Each year during Pride Week, cyclists from all over California participate in the grueling, 7-day bike ride from San Francisco to Los Angeles. The ride, spanning 545 miles in total, is coming up on its 15th year anniversary in 2018. As we inch closer to Pride month, training rides for the AIDS/LifeCycle journey have begun to spring up in L.A. to prepare cyclers for the big bicoastal push in June.
Beginning in 1993, the ride serves to raise funds to go toward not just research surrounding the prevention and cure of AIDS, but toward helping the part of the HIV-positive community that still can’t access affordable medical care and services on a regular basis. The ride is organized by both the San Francisco AIDS Foundation and the Los Angeles LGBT Center. In the past 15 years, more than 200 million dollars have been raised for the cause.
“The dedication of AIDS/LifeCycle participants has made it possible for us to provide leading-edge medical services to people living with HIV/AIDS at our Jeffrey Goodman Special Care Clinic and to offer PrEP and PEP to those most at risk of becoming infected (gay and bisexual men of color,)” said Lorri Jean, CEO of the Los Angeles LGBT Center, of the 7-day ride. “AIDS/LifeCycle helps us remember the many lives lost to the disease – and celebrate the many lives we have been able to save.”
As per the AIDS/LifeCycle website, “the HIV/AIDS epidemic is far from over. In the seven days it takes AIDS/LifeCycle to reach Los Angeles, more than 1,000 people in the United States will become infected with HIV.”
Training rides for the event begin in early March in multiple locations across L.A. as well as Northern California. For more information on upcoming training rides in Los Angeles, visit http://www.tofighthiv.org or https://www.aidslifecycle.org.
The charity ride seeks donations to go toward AIDS research and medical services.
