Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 2006. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.
Miami Herald - January 12, 2006
Michael Haines, mhaines@MiamiHerald.com
"Everybody asks us every year why we do it," said Coral Gables resident Jeff Stone as he stretched at the starting line. "It's just a great group of people that do it for a great cause."
SMART stands for Southern Most AIDS/HIV Ride 3. Participants raised money through pledges to benefit six organizations: AIDS Help, Broward House, Compass, Hug Me Program, South Beach AIDS Project and Trinity Charities.
The journey took them from the MorningStar Renewal Center through back streets of South Miami-Dade to Card Sound Road and to U.S. 1 in Key Largo. After a stay-over in Marathon, the final destination was the AIDS Memorial in Key West, where the first cyclist arrived about 10:30 a.m. Saturday.
Ride director Gary Weinzimer said the ride raised about $360,000.
The event originally was scheduled for November, but the hurricanes delayed it. Weather intervened again when a bitter cold front swept into South Florida on Friday and Saturday, bringing high winds and low temperatures.
Alberto Santana, a Broward resident who works in Miami-Dade, said he trained for the event by doing 20- and 30-mile rides every weekend.
"People need to realize the importance of this event," he said. "As we move into the future, there seems to be less [AIDS support] resources, and this is a great opportunity to raise unrestricted dollars for AIDS."
The weather was a factor for Carolynn Stanway of West Palm Beach. "I'm hoping the farther south I ride the warmer it gets," she said.
Weinzimer said more than 200 volunteers registered to support the event. They included a group of motorcyclists led by crew manager Bill Boyd of Tampa. He said they were responsible for rider safety and keeping cyclists on the right path.
Boyd is a veteran of the ride since the beginning, which he said dates back to the Florida AIDS Ride from Orlando to Fort Lauderdale in 1996.
"It's been the same bunch every year," he said.
KiKi Kalevas of Charlotte, N.C. was at the starting line snapping photos of two of her friends from Tampa who were riding. She planned to bring their clothes and car down to the Keys. She said all the excitement made her want to ride next year.
"It's a great cause that supports the local community, but still brings in folks from all over," she said.
Weinzimer said the sun came out for the closing ceremony in Key West on Saturday and the riders paraded down a closed Duval Street with cheering tourists lining the street.
"It was a perfect ending," he said.
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