Washington Blade - April 4, 2003
Lou Chibbaro Jr.

One, which is set to travel 140 miles from Rehoboth Beach, Del., to Baltimore, is scheduled for May 17-18. The other, set to travel 330 miles from Raleigh, N.C. to D.C., is scheduled for June 19-22.

Although people from Baltimore and Rehoboth Beach have participated in the D.C. AIDS rides in past years, organizers of both events say they are not in competition with each other. Officials with the groups Food & Friends of D.C. and Moveable Feast of Baltimore say they expect to draw enough riders to reach the fund-raising goals they have set for their respective organizations.

Food & Friends and Whitman-Walker Clinic last year announced they had severed all ties with the controversial Los Angeles fund-raising company Pallotta Teamworks, which had organized D.C.'s AIDS ride that benefited both groups for seven years.

Food & Friends instead opted to organize the 2003 Washington AIDS ride through a newly formed, non-profit group called Tour de Friends, which is also the name designated for the ride. Food & Friends also announced it would share the ride's proceeds with the Raleigh-based group Alliance of AIDS Service-Carolina and the Richmond-based Fan Free Clinic.

Whitman-Walker discontinued its involvement with any local AIDS rides. Craig Schniderman, executive director of Food & Friends, said that as of early this week, 850 people had registered as riders and 260 signed up as members of the ride's volunteer "crew corps," which provides logistical support for the riders. Schniderman said another 200 volunteers signed up to provide additional assistance for the event. Riders must raise $2,500 in advance to be eligible to participate in the ride.

"We had hoped to get about 2,000 riders," said Schniderman. "Now, we don't feel that's going to happen."

Schniderman attributed the shortfall in riders to several factors, including a "residual" skepticism over the ride due to negative publicity surrounding Pallotta Teamworks. Participants and supporters of past D.C. AIDS rides had complained that the Pallotta firm ran up huge overhead costs for producing the rides in other cities, often incurring expenses that far exceeded the net proceeds raised for the beneficiary groups.

With the exception of last year's D.C. AIDS ride, which yielded only a modest return, past D.C. rides raised several million dollars each in net proceeds. Nevertheless, the negative response to the Pallotta firm prompted Food & Friends to discontinue its association with the firm. Pallotta Teamworks has since ceased operating any of the U.S. AIDS rides.

War impacting turnout

In addition to the problems associated with the Pallotta firm, Schniderman cited the war in Iraq, the Washington-area sniper killings, and severe snowstorms in the D.C. area as factors that "distracted" people from thinking about signing up as riders. The extensive coverage of the war on radio and television, Schniderman said, has taken up much of the time TV and radio stations set aside for free, public service announcements, making it difficult for Food & Friends to promote the ride through the media.

"We want to encourage people to sign up," Schniderman said. "We have to keep reminding people that this is a locally sponsored event with no ties to Pallotta."

Veteran gay civil rights activist Vic Basile, executive director of the Baltimore-based Moveable Feast, said this is the first time his group has attempted an AIDS ride. He said the event, called Ride For The Feast, was a modest endeavor that "in no way" competes with D.C.'s Tour de Friends ride.

"We are doing an overnight ride from Rehoboth to Baltimore," Basile said. "It's much shorter. "

Basile said about 60 to 75 riders have registered for the event as of this week. Riders must raise $1,200 in advance of the ride to be eligible to participate.

"If we get150 riders, it would be a great success," Basile said. "Our expenses are very low. We set our goal low because this is the first time anything like this has ever been attempted in Baltimore."

The ride's shorter route will incur a relatively small overhead cost, most of which, Basile said, will be paid by corporate underwriters.

He said that rather than pay for a roadside camp for overnight accommodations for the riders and support crew, the group arranged to have most riders and crew spend the night indoors in a gymnasium at a high school on Kent Island, located about 90 miles west of Rehoboth. The school will provide the use of showers and rest rooms, which enabled the ride to avoid additional overhead costs associated with outdoor amenities, Basile said.

He said some riders and crew members plan to spend the night at a nearby hotel at their own expense.

Vince Williams, logistics coordinator for the Ride For the Feast, said highway safety issues and construction on the Bay Bridge required that riders and their bikes be bused over two separate, four-mile stretches of the bike route. A section of Route 50 between Route 13 and Kent Island was deemed unsafe for bike riders, Williams said, prompting organizers to arrange for a bus and trucks to transport the riders and their bikes over the stretch of highway.

Williams said Maryland highway officials declined a request for use of the Bay Bridge for the ride, saying construction work on the bridge raised safety concerns. Buses and trucks once again will transport the riders and their bikes from Kent Island to Sandy Point, Md., which is located on the west side of the Bay Bridge.

From there, riders will travel to a location just outside Baltimore, where the caravan of cyclists will rest until all participants reach that location. All riders will then enter Baltimore together, where they will assemble at a location along the city's Inner Harbor for a closing ceremony.

Lou Chibbaro Jr. can be reached at lchibbaro@washblade.com.

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