Bike Takes a Ride

CC rides atop the ESAR Prius to Niagara Falls where she'll take me by pedal power to mark the first 20 miles of the Empire State AIDS Ride.
Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

ESAR from a New View. Who Knew?

The surprise was on me. All day I've been pinching myself as I packed up the bike, pulled out the duffel bag and tried to figure out what to pack for an AIDS Ride when not riding a bike. You see, it's not September so it's not time to bike NYC-DC but I got an offer I couldn't refuse...


Tomorrow morning I fly to NY to *crew* my 4th Empire State AIDS Ride. I'll be marking the route a half day ahead of the cyclists, 560 miles from Niagara Falls to Manhattan. Suppose after 10 AIDS rides on my bike, it was time to see the road from a new view. Won't you come along?

Follow my tweets @AIDSRiderGG or catch my Facebook posts but you need go no further than right here to catch the view from the front of the pack, where you'll rarely find me on a bike!

Rest of a Life

When called in to review lab results with my doctor yesterday, I knew enough not to be scared but wasn’t prepared for a treatment that involved taking a pill every morning for the rest of my life. It gave me pause to consider today I’d wake to a new element in my morning routine and an ounce more empathy for those who endure far more every day just to keep living.

Bret kept his pills in a Batman head container. It once held candy and now was stuffed 3 times with the pills he took every day. The rest of his life was lengthened 3 years beyond initial expectations but still ended too soon.

15 years later, many with HIV need only a few – some just a single pill to hold the virus at bay. Their lives are extended but with no guarantee of long term results.

I’ll take my pill each morning knowing that something else will ultimately end my life and ride until Dr. Wu or some other innovative researcher perfects the pill that gives everyone affected with HIV similar expectations for the rest of their life too.

50 for 50

Bret would have been 50 today had AIDS not cut his life too short. Admittedly, it would have been fun to return the favor of lampooning my brother's milestone birthday to at least the level he'd have "celebrated" mine last summer but the fact that I can't won't stop me from celebrating.

On this day, I choose to celebrate my many HIV+ friends who are or will reach their 50th birthdays! They'll get to try out the latest wrinkle creams, fight to lower their cholesterol, lose their graying hair, bemoan their stiffening joints and celebrate every second of added life achieved by advancing HIV/AIDS treatments and therapies. Happy Birthday to YOU!

Consider today the day you make more birthdays possible with a $50 gift toward ending AIDS.

Footprints

Disappointed that the first lunar landing was scheduled to miss Bret's 10th birthday by only one day, Bret, Tammie, Becky and I kept up a steady stream of pleas for our new brother or sister to arrive on the day man first set foot on the moon. Alas, Steven was born as due in August and July 20, 1969 would make Granato family history for the single memory of rushing in from play to stare at the black and white scene of Neil Armstrong descending in slow motion down the ladder to step on the moon then staring at the glowing moon that night, quite sure we could see signs that "man was here".

Much has been said about Armstrong's script for that first step. Appropriate words for such a significant event yet they could only be spoken by one man. How often do we fail to take a step if it can't make a considerable difference - a "giant leap for mankind"? Leaps are noteworthy because they are rare, yet mankind can only progress in the direction of our dreams by the many small steps of many men and women. At the end of the road I walk we'll defeat AIDS. Where do you leave your footprint?