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Hi, Nick here.

As you've no doubt heard, I am going to participate in this year's AIDS/Lifecycle event. ALC1 was the first time I've participated in any cycling event, the first time I've biked such a great distance, and both with the training and the event, the first time I've ridden in large groups. I'm very excited.

On the surface, 600 miles over 7 days doesn't really sound all that bad, but you have to consider a very important factor: California is a seismic land. As a result there are these big hills strewn all about. I will be climbing these hills. Oofda!

I have a number of reasons for participating in this event, some of which I'll enumerate for you here.

First, someone has to do this. In fact, there will probably be 2 or 3000 someones doing this. We know we can't rely on the government to put an end to AIDS in our country. We can't rely on deities. We can't rely on space aliens, miracle cures, snake oil, organized religion, kind words, barn owls, or potted plants. What does that leave us with? Nobody but ourselves. The efforts of people, not impassive conglomerates will conquer this virus. I am a person with the ability to help, so I'm going to, and that's that. We can't wait around for congressmen to decide how many votes they're going to get from gays and lesbians or how many they'll lose. We must act on our own.

Second, I am a gay man with a large number of gay friends. I don't want to lose any friends to AIDS, ever. I've been lucky so far. The unfortunate fact remains that the gay community is still at high risk for contracting HIV, for a number of reasons- in no small part due to the small size of the community. That works against us, because we practically all know everybody else through one or two people, which makes it that much worse when we lose someone. It's easy to feel hopeless and helpless in this situation. This event is one way of restoring hope and of helping.

Third, this is a formidable challenge, both mentally and physically. This is a ride over big hills from San Francisco to Los Angeles. This is 7 days of nearly nonstop bicycling. This is an amazing life experience. I feel compelled to rise to the challenge and conquer it, plus I get bragging rights later :-)

Fourth, what an amazing community to ride with! The training rides I've been on have been a blast, and such a positive experience. The vibe is amazing, and people are all mega-friendly and willing to help each other along. This is quite a contrast to the negative spew we're always hearing from the likes of Jesse Helms and Fred Phelps.

So there you have it. My top reasons for doing this crazy thing. Can you support me? If you can spare $25 a month- the cost of maybe 8 Lattes, you can contribute $150 in the fight against HIV and AIDS. If you can't spare that much, that's OK. Everything counts. Please give what you can so we can all live in a world free of this dreadful disease. (if you want to make automatic monthly payments, you'll need to use the paper form; Just fill in the name and rider number from the electronic form)

---Nick