"We ride because some people cannot afford to survive" - Tom, Positive Pedalers

Think about that for two seconds. Some people, who have the will, strength, determination and desire to survive are simply stuck in a simple system where pills = $$$ & no $$$ = no pills & no pills = no survival. That blows. So we're riding because we can raise $$$ to get good people health care they desperately need to live. Bottom line.

Tom from Positive Pedalers gave a quick and powerful speech last night at the ALC Holiday Party. HIV Positive for 25 years, Tom and PosPeds are working to end the stigma of HIV and support survivors and survivor attitudes by putting themselves out there as HIV positive, healthy, people. Thanks Tom!

I'll be the first to admit that I signed up for ALC for selfish reasons, namely to find a community and perhaps a husband. Ok, husband is strong. Man meat? Maybe I mean man meat.

It took all of two weeks for those reasons to dissipate into thin air and not just because all of the delicious man meat is not available to the ladies of the species.

ALC is clearly about something much bigger than scaring off potential mates, having fun and sharing some laughs. Sunny and I have barely begun to uncover all the rewards of this adventure.

I'm still going to look for a husband along the way because, quite frankly, I'm always looking for a husband. However, finding a straight male that is both unattached and interested is going to prove challenging. In other words, Sunny and I look more like a couple of fly lesbians than a couple of husband seekers. How great is it to be in an environment where people just automatically assume you're dating the sweet chick you showed up to the party with? It's great. But it's also not going to yield husbands, at least at first.

This brings me to our first ***fundrasing opportunity***. Betting is now open on the number of times that Sunny and I are directly asked if we are dating, together, a couple, or otherwise engaged with one another as lovers. The current tally = 1. Place your bets and those that come closest to the actual tally as of June 12, 2010 will win a sweet prize. I'm going to throw out my random guess and we can use that as the over under, just for fun. 63. Have fun.

So - we're riding bikes eh? We showed up at the holiday party because they were raffling off a number of wonderful things, like massages, dinners, golf, pleasure, custom bike paint jobs, chiropractic care, and three new road bikes. Why buy when you can win? Instead of winning bikes, Sunny scored a massage. Now, we're in the market for sweet rides so stay tuned (that's a bike pun, get it? also, I'm not a dork) for the next adventure: Bike Shopping.

Some quick shout outs to Melissa who hooked us up with her riding group Shifting Gears Cycling; Tristana and Laura (the first ones to ask us if we were together) who love Brett Favre, have family in Sunny's hometown, are also first time riders, and have a 2 year old son; Mel, who called me a dork two minutes after meeting me (how do people know?!?); and Ginger (pictured) who took the time not only to look fabulous but to thank us for participating and give us some great advice on fundraising.

hugs and love

Note: photo of ALC Santa by Stanley Appleman