Day 1 - A New Journey Begins

84.35mi. 6.11hrs

The day began with 6 of walking out of the hotel and down Wall St. at 6:15am, dressed in our ride gear in search of breakfast. An hour later all the riders walked bikes and gear the 4 blks to the water to board the ferry for a choppy ride past the Statue of Liberty to Atlantic Highlands, NJ.

The morning took us through one horse farm after another with lunch on the shore of a beautiful reservoir. The afternoon flattened out further but midway to the PM rest stop the rain began and didn't let up -not in the pine barrens or acre after acre of cranbery bogs (yes, we even passed Ocean Spray!). It was a sloppy mess and all were happy to arrive at camp and a hot shower. BBQ dinner and fresh, local peach pies didn't hurt either!

More pictures from Day 1

Memorials

Early this morning I arrived in NYC with an entire day to myself. Coincidently, the hotel is in the neighborhood of Ground Zero so I dropped off my luggage and went to pay my respects. On the walk it was easy to distinguish between those who still mourn, those with stories to tell, and everyone still trying to make sense of the tragic events of September 11, 2001.
Memorials not only honor the dead but perhaps more importanatly, give us a time to stop and recall the enormous loss that must so often be pushed aside if we're to carry on. I didn't personally know anyone who perished on 9/11 and can't come close to imagining the pain of those around me in lower Manhattan but today I joined New Yorkers and the rest of the nation in recalling a great loss.

It Took Planes, Trains and Automobiles

And at the end of my day-long adventure back to NYC, I was at long last reunited with my bike in the Rosen/Siegel dining room. Now I'm ready to ride!

Thank You

Two simple words that seem to lose their sincerity when often used though I tell you most sincerely I could not be more grateful for each one of you who has made a contribution to one or both of my AIDS rides this year.

Contributions come in as many forms as bikes on the start line. Hundreds of you contributed in a monetary fashion – small sums and large, some matched my celebrated age, gave several small amounts over time or threw in a few extra dollars to help us reach a critical milestone – but even more of you gave something of your heart through well-wishes, your prayers, asking others to donate, covering my absence at home, work or committee meetings while I rode, trained with me and provided moral support. Thank you.

I fly to New York tomorrow for the start of the inaugural NYCDC Ride for Research. Know that I go as your representative bringing hope to the journey of every researcher whose work can continue, every person infected by HIV, every human afflicted and affected by AIDS. We thank you very much.

Bringing Down Mountains

I learned two important lessons from hill-climbing on the last Empire State AIDS Ride - each hill is made shorter by momentum gained on the previous decline and to aim only for the next horizon, even if another soon follows.

Scientists originally thought they could treat HIV like a standard virus and quickly get it under control. They've since discovered HIV is not your standard virus. I applaud and support those researchers who persevere in light of this knowledge, knowing HIV will only be defeated through innovative science and won't allow their creativity to be constrained by that most common hurdle - funding.

Dr.Yuntao Wu and his research team at George Mason University are just such an innovative team whose breakthrough research (announced today) was published in the Sept.5 issue of the journal Cell. They've figured out how HIV breaks a protective barrier to get inside a T cell, eventually causing the cell to die. That CD4 T-cell death leads to full-blown AIDS. With this understanding, research can now focus on the next horizon, short-circuiting that process. If the virus can't get in, the cell won't die and an HIV infected person would never develop the compromised immune system that is AIDS. This result of a return to basic science, called for by Dr. Robert Gallo earlier this year when two key vaccine trials were deemed a failure, is exciting news providing needed momentum to reach new heights in the war on AIDS.

"This study really opened avenues for us and we hope to use this information as a foundation for more detailed studies that could lead to the development of new therapeutic tools," Wu said.

Next week, I'll join 24 cyclists and 19 volunteer crew (including Wu's family and entire lab team) on the inaugural NYCDC AIDS Research Ride, created to raise $200,000 to accelerate the next stage of Dr. Wu's research to search for the compound that would prevent the HIV virus from infiltrating T cells. Our fundraising, including your donation, adds even more momentum to ending AIDS by keeping these scientists focused on the next horizon in their labs and out of the grant-writing business. Thanks for the push.

Interested in the scientific details? Read the complete article in Cell.