| Mike with mattress girl |
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| Mike with mattress girl |
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Date: Wed, 17 Jul 2002 13:59:02 EDT
From: MathWhiz78@aol.com
Subject: My big, long, European AIDS Vaccine Ride email
Hello!
Bonjour!
Shalom!
Hola!
Wilkommen!
If you're getting this email (and I apologize for it's mass-ness),
you're
special somehow. If you're getting this email, it means that you were
on the
Ride with me, a sponsor, a friend or relative that I wanted to share my
experience with, a Pallotta employee, or someone that I've spoken with
online
that I wanted to share the idea with. Somewhere along the line, if
you're
getting this email, you have made my Ride experience and my life in
general
as good as it can be. It will be a rather long email, and not all
parts will
apply to all people as much as others, but it should still be a decent
read.
Why do I say that? Because my mom tells me I'm a fair writer and she's
not
biased at all, far as I can tell.
Before I really start with the Ride experience, I have to insert a plug
here.
If you were on the Ride and would like to continue that wonderful
feeling of
community and be surrounded by people willing to do anything to help
out
their fellow rider or crew member, or if you weren't on the Ride but
would
simply be interested in a kinder, gentler world, check out
www.heroicstories.com. It is a list of all of the little things that
people
do that help make the world a better place. I've been a subscriber
since
near the inception and I don't have the words in my vocabulary to do
this
list justice. Joyce Showalter, the Editer-In-Chief, and a sponsor of
mine,
has on her business card that she is "Co-Conspirator to make the world
a
better place." Their little business card thingy notes "Sometimes a
small
gesture toward another has a profound, lasting effect. To see what I
mean,
visit www.heroicstories.com and pass this on." (No, they didn't pay
for the
plug, and, had I asked them to write it themselves, it most likely
would have
been much less wordy.)
Sometime last winter, I saw something in the mail for a triathlon to
raise
money for MS, or something to that effect. Being deathly afraid of
drowning,
and not able to run to the end of the driveway without getting winded,
it
wasn't going to work out. But the idea of doing something to get in
shape
and raise money for a good cause germinated in my mind. In January, I
saw a
commercial for the European AIDS Vaccine Ride. Actually, I saw a
number of
them, and finally I checked out the web site. It looked pretty cool so
I
signed up. Gave them my credit card and $250. No backing out after
that, I
thought. I was determined to prove to myself and everyone else that I
was
capable of raising $5000 and riding 500+ miles. As important as the
cause is
to me, I was doing the Ride for myself and no one else.
I went into a bike store in town and spent a lot of money to get a
decent
bike, clothing, accessories, etc. I started telling people (albeit not
my
parents, because I was determined to do this as completely
independently as
possible) and started getting myself pumped up.
The first time I went for a training ride, with my friend Curt, I went
less
than a mile (he rode 5 to get to my house to begin with) before
deciding it
was enough. The second time we went out together, I made it a few
miles
before nearly collapsing from overexertion. (I didn't stretch enough
and we
started out uphill to get out of my neighborhood.) I was getting some
doubts
in the back of my head but was determined to go on and prove myself to
everyone, least of all myself. Needless to say, training got easier
over
time so I needn't go too into that.
In February, shortly after getting myself into this whole thing (and
that's
how I was thinking about it at the time), I approached my friend Linda,
who
owns Ruby's, a gay bar here in town, about putting on a benefit show.
We
found a date (the sixth of April) and I went about begging drag queens
to
perform and donate tips. Because of the cause, we soon had more
performers
than we could handle! The evening was spectacular. There were a
number of
wonderful performers, including my dear friend Ronnie (whom I don't
have the
words to properly describe, but to say that he has a heart of gold and
body
of a Greek god would both be understatements), who drove nearly three
hours
to sing wonderfully for the audience. A number of area merchants
donated
raffle prizes including, once again, Linda, who owns the bar. Bart,
another
friend and owner of Bart's Haie Salon, generously volunteered to match
the
evening's tips. After all was said and done, over $1500 had been
raised on
the evening.
