AIDS Ride Brought A Message

Of Kindness Through Newtown

By Tanjua Damon

It was a single bike and helmet with a flag on the back representing a person who has lost their life to AIDS. The symbolic bike presented itself twice – when the ride began and when it finished, during the 350 mile ride from Bear Mountain, New York, to Boston for the 2001 Tanqueray AIDSRide.

Sandy Hook resident Jason Benson experienced the moment along with over 2,000 other people who wanted to help raise money for a cause either to remember someone lost to AIDS or to ride for those who are living with it. Mr Benson described the four-day ride as an exercise in kindness.

“Kindness. That was the overall message that enveloped the entire experience,” Mr Benson said. “This event for me, as well as other first timers, the reason it stays with you, hopefully, is because it was a simple unnoticed act of kindness to pass on a message and money for people who need it.”

The ride raised over $6 million for HIV and AIDS service organizations in Boston and New York City. Bicyclists started on July 19 and completed the ride on July 22. Pit stops were set up along the route for riders to replenish themselves and to take a rest before pedaling some more. St Rose Church in Newtown was one of those stops.

Mr Benson decided to do the ride after he heard an advertisement on the radio coming home for work. Training time became easier once his company reorganized and he found himself out of a job as a creative director.

“Everybody remembered the pit shop in Newtown,” he said. “Coming down Main Street to the flagpole. I got a lot of comments about Newtown. It was a memorable time for many.”

Mr Benson said that the empty bike really had an impact on many. He observed that there were not too many dry eyes during those points when the bike came through the crowd of cyclists.

“It’s very hard. That if anything makes the point of what this is really about,” he said. “If you have challenges or demons to overcome that’s fine. But that single portrayal of that bike with [HIV] positive pedaler makes the point of what it’s about.”

The ride was challenging, with windy roads and several hills, but it was well worth it for Mr Benson. The hardest part for him now is realizing that it is finished for this year.

“Dealing with the fact that it was over. When you have to do something with this much physical and emotional exertion, you have to put yourself on another plane,” he said. “When you don’t need to keep going anymore you come down really fast. I think the hardest part is coming down. But the feeling of accomplishment makes up for that.”

Martha Dale of Bloomfield works at Leeway, which is a 40-bed skilled nursing facility that only treats people with HIV or AIDS. The facility is in New Haven. This was her fourth AIDSRide.

“To remember the people. It’s a way to focus on the people who we help every day,” Ms Dale said. “It’s little towns like Newtown with their police and volunteer ambulances that make it a community event.”

Paul and Elaine Lundquist and their son Matthew cheered for the riders as they made their way into the Newtown pit stop. The two met on AIDSRide 2 from Boston to New York. A mutual friend who knew they were both doing the ride introduced them. They now live in Newtown.

“I knew I was going to get married to him before I meet him,” Mrs Lundquist said. “We were engaged six months later. He proposed with a bicycle built for two.”

The two wanted to participate in the ride because of the impact it has on so many lives.

“I was just looking for adventure,” Mr Lundquist said. “The ride itself was exciting.”

“It’s strange. It just appealed to both of us,” Mrs Landquist added. “It was the right thing to do.”

The couple plan to ride in next year’s northeast ride.

The AIDSRide is not a competition. It is simply a ride to raise funds and for people to meet other people. Most riders are not professional cyclists. It’s not about getting there first.

“What you had was thousands of cooperative people that you were encouraging and that you finished with them,” Mr Benson said. “As far as the AIDSRide goes, if someone had told me on my first training ride a year ago in wracking pain that I could ride on average 80 miles per day I would have thought they were absolutely nuts. You will absolutely be amazed by your potential to overcome emotional and physical challenges. You don’t know until you try.”

For more information about the Tanqueray AIDSRides across the country call 866-648-0747 or visit the Web site at www.aidsride.org.