Date: Fri 30-Aug-1996

Publication: Bee

Author: KAAREN

Quick Words:

AIDS-Mittleman-bicylists

Full Text:

Thousands Of Cyclists Will Come Through Newtown On AIDS Ride

B Y K AAREN V ALENTA

The 3,600 cyclists participating in the 300-mile Boston-New York AIDS Ride 2

will be pedaling right through Newtown on Saturday, September 7.

Craig and Kelly Mittleman of Huntingtown Road, who are representing Newtown in

this three-day event, have learned that the route the cyclists will follow

comes through Sandy Hook, across the Fairfield Hills campus and up Main Street

to Route 302 on the way toward New York City.

The Mittlemans raised $3,000 to qualify to participate in this second annual

event which is expected to raise nearly $6 million for AIDS-related health

services in the New York area.

"We received $700 from people we didn't even now because of the article which

appeared in The Bee in July," said Craig Mittleman, 33, who is an emergency

room physician at Norwalk Hospital.

Dr Mittleman said he has learned that the cyclists will stay overnight Friday,

September 6, near Watertown and they expect to begin arriving in Newtown

sometime after 9 am on Saturday.

The route takes the group through the back roads of Woodbury and Southbury,

along River Road and across the bridge to Glen Road in Sandy Hook. In Sandy

Hook Center, the cyclists will continue up Washington Avenue (Route 34) to the

light by the high school, where they will turn right onto Mile Hill Road and

proceed through Fairfield Hills to Route 25. They will turn right on 25, then

left on Sugar Street (Route 302) toward Bethel. In Bethel, the cyclists will

turn left onto Route 58 and head toward Redding.

"We can assume most riders (will be) leaving camp between 7 and 9 am

(Saturday) bringing them through Newtown after 9 am," Dr Mittleman said.

"Kelly and I believe we should be coming through between 9 and 10 am."

The Mittlemans anticipate that the cyclists will be traveling through Newtown

for well over an hour and they hope that lots of people come out to cheer

everyone on.

Much of the route through Dodgingtown, Bethel and Redding is the same route

that the Mittlemans have used to train on for weeks to get ready for the

event.

"It's also ironic that we have to go to Boston to wind up cycling through

Newtown," Dr Mittleman said.

Each night the cyclists will sleep in tents in campgrounds. Large vans will

carry their equipment.

The Mittlemans, who are physical fitness enthusiasts, decided to participate

in the AIDS Ride in remembrance of Kelly's brother, Michael Spralin, who died

four and a half years ago at the age of 32, just nine months after he was

diagnosed with AIDS.

More than 300,000 Americans have died from AIDS in the past 15 years and more

than 750,000 are HIV positive.