What I've Done on My Last Four Summer Vacations. . .

When I first heard about the Washington, DC AIDSRide I knew I couldn't do it. Then, I met a grandmother who was registered to ride and realized I didn't have a good reason not to try. Over three years later, I've done the DC ride three times now, biking nearly 1,000 miles and raising around $10,000 for Food & Friends and the Whitman-Walker Clinic, two of the largest AIDS service agencies in the DC Metro area. I also rode halfway across Alaska in 2000 raising $4,000 for AIDS Vaccine research. And my rides got me involved with other events put on by the organizer, Pallotta Teamworks, so I've volunteered in the background and on the events for breast cancer walks and, in August 2002, for a walk to raise money for suicide prevention.

Food & Friends

Food & Friends is the only organization in the Washington, D.C. area providing home delivered meals, groceries and nutrition counseling to people living with HIV/AIDS and other life-threatening illnesses. Since 1988, Food & Friends has provided more than 4.5 million meals to more than 6,600 individuals. All services are provided free of charge to clients. The money raised by the Washington, DC AIDS Ride provides one million meals to DC Metro area clients, about 25 percent of Food & Friends annual budget!

Whitman-Walker Clinic

Originally founded to meet the needs of the DC gay community, the Whitman-Walker Clinic is a volunteer, community-based organization that has provided quality health care to the people of the Washington Metro area for 25 years. Today, the clinic is responding to the changing needs of people with HIV/AIDS, straight and gay. More than 1,700 people receive free, comprehensive outpatient medical care at its Elizabeth Taylor Medical Center. Its housing program provides a home to 75 men, women and children living with HIV/AIDS. Whitman-Walker also gives free, anonymous HIV tests to over 5,000 people every year. Other clinic services include legal aid, case management, and a food bank. The money raised by the Washington, DC AIDS Ride pays for approximately 10 percent of the clinics work.

Until 1998, I didn't really know anyone with HIV or AIDS. Now, though, through my work with AGLA, the DC AIDS Ride, and Team DC for the AIDS Vaccine Rides, I have met many people living with HIV and AIDS.

I ride because I can and for the many friends I never got a chance to meet that aren't around to ride anymore. I made a friend on my first DC Ride who's a married minister. He rode the DC and Boston-New York rides so his young children won't have to deal with the same tragedies he's seen. Others ride in memory of friends and family they've lost. We all ride for different reasons but the same goal.

Why did I keep doing a ride every year? I had millions of reasons:

• 5.6 million new infections in 1999
• 15,000 infections PER DAY
• ~33.6 million people living with HIV in 1999
• An estimated 1 in 20 people in DC HIV positive
• Over 50 million infected since 1981
• Almost 50% were infected before they turned 25, and most will die before reaching 35
• 70% of people with HIV live in Sub-Saharan Africa, which comprises just 10 percent of the world's population
• 11.2 million children (under age 15) orphaned
• 1.2 million children are HIV+
• 3.6 million children dead (cumulative)

I rode because I didn't have any other choice.

By 2002, I had retired as an AIDS Rider. Four years seemed like enough and the ride had changed. I rode DCAR 7 but bad publicity from rides in other cities caused our always successful ride to falter. Then in 2003 there was a new event planner but not enough interest to mount a financially successful ride. Without a good return, I decided to move on to other causes. But I'll always remember my years as an AIDS rider fondly.

Related Information. . .

Read my 1999 DC AIDS Ride Experience

Read about my ride in Alaska

View Pictures from DCAR 6