Early last Sunday morning my best buddy James Casad and I set out on our bikes from the Castro Country Club to join a couple dozen others on an AIDS/LifeCycle training ride. It was a bit cold and misty and the roads were wet, but we were determined to ride the entire 72-mile route across the Golden Gate Bridge, through Marin, up to China Camp and back.
But within the first minute, one of the newer riders slipped on the road and fell. Then Casad almost fell, and another rider was almost hit by a car barreling through a stop sign. And then it began sprinkling. I became alarmed when I had trouble braking while coming down a steep, slick hill into traffic.
Still, we told each other, it was all good training for AIDS/LifeCycle, the annual fundraising ride from San Francisco to Los Angeles. The ride was almost rained out a couple years ago, my friend Jose "Pepe" Sanchez reminded us, and with the June ride just three months away, we need to keep going. So on we rode, for a while.
The day held special significance for me because it was the anniversary of my very first AIDS/LifeCycle training ride one year ago when, at the age of 53 and not having been on a bicycle in many years, I somehow rode over 60 miles. I had trouble walking for a few days, but eventually conquered all 545 miles to LA, so I thought it was pretty cool to still be riding strong a year later.
Also riding Sunday were several of our fellows from the Castro Country Club cycling team. So far there are 17 of us, riders and roadies, newbies and veterans, and we have 17 very personal reasons for doing the ride. Being the Castro Country Club team, many of us are in recovery from one addiction or another, but what brings us together on the ride is one vision: the end of HIV and AIDS.
This year's ride to LA will be Bob Katz's 15th. Katz seroconverted in 1980, testing positive in 1985. He was my tent-mate and mentor on last year's ride, sharing generously from his wealth of experience, and a living example of the spirit of service. "As someone who's been there from the beginning," Katz said, "it seems as though the least I can do is to ride in memory of those who have been lost and to make sure, as much as I can, that everyone currently living with HIV is able to do so with a maximum of dignity."
Riding for his third time this year, teammate Sanchez lost his brother Gerardo to AIDS in 1995 "just as the cocktails were coming out. Unfortunately a bit late for him," said Sanchez. "But not for my Tio Pepe, who managed to live until the age of 80. Thanks to the cocktails, his HIV status didn't stop him from living life to the fullest."
My buddy and teammate Casad did the ride once before, in 1999 when he was 22 years old, four years after he tested positive for HIV. I was proud to sponsor him then, never imagining I would ever do the ride myself. "I gained a sense of accomplishment and pride that I had never felt before," Casad said. "I was able to ride out of the shadows of shame around being HIV-positive and into the light of personal wholeness." Now he's riding again, inspired to give back and to continue fighting HIV stigma.
I am old enough to remember how all the lesbians in our community stepped up to the front lines to care for the sick and fight AIDS in the 1980s and 1990s. My teammate and sophomore rider Angela Hallinan reminds me of those brave young women. "Last year was an incredible life-changing experience," she said. "I was able to witness and be a part of a ride that embodies dedication, love, and hope."
There are so many stories among the thousands of riders and roadies who will make the journey this year. The money we raise goes directly to support the life-saving HIV programs of the Los Angeles Gay and Lesbian Center and the San Francisco AIDS Foundation. If you haven't checked out the work they do lately, take another look. Just as the "cocktails" signaled a sea change in the treatment of HIV, I believe that with the latest medical advances such as PrEP, or pre-exposure prophylaxis, we are on the verge of a new day for the prevention of HIV.
I myself have been HIV-positive since 2000, but another of our teammates just tested positive a few months ago. With tools we have available today, we can do better, but we all need to do our part.
Sometimes I am riding my bike on a long stretch by myself, just daydreaming and thinking about all the reasons why I ride. I imagine what my life might have been like without HIV, or I think about my 18-year-old nephew and the world he is growing up in. And I know there will come a day when that last ride, that last donated dollar, will be enough to get us over the tipping point to the end of HIV and AIDS.
In the end, last Sunday�s training ride got called for safety reasons and, yes, we were all a bit disappointed. But we'll be back next weekend, and in June, and every year, rain or shine, until HIV/AIDS is a thing of the past.
Terry Beswick is the manager of the Castro Country Club. To read more about the Castro Country Club team for AIDS/LifeCycle, or to sponsor any of the team members, visit www.tofighthiv.org/goto/CastroCountryClub. Full disclosure: Although the Castro Country Club is fiscally sponsored by the San Francisco AIDS Foundation, it is entirely self-supporting. The AIDS Life/Cycle benefits SFAF and the LA Gay and Lesbian Center.