HSU cyclists Bryan Fiallos and Jamey Rogers will join Humboldt locals in the 545-mile bike ride to generate funds for the HIV/AIDS services of the San Francisco AIDS Foundation (SFAF) and the L.A. Gay & Lesbian Center. The ride has raised more than $50 million since its inception in May 2002.
The 2012 North Coast team, named the Humboldt Foggy Bottoms, has pledged to raise $3,000. Besides Humboldt State’s Fiallos and Rogers, members include team captain Debi Farber-Bush of Edward Jones LLC, Michael Goodwill, chief medical physicist at St. Joseph’s Hospital, and former Arcata Mayor Bob Ornelas. Humboldt’s communities are served by the San Francisco AIDS Foundation.
Fiallos, a Humboldt State junior majoring in Critical Race, Gender, and Sexuality Studies, is from South Central Los Angeles. He has served as an unpaid intern at Lifeworks at the L.A. Gay and Lesbian Center.
Rogers, a senior from Bakersfield living in Eureka, is returning to school to complete a degree in Religious Studies. He is currently a commissioner on the Commission on Human Rights of Humboldt County and that body’s vice chair. He is also known as Sister Nova China and is treasurer of the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence. Rogers served Humboldt County for four years as an Eligibility worker and was treasurer of the AFSCME Union Local.
“The first event in May 2002 included 670 courageous cyclists supported by 250 volunteer ‘roadies,’” Rogers said. “The high visibility of the event helped raise awareness that AIDS continues to devastate our society and public support helped the participants raise $3.2 million. Today, no other annual event raises more money for HIV/AIDS-related services than AIDS/LifeCycle. SFAF and the center were the first AIDS service organizations in the nation to produce, in-house, a multi-day fundraising event of this magnitude.”
The 2011 event drew a record-breaking 2,500 cyclists and 530 “roadies,” raising nearly $12 million. Roadies are the volunteers who set up and dismantle campsites, serve meals and drinks, repair bicycles and provide directions and route guidance.
Cyclists will depart June 3 from the Cow Palace in San Francisco and head to Santa Cruz on the first 82.5 mile leg. Average distance is about 80 miles a day. The ride will conclude with the leg from Ventura to Los Angeles.
The route is primarily a coastal one with short inland detours. More information is at http://www.aidslifecycle.org/life-on-the-event/route/.