Welcome Home Agent Mike: AIDS Lifecycle 2009

(family and friends cheer the riders on as they ride into closing ceremonies)

Last weekend Dee, myself, and a ton of other people welcomed more than 2,000 riders from the AIDS Lifecycle ride into Los Angeles for the completion of the week long ride from San Francisco to Los Angeles to raise $10.5M for AIDS research, aid, and education. Participating this year was our very own Agent Mike.





Watching more than 2000 people ride in on bikes was impressive and the ceremonies to follow were moving. Between the videos of the ride and the speakers speaking on the state of AIDS in the US, there weren't many dry eyes in the crowd. With the many other things going on in the world, we often tend to forget the things that aren't in our face all of the time. Although it is not often in the news, AIDS is still a big problem facing people all over the world. Hearing people talk about AIDS in a very personal way, seeing flags dedicated to those affected, and all of the HIV positive participants (the positive pedaler holding the flag to the right) helped to remind those at the ceremony how real it all still is, and how much more of a problem it is in these economic times (government is looking to cut AIDS funding as a way to save money). It seemed, from all of the riders, that the experience was a very positive one. In speaking with mike, and watching the closing ceremonies, it made me really want to participate in the ride next year.





So in short, congrats to Agent Mike, and the rest of the 2000+ riders in your 545 mile journey through california and in raising so much money in such hard times, the feat is impressive to say the least!

(Agent Mike makes it home)