#aidslifecycle2015

[nyashaaghora]

When a person tests positive for HIV, it is not a test for the virus itself but for antibodies to the virus, and the test is not able to distinguish between HIV antibodies and a multitude of other antibodies. Many conditions can lead to a false positive result, including flu shots, hepatitis, and pregnancy. ~ Nate Mendel . . . . . . . . . . #UEqualsU #WorldAidsDay #1stDecember #aidsmemorialquilt #aidsfree #aidswalk #aidswalkatlanta #aidssupport #aidslifecycle2015 #aidswalkla #aidswalkhouston #aidscrew #aidsfundraiser #aidslifecycle2018 #aidswalkorlando #aidslifecycle2017 #aidscharity #aids2016 #aidsfund #aidsawarenessmonth #aidswalkphilly #aidsprojectlosangeles #aidsconference #aidsglobalchallenge #aidswalknewyork #aids2014 #aidsfreegeneration #aidslifecycle2016 #aidscrisis #KnowYourStatus

[alexdarke]

We got lei'ed as we were walking out of camp and an amazing sweep roadie took pity on us and gave us a ride to our hotel (where she was also staying) #alc2015 #aidslifecycle #aidslifecycle2015

[air2ground]

So yeah, this totally happened. Yasss Rest Stop 4 , you totally saved my live today. #jemandtheholograms #alcrider4986 #aidslifecycle2015 #ormeisactuallydoingthis #vscocam (at Old Mission San Miguel Arcángel)

[calbearchica]

5/21/15 Let the packing begin! I'm only 10 days away from this amazing event and journey that I am about to take on! The packing list is a bit crazy but for now I’m starting with the basics! A jersey and biking shorts per day! All the gear is super colorful and awesome and I love the spacious pockets in the back! Where was my life without pockets? Can’t imagine it otherwise! Excited to wear it all! I also get a PG&E jersey soon! Can not wait to see what it looks like! #Castelli #AIDSLifecycle #545miles7Days

[st33bles]

20 Seconds

So there I am, halfway through a 64-mile training ride, having just completed the long descent following a steep, long climb. I’m in the zone, but I’m also tired, still out of breath, and a little hungry. I’m just two miles away from the next rest stop, which is great, because I kind of need to pee.

I come to a T intersection with a busy-ish road, where I have a stop sign but the cross-street does not. I need to turn left. There are several cars coming in both directions, so I now have the bicyclist’s anxiety about safely turning left onto a busy street. My strategy is straightforward: as soon as there is an acceptable gap in traffic from both directions, I’ll swiftly pedal, making a beeline for the shoulder on the right-hand side.

I gauge that my opportunity will arrive after four cars pass from the right, which will happen in about 12 seconds. Getting across the street will take me maybe eight seconds, at most; probably less—I’m a strong rider with good acceleration—but I’m being conservative.

With about six seconds to go, I hear a sudden shout from behind me: “THERE’S A CENTER LANE.” His tone is angry and says, “I am in a car, you are on a bicycle. Get the fuck out of my way.” It’s a tone of voice I know well: it’s the voice I heard often during my time as a bike commuter in Texas.

This person wants me to turn into the center lane of this busy-ish road, because there are no cars approaching from the left. However, for a person on a bicycle, this is not a very safe maneuver: I cannot travel in the center lane, I do not want to turn left (its intended purpose), and I cannot cross over to the right-hand side of the travel lane until there is time and space for me to do so (especially from a stop). This will not happen until the line of cars has passed. The line of cars will pass in eight seconds, so it is safer and makes more sense to wait.

I decline take the shouter’s advice and wait the eight seconds for the final car to pass. During this time, I can hear him talking to himself angrily. I do what I’ve always done: brush it off and focus on crossing the street safely.

After the final car passes from the right, I pedal across the street. I find the shoulder, and proceed along my route. The helpful gentleman behind me stops at the stop sign (he stops, right? He doesn’t just roll through it?) and turns left, proceeding to his route, which is a freeway on-ramp to my right.

As he passes me, he shouts out, “I HOPE YOU GET IT.” The “IT” to which he refers is AIDS: I am wearing my AIDS/LifeCycle cycling jersey, which has the words “END AIDS” in large print along the back.

Yep: this guy was so incensed about waiting for twenty seconds to turn left that he wished AIDS upon me. AIDS, a disease that has killed nearly 40 million people since it began.

In response, I shout back a suggestion of a thing he could do (“fuck”) and a manner in which to do it (“off”). But his insult rattled me. (Who knew that at 38 I could still be rattled by a passing bully?)

This person, this upstanding citizen of the United States of America and planet Earth, wishes me dead. The manner in which he wishes me dead is a direct insult to me, the millions dead, and the further millions (some of whom I know and care deeply for) living with HIV. And all because he had to wait a whopping twenty seconds to get through an intersection.

Look, I’ve been driving cars for 22 years. I know they make us feel powerful. And because they are a necessity for the vast majority of Americans, I understand that much of our societal structure, our thinking, revolves around automotive transport. I understand that, when you’re behind the wheel of a car, twenty seconds can feel like a long time. But when you get right down to it, twenty seconds is twenty seconds. It’s not what anyone would call an eternity.

When I’m on a bicycle and you’re in a car, my safety is not subordinate to your efficiency of movement. If my safe traversal of a street requires you to wait twenty seconds to do so, then you will fucking wait twenty seconds. It’s twenty seconds. That’s 1/9 of a pop song. That’s 1/1576800 of a year.

I was so rattled by this incident that I could not sleep that night. (Which sucked, because I had a 75-mile training ride scheduled for the following day.) I knew I had to turn this into something positive. So I donated to another rider’s fundraising effort. (That, and I wrote this.)

I am riding in AIDS/LifeCycle to raise awareness of and raise funds for HIV/AIDS research and services. I have dedicated six months of my life to this. And that’s just me; there are many people for whom AIDS/LifeCycle is a full-time job. And then there are the people who have died, the people who are living with HIV, and those who are affected by it in other ways. Six months of one year seems like twenty seconds in the grand scheme of things.

If you would like to help more positive things come out of this, and prove to the assholes of the world that we are stronger, please consider donating to my AIDS/LifeCycle fundraising effort. My goal is $5,000, and I’m pretty close, but every little bit counts, even if it’s just $5 at a time. ($100 is just $5 twenty times, $5 for each second my bully had to wait.) The donation URL is: http://stebleton.net/alc.

And please, when you’re out there driving, remember that everyone’s safety, including your own, is more important than getting to your destination as quickly as possible.

[meza-bikes-blog]

Twin Peaks Wednesdays!!!! Actually clear today, which never happens. 10 people showed up, I think the most ever!! 

[sprecheralc13]

2015 is the year of simplifying.  To that end, all my posts about riding can now be found at sjsprecher.tumblr.com Follow along!

[air2ground]

Love & Pizza @street_pizza #love #alcrider4986 #aidslifecycle2015 (at Crown Dodge Chrysler Jeep Ram of Ventura)

[tyeolson]

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I spy with my little eye... #WhaleWatching 🐳 #AIDSLIFECYCLE2015 (at Pacific Coast Highway)

[air2ground]

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Sports Med Tent Chaos #alcrider4986 #aidslifecycle2015