Mon 11 Jun 2007
AIDS vaccine 200-mile bike ride
Posted by Micah under Uncategorized
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I recently went on a 2-day 200 mile bike ride through Georgia in support of research for an AIDS vaccine. In all honesty I signed up in order to challenge my endurance, but once I met several of the people involved I realized how import the research is. Perhaps next year I’ll work harder at fundraising. Still, thanks to all of you who donated for me and supported the ride.
Along with me on the ride were two of my friends from work, Kyle Fenton (my boss), and Jason White, another programmer. They are much more experienced riders than me, but I was counting on youth to give me an edge. It didn’t 
For the ride I bought a new (used) digital camera and promised to take a ton of pictures. This turned out to be much harder than I anticipated, as it’s pretty much impossible to take pictures while riding. So, I had to stop every couple of miles and get the camera out. My riding pals quickly got sick of this and I got left in the dust. On the plus side, I did take over 150 pictures, some of which are pretty good.
I’ll give some commentary below, but if you just want to browse all the photos, check out the gallery.
The first day
Pete from Outback Bikes gave us mechanical support for the entire ride. He’s really a great guy and knows a lot about bikes.
Breakfast was provided before the first day. I loaded up on bacon. Being married to a vegetarian means bacon is a rare delicacy!
Jason (top) and Kyle (bottom) hanging out before the ride starts.
The 3 of us just before the start.
Emory’s Team at the first rest stop. This was pretty much the last time we were all together until the end of the ride.
Lee (the woman in the orange jersey) was part of our team from the Emory library. She started having trouble shifting gears just after the second rest stop. Then, just at the right time, Pete from Outback Bikes appears and sets up his travelling repair shop. He had her fixed up and ready to go in about 5 minutes.
The bridge to Rockdale county.
Some of the guys helping out at one of the rest stops. There were tons of volunteers filling our water bottles and cheering us on the entire distance.
The ride took us through Social Circle. Nothing special, I just like the name.
“Welcome sacs” I just thought it sounded funny.
Yes, churches are very dangerous and citizens should be warned to avoid them.
There were several burned out or discarded buildings along the way.
I bravely left the course at one point to stop off at a flea-market. I didn’t buy anything, but I took several pictures. Everyone was very nice and seemed to be enjoying the sunny day.
A very cartoony looking sign.
This must be the most important tree in all of Georgia, since it has its very own fire hydrant. I couldn’t capture it in the pictures, but there is nothing for at least 1/2 a mile in each direction. Why the hydrant?
Soloman taking a break at one of the rest stops.
Chilling in a lawn chair, watching the bikers go by.
With the drought so bad in Georgia, the cacti are growing like crazy. I believe this is a prickly pear cactus, and it blooms for a very short time each year, but has very pretty yellow blossoms.
At the camp
Thinking about the pool at the end of the day was the only thing that kept me going for the last 30 miles.
I don’t know what Jason’s doing here, but I know what it looks like he’s doing. I’ll let you decide.
The second day
Soloman warmed up at the first rest stop of the second day.
My first picture with Molly. She and I rode together the second day. We were about the same pace, and riding together made time pass faster. As I told her, “Running my mouth just makes the miles fall away, so let me tell you about my two dogs…”
A Solo distribution warehouse. They make little styrofoam cups. Seeing the size of this place makes me realize just how huge the demand must be.
