AIDS/LifeCycle has announced that the highly-anticipated seven-day, 545-mile journey from San Francisco to Los Angeles has been canceled this year in order to protect vulnerable communities during the COVID-19 pandemic.
AIDS/LifeCycle cyclists were scheduled to depart from Cow Palace on Sunday, May 31, and arrive in Los Angeles on Saturday, June 6, with hundreds of volunteer “roadies” supporting them during their weeklong journey.
“We have not made this decision lightly, and we have made it in consultation with members of the AIDS/LifeCycle community,” said Los Angeles LGBT Center CEO Lorri L. Jean. “This will be the first time, since we began riding in 1994, that we have had to cancel the ride, so we are navigating unchartered waters. But, Joe [Hollendoner, CEO of San Francisco AIDS Foundation] and I have the utmost faith that we will get through this because of all of you: our beloved Riders and Roadies.”
“The Center and the Foundation will continue to perform the life-saving HIV prevention and care work that our community needs,” Hollendoner said. “In fact, it’s anything but ‘business as usual’ at San Francisco AIDS Foundation and the Los Angeles LGBT Center. Not only are we providing the services we typically do, we are also using the expertise both of our agencies have developed—responding to the AIDS epidemic—to do everything we can to make sure that our communities aren’t devastated by coronavirus.”
AIDS/LifeCycle participants are encouraged to continue fundraising and join AIDS/LifeCycle 2021 (dates still to be determined). In 2019 participants raised a record-breaking $16.7 million to support San Francisco AIDS Foundation and the HIV/AIDS-related services of the Los Angeles LGBT Center.
AIDS/LifeCycle is a fully supported, 545-mile bike ride—not a race—that raises important awareness about the ongoing HIV/AIDS epidemic, in addition to funding critical services such as HIV testing and screenings for other sexually transmitted infections, HIV medical care, prevention services, and more. Plans will be released soon on how the AIDS/LifeCycle community can continue to support the vital work of the Center and Foundation during these unprecedented times.
The Ride debuted in 1994 as the California AIDS Ride before it was reconfigured in 2002 to what is known today as AIDS/LifeCycle. Prior to 2019’s total, participants raised more than $263 million and completed more than 60,000 journeys from San Francisco to Los Angeles.
For more information about AIDS/LifeCycle or to watch the joint statement given by Los Angeles LGBT Center CEO Lorri L. Jean and San Francisco AIDS Foundation CEO Joe Hollendoner, visit aidslifecycle.org.
