Amy's AIDS Ride and Vaccine Ride Journal

Sunday, March 18, 2001

It's time to begin my AIDS Ride journal again. I've got a few things I've written for other sources already, so I'm going to post those first, then my entry for today.
posted by Amy Hemphill 3/18/2001 02:58:36 PM

The decision is made. written 2/14/2001

I made a fairly monumental decision last night. I'm proud and scared all at the same time. :)

I've been involved in the Boston to New York AIDS Ride for the last 2 years. Last year I didn't prepare myself well at all, and ended up pulled out of the ride and taken to the emergency room. Yuck.

Well, this year I've been inspired. I've already done more physical preparations for this year's ride than I probably did for last year's total. I'm in better shape, and feeling good. The ride got moved from
September to July (no more hurricane season, thank goodness), and is now a day - and 75 miles - longer. I'm looking forward to it. It should be fun.

Then I heard about the new thing they've got called the Vaccine Rides. Instead of the pledge money going to organizations providing health care, the money is going to a group of three scientists who are trying to develop an AIDS vaccine. When I heard about the first one last year, the Alaska Vaccine Ride, I was intrigued. But, it was way too much for me to commit to, and I wasn't sure how I felt about the money going to scientists instead of patients.

A few things have happened lately to change my mind on that. First of all, I heard a speech given by the founders of these rides, Dan Pallotta, in which he talked about the idea of someday not having this
disease anymore, and my grandkids being able to say, "My grandma rode her bike to help get rid of AIDS." That idea really inspired me. Then I spoke to a woman who did the Alaska ride last year, and she talked about wanting her children to read about AIDS in history books, rather than the newspaper. Then she told me about sitting with one of the scientists when he visited the Alaska ride last year. She asked him, point blank, "How long will it take you?" He said they anticipated finding the vaccine within 3-5 years. Wow. That idea REALLY inspired me.

So I started thinking about doing one of the Vaccine rides this year. The one I'm specifically interested in is the Montreal to Portland, Maine, ride. 5 days, 400 miles, and BEAUTIFUL countryside. My only
problem was that, instead of the $1700 minimum pledge I've had up until now, I'd suddenly have the new $2100 minimum for the ride I'm already registered for, plus the $3500 for the Vaccine ride. It seemed a bit daunting. I talked to my rider rep about her suggestions as to how to go about doing that. She suggested meeting with my major donors from last year, tell them what I was planning to do, and see if they'd be willing to help me make it happen.

So last night I took a friend to dinner who pledged $1000 last year. (No, I didn't stutter, that's how much he pledged. Blew me away at the time, still amazes me today.) I explained to him what I was planning to do, and asked if he would consider either repeating his $1000 pledge, or matching it with a pledge from himself and others he might know that I didn't know. He said that not ONLY was he planning to pledge $1000 again before I even talked to him, but that he would ALSO speak to some people he works with who make a ton of money, and make them cough up at least the other $1100 to make the total of $2100 for the first ride. Which would leave me only having to raise pledges for the second ride. And, he said he'd actually try to get them to commit to enough in pledges that we could start working away at the minimum for the second ride, too.

Wow. That just blew me away. It really made the whole prospect seem much easier.

So, the long and short of it is that, as soon as I get paid next Friday, I'm calling up Pallotta Teamworks and registering for the 2001 Canada-US Vaccine Ride. So I will ride a total of 750 miles (and, yes, this year I WILL ride it) in honor of my best friend Jim, and my brother Mason, in the hopes of treating some patients and finding a vaccine.

I'm just feeling very happy and proud this morning.
posted by Amy Hemphill 3/18/2001 03:01:53 PM

It has begun

On Sunday, March 4th, we held our first training ride. Bob, my training ride leader partner, and I were joined by 6 other hale and hearty individuals who layered up and braved the wintry weather. And when I say wintry, I'm not just whistling Dixie. The temperature for the ride hovered near the 35 degree mark. And, we were set for our next blizzard to begin that night or the following day, so the radio and TV were loud with "winter storm warning" stories. Not a very encouraging thing to hear on the way to a training ride.

But it all turned out okay. We rode 16 miles along the shoreline from Westport, CT. We were all layered up. I wore my Cuddle Duds top (like long underwear), a bike jersey, a long sleeved t-shirt, and a fleece top, bike shorts, leggings, and nylon pants, as well as a scarf around my neck, and ear warmer on my head, winter cycling gloves - and, of course, my helmet. I'm amazed I could move. I'm even more amazed that, by the time we finished the ride, I actually felt quite warm, and was eager to get some of the layers off. After the end of the ride, we all went to a diner and had hot chocolate with whipped cream. I think we earned it. :)

I was glad to see some riders come out that early in the season who were so positive and fun. I think this will be a good training year.
posted by Amy Hemphill 3/18/2001 03:17:28 PM

What troopers

This weekend, we held two 25 mile training rides. We had 5 riders show up Saturday, and...well, I lost count today. A lot. :) They were great rides, and we couldn't have asked for better weather in such close proximity to all the weird blizzards and things we've been having this early spring.

