AIDS Ride Highlights – From Pastor Laurie

My dear Family, Friends, Colleagues, and Spiritual & Financial Supporters,

I survived the amazing biking journey of AIDS LifeCycle 8! You were with me all the way, from San Francisco to Los Angeles.  Thank you so very much for your steady encouragement and support. I also want to thank you again for the gift of the new bike – scaling me up from my 20-year-old Bianci, (which would have been like peddling down the coast on a tricycle!) The new Sequoia made a huge difference!   Together, we accomplished this for the well-being of others, those with HIV/AIDS.

Let me tell you about the ride itself and about my experience of it.

Here’s a You Tube video for those more visually inclined:

AIDS LifeCycle 2009

Largely due to the state of the economy, the cyclist population was slightly lower this year.  There were 2,150 riders, along with the usual crew of over 500 amazing roadies who often worked far harder than the cyclists. But happily, we were still able to raise $10.5 million for the work of the SFAIDS Foundation. Through me, you personally donated about $6,000.  Thank you!  Each evening during the ride, we saw videotapes of various donee agency clients, telling us how much the services they receive mean to them.

It’s quite significant, given this greed-induced recession and the injustice of budget cuts funding programs for those most vulnerable (for those at risk for/or living with HIV/AIDS – potentially $80 million in California).

My Experience

Personally, for me, the ride was humbling and transformative. I learned a lot – about my limits, and my strengths, and my need for others. The ride opened me to seeing myself more clearly: I’m more realistic about my age, my relative cluelessness about camping, and all that it takes to prepare for a ride like this..the truth is, I wasn’t prepared!

As most of you know, I was concerned about some injuries before the ride and went to see some doctors. They cautioned me to rest and be careful, but ultimately said, “the decision is up to you.” (I was tempted to put the words in their mouths, “Don’t go!” but they didn’t, even with my prompting!) So I went, and I rode very, very carefully, aware of my limits and always paying attention. My goal was to honor my commitment to the cause and do the ride, as well as saving face and avoiding painful questions about reimbursing friends’ donations. At the same time, I needed to balance these goals with being responsible for my own (and others’) safety.

Thus, I had to discern some bad advice on the ride such as  “Ride through the pain,” “It’s a race, not a ride,” and “a torn ALC is like a badge of honor, like a war wound.” I had to listen to the voice within and pay attention to my own limits.  So when I was hurting, I got off the bike and volunteered at the med tent. I hung out with sports medicine, chiropractic, and massage teams. I became a fixture…as a minister, I could have installed there!

While I was there, I learned a lot about preventing injuries, saw lots of people with injuries I could have easily incurred (like torn ALC and IT bands, and very swollen knees). I became tight with folks not only in the med tent, but also with those who were riding (especially with my job as ice bagger for people w/swollen knees!), I thought a lot about the wisdom of 11-year-old Xolani Nkosi Johnson, a South African orphan who was born with the HIV infection and for whom doctors gave 9 months to live. He outlasted their predictions by eleven years and become an inspiring international symbol. When he finally surrendered to AIDS in Jan 2001, heads of state paid homage. His personal mantra:

Do what you can
In the time that you have
With what you have
Where you are.
To me, this is what wisdom and courage is all about..

Ironically, there was a great gift for me in becoming completely exhausted on the ride (from back and knee pain, lots of fear for the riders who fell and injured themselves, the hassles of camping in the rain, and my newly discovered allergies to Southern California pollen). I was wiped out, in body and mind, shaken and stripped down to the foundations, like a house trembling in a 6.0 earthquake. I was broken down, near the bottom of Maslow’s needs hierarchy. At times, I was focused largely on my own safety and security and my need for help. In the midst of this experience, however, I discovered the most amazing and beautiful thing…At various times, so was almost everyone else!

Somehow, something changed within me, and I believe in others too. Perceptions began to change. We started seeing ourselves and each other less through the predefined categories like age, job, gender, sexual orientation, race, HIV status, and more though qualities like kindness, trust worthiness, compassion, fairness, humor, competence, joy.

Many people on the ride, whether they were self-described religious or not, began to wonder what the world would be like if we all cared for one another and for those in need, the way the ride community does … if we were genuinely and continually dedicated to a better world. The kingdom of heaven, right here on earth.

I believe that God, or whatever name you might have for the source of life and consciousness, is hidden within each one of us. This new voice—our authentic selves—leads us, mysteriously, not only deeper and deeper into ourselves, but at the same time, paradoxically leads us deeper into the world and closer to one another.

May we have the courage to hear, and to follow this voice within, transforming us from the inside out, bringing forth the abundant harvest, the reign of peace, the new heaven, here on earth. May it be so within each one of us. Amen.