For the last few years I have incorporated the California AIDS Life Cycle into my triathlon training. It is a fantastic way to bump up my cycling a bit, as it covers 600 miles over the 7-day trip from San Francisco to Los Angeles, and I have been able to line up pools and plenty of trails to run on all the way. It is the ultimate triathlon training camp for a great cause.
Every year as I get ready to leave for the trip, people always say to me "Good luck at the race" or "I hope you win." It makes me laugh because there is no "race" involved but everyone who knows me understands that I can and usually do turn ANYTHING into a race. "I need to go to the bathroom".....WANNA RACE?!
It is true that there are a select few on this ride who have been known at times to turn it into a hammer fest. I would say that I am not the prime instigator and would probably blame Ben Armstrong (his last name says it all) but then I would be lying. I guess I just need to come clean and say that I am a "race-aholic." But still, the reality is that the AIDS Life Cycle is not a race. And I keep telling people that.
Today when I was on the phone with one of my good friends, Ms. "John" Miranda, he just laughed and said "Oh shut up! It is totally a race!" Before I could stop him with some half-baked notion that it isn't a race, he went on a long rant as to why it should be.
In John's mind, this event needs to be a race to symbolize the urgency of things. He expressed how passive everything is becoming and that nobody has a sense of urgency anymore. AIDS is not over and the lack of an "IT IS A RACE" mentality is causing a situation that one day will blow up in our face just like HIV did in the 80's. It is URGENT that we educate the youth out there who are becoming positive in alarming numbers. It is URGENT that we find a vaccine for this virus. It is URGENT that we prevent further cuts to funds for people living with HIV and AIDS. It is URGENT that we let people know that HIV is not the new diabetes and cannot simply be handled just fine with medications in all instances. (Although the drug companies might disagree with that one.)
We have lost our sense of urgency, not only in matters of HIV and AIDS, but with everything! I mean, take the situation in the Gulf right now. There was no urgency to make sure those wells were safe or fixable in the first place. Now there is urgency, and guess what? Too late! There was no urgency to make it mandatory to have a double hulled ship carrying oil until Exxon hit a rock and screwed up Alaska. That seemed like a no brainer to me! I am only using the oil example because it is on everyone's mind right now. But what else out there, if we actually take the time to think, could use some urgent attention? How about the obesity crisis in kids or the school systems? Maybe the energy crisis, if you even believe that it exists? And if you don't, I am thinking "Drill Baby Drill" is out for a while. How about the fact that I am loosing my hair? Okay, that is a selfish, vain, of no real importance issue but I'm a gay male so it makes it URGENT!
My point here, and John's as well, is that we all need to get up and start racing! So for me, this week, as I ride from San Francisco to Los Angeles, it is a RACE! A race to symbolize the UGENCY of HIV and AIDS related issues in the United States. If you would like to support my RACE you can go to http://www.facebook.com/l/f49ae;www.tofighthiv.org/goto/brandondelcampo and if this cause is not "your thing" you can still do something by getting your own ass up for whatever you feel is of an urgent matter AND START RACING!
Cheers,
bdc
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