WATSONVILLE—Through bustling cities, along coastal roads and past vast agricultural fields, thousands of bicyclists are riding from San Francisco to Los Angeles, an annual 545-mile ride started in 1994 to raise money for HIV/AIDS prevention and care programs.
It is the world’s largest annual HIV/AIDS fundraiser.
This year’s AIDS/LifeCycle features 2,175 bicyclists and roughly 1,000 support staff. The riders passed through Watsonville Monday morning, having left from Cow Palace in Daly City on Sunday.
They will end their trip on Saturday at Fairfax High School in Los Angeles.
Pall Tale, 55, traveled from Kauai to participate in what was his 22nd year. He says he has raised as much as $14,000 during one of those years.
Tale says his participation is his way of contributing to the cause.
“I’m not a doctor or scientist,” he says. “But I can ride a bike and fundraise.”
Tale says he especially likes passing through the agricultural fields of Watsonville, where one year a group of farmworkers took up a collection and handed him $8.67.
The event is co-produced by Los Angeles LGBT Center and San Francisco AIDS Foundation. It is intended to reduce new HIV infections and improve the quality of life for people living with HIV/AIDS.
Monica Pressley of San Francisco says it was her first time participating.
“It’s just like you would imagine,” she says. “It’s been absolutely fantastic. Riding along in the fresh air with the ocean and the plant life, even grinding up hills, the support you feel is everywhere.”
Chris Kimball of Seattle stopped to help a fellow rider fix a flat tire on San Andreas Road.
He said the hot, muggy weather made for a poor start to the ride, but that changed on Monday, with cool, foggy conditions and breeze from the nearby ocean. He added that his last long bike trip was 15 years ago.
“It’s all coming back,” he said. “It’s a wonderful ride.”
The event raises millions of dollars annually to support San Francisco AIDS Foundation and the HIV-related services of the Los Angeles LGBT Center. Participants come from nearly every state and 14 countries.
It funds services such as HIV testing and screenings for other sexually transmitted infections, HIV medical care, harm reduction and prevention services.
Since its inception, participants have raised more than $286 million and completed more than 63,000 journeys on bikes from San Francisco to Los Angeles.
