Cyclists Pedal for AIDS Research

For those of you impatient with the length of commuter shuttle flights from Boston to New York, you might want to reconsider. A group of Harvard students will be hitting the road to New York--on bicycles.

From tomorrow to Saturday, more than 3,000 bicyclists will come together to make a three-day, 275-mile expedition from Boston to New York through Connecticut.

Ten members of the Harvard community--including undergraduates, graduates, and employees--are among this large group, which is making the journey to raise money for HIV/AIDS research and services.

The thousands of bicyclists will leave from Northeastern University tomorrow morning and arrive in NY on 8th Avenue between 15th and 23rd St on Saturday.

Dedicated to helping HIV-AIDS patients, participants in this ride were required to raise a minimum of $1,600 in sponsor donations.

Rider Lee L. Green '99 visited several houses to make students aware of how they can contribute to this cause, even with small donations.

"It's nice to have a lot of students giving a little money each, rather than having big corporate sponsors give a lot because it gets a lot of people involved and sends the message to more of the community," said Green.

The group of Harvard participants has raised over $19,000, which will be donated to benefit the HIV and AIDS-related research and services at Fenway Community Health Center in Boston.

"Thanks to the AIDS Rides, people who have never raised money before were able to single-handedly generate thousands of dollars for the fight against AIDS," said Dr. Stephen Boswell, Executive Director for Fenway Community Health Center.

"Every rider, donor, and volunteer has made a difference," he added.

While some riders like Green have extensive experience in long-distance bicycling, others did not even know how to ride a bike before they began training for this event.

The Harvard participants have been training together since the summer, venturing out for 50-mile expeditions on several weekends in order to prepare for the long-distance trip.

"I never did any long-distance cycling before but it sounded like an amazing challenge for a great cause," said rider Daniel G. Punt '99.

This is the fourth year Tanqueray, a producer of imported gin, has sponsored the AIDS Ride. According to its Web site, the Tanqueray American AIDS Rides have raised almost $90 million since 1994.

Other American AIDS Rides include trips in California, Washington, D.C., Texas, and Wisconsin to Chicago.