This post is from 2015! But still relevant. Check out the AIDS/LifeCycle if you’re interested in riding in the next event!
What are you doing this summer?
I will be riding my bike from San Francisco to Los Angeles. Yes, that’s a very long bike ride. For those of you without a map handy, SF to LA is 545 miles, give or take. 6 hours by car. Several hours by train. And, apparently 7 days by bike, which is a long distance to travel via bicycle… with that hard seat digging against my tail bone. So, why am I doing it?
Is it because I like the way I look in bicycle shorts? I don’t. Is it because Google is paying me a million dollars to film the California coast for Google maps? That would be awesome, but they’re not. Is it because I have a death wish? God, I hope not (and I hope I didn’t just tempt fate – if anything tragic happens on this ride, please, someone, delete this post so it doesn’t last forever as a creepy reminder of my untimely death.)
The truth: I’m riding my bike for AIDS.
This summer, I’m participating in the AIDS/LifeCycle ride. It’s a 7-day, 545 mile bike ride from San Francisco to Los Angeles that raises money and awareness for the HIV and AIDS services of the Los Angeles LGBT Center and the San Francisco AIDS Foundation. I’ve decided to ride in this year’s AIDS/LifeCycle because, duh, it’s an extremely worthwhile cause.
Also, I need to shed some extra pounds, and riding a bicycle across the state of California sounds like an awesome way to get in shape.
If you are an adult human being reading this blog in 2015 then you probably know that AIDS is a terrible disease. But did you know that young adults and teens between the ages of 13 and 29 represent 34% of new HIV infections, the largest share of any age group? When I was a teenager, AIDS was the scariest thing out there. They hammered it into our brains that if you didn’t use a condom, you would contract HIV. If you became infected with HIV, then there was a strong possibility that you would die of an AIDS-related illness. This information saturated our sex education classes and scared me shitless. But, today young adults have a much more cavalier attitude toward sex. Which is great… viva la sexual liberation, and all that.
This shift in attitude occurred because we now have more effective treatments for the disease, and AIDS is no longer a death sentence… so long as those at-risk continue to be educated. It’s vital that we continue to inform younger generations about HIV/AIDS, that we spread awareness through our communities, and that we support the organizations that support those who are already fighting the disease. All of this, until the day we find a cure.
You know this. You’re not a dummy.
I need your help with this thing. I’m trying to raise $5000 for this cause and I am depending on you to help me meet my goal. It seems like a lot of money, but I know we can get there. So, here’s my request: please visit my ALC page and donate whatever you can. It’s for a GREAT cause (two great causes, if you count my goal to have single digit body fat)!
THANK YOU IN ADVANCE!!
