch on the first day of the ride and several more times through the week. We both completed the ride. I expect @sfbob will be making his own report, but I wanted to give my own story.
I’m a 71 year old cishet white man. I have had friends die of AIDS, but my primary reason for signing up and doing the ride was to challenge myself to see if I could do it. I trained with a group of riders who had done the ride many times.
As we rode, I made some great friends. They became my friends before I knew their stories or HIV status. As I learned their stories, my reasons for doing the ride expanded and deepened. At orientation and the opening ceremony, my reasons deepened again. By the time we started riding, I was fully committed to ending AIDS.
I know this sounds like I wasn’t caring before, but that’s not true. It’s just that I am more committed now in ways I can’t explain.
I’m not including donation links, because the time for that for this year’s ride is over. But I promise you that I will be posting my donation link as soon as they open for 2024, because I’m doing the ride again. It was a great experience, and I encourage everyone to consider doing the ride yourself. Sign up here.