I had an interesting experience with these rides this weekend. I serve on these rides as what's called the "sweep", meaning I'm always the last one in the group. It's my job to stop and help anyone who has trouble, and make sure whoever is the slowest in the group doesn't get left behind. It's been good for me for several reasons, mostly in that if I'm behind someone who's going slow, it makes me pay closer attention to my cycling when I might have normally gone faster. And it's been good because where I would normally speed to the bottom of a hill to build momentum to get up, I've had to be patient, and get up the hill through sheer effort, rather than leftover momentum.

Well, Saturday's ride just about wore me out. It turned out that some of the time I wasn't the last in line because it was my job, but because I was just so tired I couldn't keep up. At the end of the ride, I told Bob I wasn't sure I could do that two days in a row. He told me that he had someone who could be the sweep, so if I wanted to stay home Sunday, that was fine.

The old Amy, i.e. the Amy before training season 2001, would have JUMPED on that and said, "Fine, I'll stay home." But for some reason, that just seemed the wrong thing to do, so I told him I'd think about it, and make the decision first thing in the morning. I've just been doing such a good job this year with training and with eating well that I'm finding myself motivated to the point of not liking the feeling when I let myself down.

Well, this morning I woke up and felt VERY tired, but I felt like I had to at least give it a try. And then, to seal the deal, Carlos decided he wanted to go, too. We hadn't ridden together since last fall, and I knew that would be a lot of fun. So off we went. Today's ride did indeed make me tired again. But I did a good job, and managed to - most of the time - be the sweep because it was my job, and not because I was the slowest. And we had two riders come today who were pretty new to cycling, and got pretty tired out. It made me proud to ride the last 10 miles or so with them, cheering them on and helping them get back home. That was a good feeling.
posted by Amy Hemphill 3/18/2001 03:31:05 PM

GU!!!

I discovered a magical thing today. It's called Gu. Basically, it's a little foil packet of gel that's meant as an energy boost kind of food while doing things like cycling or running. I hadn't tried them before because I assumed they'd taste pretty nasty, and I figured I was better off with Luna bars, which I love so much. (The Lemon Zest bars ROCK.) But on yesterday's ride, one of the women said she really liked the Gu for quick pick-me-ups during rides, and that the chocolate ones tasted JUST like chocolate cake frosting. Chocolate cake frosting? Really? Okay, how could I turn that down. :)

So I bought a couple at the cycling shop last night, and put one in my front pocket before today's ride. Well, during today's ride, I ended up just ZONKED about half way through it. I mean, I could barely keep my legs turning, and the whole group was pulling way ahead of me. I thought to myself, "Okay, let's give this Gu thing a try." First of all, let me say that the chocolate frosting analogy was a good one. Yummy! It tasted so good. So I decided while I was eating it that if it didn't help my energy, it least it was tasty. Then about 10 minutes later, I got this HUGE second wind. I mean, I felt ready to conquer the rest of the ride. I sometimes get second winds, but never like this one. I just felt ENERGIZED.

So I've decided Gu is where it's at. On the way home I had to stop at EMS to get a drying rack and cleaning brushes for my Camelbak. While I was there, I picked up a few more packs of Gu, and this neat thing called a Gu flask that's a plastic bottle for holding Gu gel that fits in your pocket. That will be MUCH easier than trying to rip the little foil pack open while I'm riding. And, I just finished doing some bargain shopping online. As soon as I get paid again, I'm going to order my Luna bars and Gu packets by the case so I'm all set for the season. Yummy!
posted by Amy Hemphill 3/18/2001 03:39:31 PM

But Amy, what about the money?

Okay, so I'm finally caught up on past journal entries, and I haven't really mentioned the fundraising yet. Here's what's happend so far:

(1) As I mentioned in my first post, one friend has agreed to pledge $1000, and is also asking at his office for other people to make pledges. He thinks with that he may get me up to another few hundred dollars.

(2) I have another friend who, bless her, told me that not only would she raise her pledge to me this year to about $500, but would also consider herself my "fundraising representative". She is planning to send my information out to several mailing list she's on, as well as contacting friends she has that I don't know, to see how much more money she can bring in for me.

(3) Because my first two donors for the year will probably basically cover the $2100 minimum pledge for the Northeast Ride, I'm concentrating my fundraising efforts on the Canada-US Ride. I am sending out my first fundraising letter either today or tomorrow. I'm also going to be holding a fundraiser at the theater I work at, Hole in the Wall. An improv group called The Troupe with No Name has agreed to perform for free. I'll show a house party video at the beginning of the evening, and hopefully have a house party speaker, Rick Elser, speak as he has at my house parties for the last two years. Then, the troupe will perform. I'm hoping to bring in quite a bit in pledges that night. This cause certainly needs them.

So, all in all things are off to a strong start, and promise to only get better from here.
posted by Amy Hemphill 3/18/2001 03:44:52 PM