I was fortunate enough to be part of this ride to raise awareness about AIDS and fundraise for those living with HIV/AIDS in Minnesota.
It was a 4 day journey, 300 miles through the cities, towns, farms and trails. For the first time rider and a person who has only logged 80 miles on his bike since 2005, I will say that it was intimidating at first. But as they say, don’t swallow the whole fish.
The journey started at the Mall of America at 6:30 with an opening ceremony. Many people there are veteran riders. Everyone seemed to know everyone by now. I was on the Bicycle Bandits team so I know a few people there.
Day 1 began with us riding through Eagan, Rosemount and ending in Lake City. Except there was a slight lightning storm in Red Wing that we had to be pulled from the road outside Miesville. I was wet and bored. No iPhone and nothing else to do except sit and wait the storm out. After several hours, they finally let us back on the road. I was cold so I started to ride fast. The last 10 miles to camp was challenging. Rolling hills, never-ending head wind and road construction. Instead of the posted 79.2 miles, the ride ended up being 84 miles.
Day 2 began around 5am. Richard woke everyone up… Right before we got out, I remembered Rick (another guy sharing the room) saying very loudly, “I’ve got lube”. Well, if you put it out of context, it is too much information. But he meant bike lube. 
Our team that were around (Britany, Annie, Gina and me) rode out around 6:45am. This was hill day. Lots and lots of rolling hills. I was as miserable as can be. It wasn’t that the hills were hard but I remembered having a sandwich at lunch and it made the journey almost impossible.
This was also the day that my spedometer clocked 38.6 mph. I was going downhill into a town and the posted speed limit was 30mph. hehe. :) I remembered the last big hill right before Rochester. There were people cheering and the rap song going… After that hill, Rochester was in sight. The next 5 miles was painfully slow – riding through city street and hitting every stop light there is.
Day 3 was just another day. I was told that there was going to be an interesting hill right before camp. I took that as a caution and conserved most of my energy during the ride. This is also the day I got nitros oxide in me (large iced mocha). It was a surge of power that sat and waited. I’ll get to the details later… This is also the day that I decided that a heavy lunch is a bad idea so I skipped the sandwich at lunch.
Instead I sat at the chiro chair and got this amazing massage. It absolutely took away this pain that I’ve been having on my left thigh. I can’t remember the exact terminology but it was just painful until it got worked on. Immediately I felt the pain go away. I left pit stop 3 and rode by myself. On the way to stop 4, I remembered thinking to myself why most people do not get involved with something like this.
Well, for the most part, not everyone is immediately affected by AIDS or HIV or they don’t feel the urgency for the matter. I began to explore the reason why I did this. I remembered saying that my reason is to help others but then I remembered that while I may not be immediately be affected, my future could. My kids and their kids could be affected. It’s been over 30 years and we still do not have a vaccine or cure. And those that have it are shunned by society. They become uninsurable and yet they must find ways to pay for the expensive meds. Those that are positive and strong live their days as they normally do. They do all the things that they normally do and stay positive. This is what I saw at the ride. The positive riders were not only healthy, they were determined and passionate. They know they all serve another purpose in life and that is to educate and help others that are in need. This is an amazing courage that not many have and this motivated me further. It was my fuel that drove the next 35 miles to camp.
I remembered riding with all the strength that I had in me and kept pedaling. I remembered the headwind pushing me and slowing me down as I rode through the countryside. When I finally got into stop 5, I saw the Angel rider again. They said that he was in coma and woke up one day and decided that he should be doing this. He’s been doing this ever since.
I rode out with Sean and we were out to follow the angel to camp. We caught up with him at the hill – the last big hill to camp that everyone was talking about. When we got the top, I told Sean that we should go down and help others ride it. He told me that I was crazy and somehow we both ended up riding down that hill and waited for other riders. The riders that came by were all strong riders. We rode up anyway, just to see how it was. Each uphill journey gave me more energy and I went down to do it again. This went on until my teammates finally rode up the hill. We decided to all ride back to camp. It was my enlightening day.
In the evening, I had a Thai massage. If you’ve never had one – let me tell you – they pull your muscles back to normal. Incredibly relaxing.
After dinner, we went to the auditorium where we heard the story of Ryan White’s life from his mother, Ginny White. It’s easy to see how ignorance and fear causes brings out the best and worst in people. It was a good story.
I remembered Day 4 being the day that I felt no more pain. I was in total equilibrium with my body. Sitting on the bike saddle was a normal occurence now. My legs were tight but they were ready for whatever that was in front of me.
The day ended with a closing ceremony at the State Capitol. It’s one of the better backdrops for something like this. Now, I’m back at home, tired but hopeful that we’ve got an amazing number of people that rode and crew for this cause.
Will I ever do it again? Absolutely. Rain or shine. I’ll ride, fundraise and recruit! More people should be involved in this. We all need to help fight this.
Here are pictures of the Bicycle Bandits. Here are pictures from the ride.
