Cyclists Gratified, Proud at Finish of AIDS Ride

For Paul Serchia, finishing the 585-mile AIDS/LifeCycle ride from San Francisco to Los Angeles on Saturday had a special beauty beyond all the ocean and mountain scenery.

The 48-year-old Studio City resident has lived with HIV and AIDS for 15 years and receives medical care from a clinic that will share some of the $5.5 million the fund-raising ride is expected to net.

Thanks to training and twice-a-day doses of antiviral medicines, Serchia finished the weeklong trek and raised about $4,300 from backers.

“This ride was a chance for me to test my physical endurance and to show the virus hasn’t beaten me back,” said Serchia, who was among the more than 1,800 riders ages 18 to 78 who jubilantly -- if wearily -- crossed the finish line at the Department of Veterans Affairs grounds near Westwood.

“It’s just thrilling to fly down the coast on a bicycle surrounded by beauty and in service of a great cause like this,” he added from atop his 27-gear blue roadster.

A marketing and graphic design consultant, he dedicated what was his first time on the ride to the memory of his partner, Bill Coady, who died of AIDS in 1991. The cyclist carried with him a brown corduroy shirt that Coady wore when they first met.

This was the 13th year for the annual event, which has undergone some administrative and name changes along the way.

The ride had a special resonance this year, the 25th anniversary of the AIDS epidemic, said Lorri L. Jean, chief executive officer of the L.A. Gay & Lesbian Center, which co-produced the ride with the San Francisco AIDS Foundation.

The two groups will share the money pledged by riders’ families, friends, co-workers and other donors and spend it on HIV healthcare and prevention services. About $8 million was raised, but costs are expected to take a third of that, officials said.

“There have been times during the past 25 years when I have been heartsick and hopeless about this epidemic. But I don’t feel that way anymore, because I have spent the last seven days with you,” Jean told riders at Saturday’s ceremony.

In memory of those who have died of AIDS, including many who took part in past rides, a riderless bicycle was walked onto the stage.

Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa also spoke, commending the cyclists not only for raising money but also for “keeping the attention of this nation and this world on the issue of AIDS.”

The ride is a massive undertaking, with more than 400 “roadies” moving and distributing 1,250 sleeping tents, 43,500 pounds of ice, 38,000 eggs and 18,000 packets of what is called “butt balm” for sore riders. Doctors, chiropractors and massage therapists were available too at rest stops and night camps.

Doreen Gonzales, 49, of San Mateo has cycled in all 13 rides and said she would do so again next year even though she recently was diagnosed with osteoporosis and suffered three broken bones in the months before the ride.

In one scary episode on Day 5 this week, her bike chain slipped off on a hill near Guadalupe and she tumbled into the dirt. Luckily, the spill caused only a few cuts and bruises.

Her medical condition can be painful, but “it’s not as painful as knowing you are HIV-positive,” said Gonzales, a UC San Francisco administrative assistant. She has lost several friends to AIDS and has an HIV-positive brother and a cousin with AIDS.

She and other veteran riders recalled a lot of hostility during the first few years, with some residents along the route heckling and even tossing tomatoes at the bike pack. This year had a more friendly vibe. Locals offered water, candy and fresh strawberries.

At one point, farmworkers in a field took off their hats and put them over their hearts in a salute. “It just touches your heart to see these folks come out and do that,” Jean said.

People too tired or injured to cycle the entire route were offered motorized rides along the way. Bill Shaw, 69,a retired medical administrator, said he was proud that he did not accept a lift even though he sometimes walked his bike up nasty hills.

Shaw pronounced the AIDS/LifeCycle ride “a great experience,” which he dedicated to seven friends who have died of AIDS. Their names were printed on a flap on the back of his seat.

Serchia said he knew he could handle the first day of riding about 85 miles. But “what I didn’t know was if I could get up the next morning and do another long ride and do it the morning after that and the morning after that.”

Except for some sunburn, things went well all the way to Saturday’s finale from Ventura through Malibu and into L.A.

“I surprised myself,” said Serchia, who has signed up for next year’s ride. “I feel I could continue to San Diego.”