*****SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENT***** aka if I'm over the hill, the finish line must be in sight

Repeat supporters are familiar with my habit to kick up the cycling challenge a notch or two each year to stay mindful of how hard it is to live with HIV/AIDS and why it’s so important to defeat it. This year I’m doubly challenged by a desire to thumb my nose at what I’ll call my AARP birthday rapidly approaching in a few short weeks. A previous “birthday” posting mentioned that my brother had already given me a gift – the vehicle for meeting both these challenges – and now you have a chance to help me make this a very special birthday indeed!

First you should know that I love Washington DC. Our family moved to the DC burbs when I was 10 and stayed into my 20s. From the late 60s to early 80s, DC was a hotbed of civil outcry and outrage, men in suits and protesters in the streets, the converging point of a rapidly evolving democracy – a powerful place indeed that made a lasting impression. After we’d each migrated to the west coast, Bret and I longed to return and managed to make one last visit there, ironically over World AIDS Day only a few months before AIDS took his life. It was 1996 news coverage of an AIDS ride finish line on the Capitol lawn that first inspired me to dust off a bike and prepare for the day I could do the same in his honor and memory. Finally, 13 years later, that day has arrived.

This September, 3 weeks after arriving in NYC at the end of the Empire State AIDS Ride, I’ll leave NYC for the 4-day NYCDC AIDS Ride for Research. As excited as I am to meet the challenge of my first back-to-back multi-day event and finally crossing a finish line in my adopted hometown, I’m ecstatic about the research we’ll be funding.

I’m gifted by this chance to go the extra mile to fund the most promising research available and invite you to be inspired to do the same. Please consider making an extra mile donation today.
Besides, it’s been a long climb up that hill and if turning 50 means I’m over it, why not relish in the wind on my face all the way to the AIDS-is-finished line! Thanks for the push.