I grew up in Ojo Caliente, NM. At Stanford, I was a rower and majored in Biomechanical Engineering (class of 2006). I took a 5th year at Stanford to be the Chief Operating Officer of The Stanford Daily and finish my pre-medical school requirements. So, in the summer of 2007, I knew that I wanted to do something big to celebrate the end of my time on the farm.
My good friend Robby and I decided that a cross country bike trip would be a nice way to let off some steam. So, we started planning our route in the spring of 2007. While planning, we realized that it would be fun to ride with a cause. Robby and I met with Jonny Dorsey and Dave Ryan from FACE AIDS, kicked around the idea of a Ride Against AIDS. Jonny and Dave loved the idea, so the ride was on!
Robby and I planned a route from Seattle, WA to New York City, NY that would work with the schedule we had set for the summer. The total distance was just about 3,200 miles.
The ride was unbelievable. The trip took us 42 days, with 6 rest days. We averaged close to 90 miles a day. While riding, we wore our pins, and met with and distributed pins to kind folks we met over the course of our journey to raise awareness for AIDS and about the FA mission to work with students to fight AIDS in Africa. The ride was a great success! All told, we raised about $8,000 for FACE AIDS.
There is rarely a day that goes by when I don't think about my time on the open road. I had a fantastic experience and look forward to doing the ride again at some point in my life.
When Robby and I got back to the bay area, we met up with Jonny and Dave and began brainstorming about how we could help make the ride a yearly FACE AIDS event. We pushed hard for a 2008 ride, but it didn't quite build up the momentum necessary to become a reality. Then Austin and Dave came along and took the ride to the next level in 2009, and it looks like the 2010 ride is off to a phenomenal start. I'm so excited!