Fast forwarding... I found a team somewhat quickly and got a bunch of
emails
from it. Some guy (I know him now, but didn't then), who was one of
the
captains, posted a great airfare he got so I went to the website and
duplicated his itinerary. The same guy later posted where he would be
staying in Amsterdam prior to the start of the Ride. Not having any
clue
myself, I sent him an email and asked/pleaded to room with him (this
way
would be cheaper and I wouldn't have to deal with the hassle at all!).
Fast-forwarding some more... I did some more training and some more
fundraising. Still no more travel planning... Asked aforementioned
guy if
he'd wait for me in the airport and help me get to the hotel with him.
He
agreed. (That's the type of people that are on the ride, after all.)
The day to leave came. My friend Curt volunteered to take me up north
to get
to the airport (yes, the same one that did some training with me).
Made my
way to O'Hare, found the plane (this is the easy part, I was still in
the
States), and waited for takeoff. On the way there I had two seats to
myself
for a while until a flight attendant asked if I would be willing to let
a
gentleman sit in the second seat as his ten month old child was asleep
in his
spot. Knowing better than to rouse a sleeping infant on an
international
flight, I readily agreed. During the ride we talked about why we were
going
to The Netherlands (back home for him, the Ride for me) and I told him
that I
was still short some fundraising. I pulled out a form and he pulled
out a
five Euro bill. Not having the info to properly credit the donation,
and not
being able to accept cash, the money found its way to my wallet where
it
still remains as a good luck charm.
Ok, I'm getting long winded here, even for myself... The plane lands
and,
after some confusion with Customs (i kinda skipped the line then went
back,
inadvertently, and was "caught" going the wrong way through a one way
door
thing), and some futile attempts at hitting at some Dutch boys that
were on
the flight, Rob (he has a name now) found me and, along with George who
was
also staying at our hotel, we attempted to find transportation. Well,
they
attempted to find it. I just tried not to mess anything up.
Now, I'm not going to get into everything that happened in the first
few days
in Amsteceremonies in the
same way,
my throat tightened, clutching every breath. My eyes welled up and
tears
flowed forth. I was trying to think of any other time I had felt such
raw
emotion and there wasn't one. I wasn't sad or angry or upset per se, I
just
was. And it was powerful. And I want to feel it again. You who are
riding
or crewing the Heartland Ride this year will know the feeling.
Ok, enough random outpouring of emotions and feelings. Now it's time
for the
fun stuff! This is the part of the email where, like a high school
senior
with all his friends' yearbooks, I get to write individual notes! This
is
basically in the order of email addressed I got. Naturally, this list
is
incomplete. After all, I wasn't able to get all 800+ email addressed.
=)
Melissa--hun, you need an email all to yourself, and maybe someday
you'll get
it. In the meantime, you kept telling your brother that you're 24 and
able
to make your own decisions. Stop telling him; stop worrying about that
so
much. Just do what you want to do provided you're aware of the
consequences.
And some day I want to see more of those sketches.
Liz, Alisa, Ben, and Aaron, the Middlebury crew--the three of you on
lunch
were wayyy too peppy, but I know that's what people needed to see after
all
those wet miles. And hey, Champaign, IL
61821
USA
Life begets life. Energy creates energy. It is by spending oneself that one becomes rich. - Sarah Bernhardt (1844-1923)
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See about my participation in the Avon 3-day walk for breast cancer prevention. See also my 4-day walk around Nijmegen, Holland. |
There are over 300,000 Americans living with AIDS. In 1999, over 10,000 Americans died of AIDS many of them poor. And a new generation of young people is growing up with a frightening lack of respect for the deadliness of this virus.
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I received the following on email and thought it was appropriate: Everything I need to know about life, I learned from Noah's Ark... |
On difficult ground, press on. On encircled ground, devise strategies. On death ground, fight. ---Sun Tsao
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Last updated 8/17/02