Saturday was the big day. It was the day of the 2008 AIDS Walk+Ride. The walk and ride is an annual fundraising event for the Alliance of AIDS Services - Carolinas and ten other organizations that serve the HIV/AIDS community.

This year the Visio Dei team rocked it. We had eight people show up for the ride. Five people did the 30 mile ride, one guy did about 60 miles before his legs cramped up, and Scott and I did the entire 100 mile ride. We had about 25 people come out to do the walk, some of which had already participated in the ride earlier in the day. All of our walkers took part in the three mile walk, even Joye who was walking with a boot on her foot.

Our team not only rocked it in participation, we also brought the cha-ching. We came in third in overall team fundraising. We only trailed to the Alliance team1 and the St. John's MCC team2. Those two teams are traditionally the front runners in fundraising. We had set a goal of raising $5,000 and when it is all said and done, we will have raised just over $6,000. Next year, we aim to take out the big dogs and raise the most money out of any team.

For me, it was a very long day. The 100 mile ride took us about nine and half hours to complete. We were on the bike for seven hours and forty-two minutes of that time. The remainder of the time was spent at the seven rest stops, where we refueled with snacks, refilled water bottles and stretched.

It was a great time. I look forward to doing it again next year. Go ahead and mark your calendars for the first Saturday in May 2009 and start training for that 100 mile ride.

1. back The team from the organizing organization.


2. back The MCC is a primary outreach to the gay, lesbian, bi-sexual and transgender community.

Labels: activism, aids, sports