UCLA AIDS INSTITUTE - MINNESOTA AIDS TREK

The Minnesota AIDS Trek-the oldest annual bike ride specifically established to raise money for HIV research, treatment, and supportive care-has chosen the UCLA AIDS Institute to be one of the beneficiaries of its 2006 ride. The Minnesota AIDS Trek is committed to raising funds and awareness to benefit those living with HIV/AIDS and to support HIV vaccine research.

This is the twentieth year for the Minnesota AIDS Trek. This year's ride, which will take place September 9th-10th, begins in Maplewood, which is near St. Paul. The riders go as far as Hinckley on Day One, and from Hinckley to Duluth on Day Two. A motor coach will take participants back to Maplewood at the end of Day Two. Duluth, which is located on beautiful Lake Superior, is famous for its aerial lift bridge. The entire route will take the riders through prairies, small towns, and woodlands, past lakes and over a river gorge, and the fall foliage should be spectacular.

This year's Trek has three beneficiaries. The organizers of the Trek are particularly excited to have the UCLA AIDS Institute as the ride's newest beneficiary. In addition to the UCLA AIDS Institute, the Trek will be supporting two Minnesota groups: Clinic 42's Top Shelf at Abbott Northwestern Hospital, which provides new household items to low-income persons with AIDS who are starting over in a new living situation; and Camp Benedict, a camp near Brainerd on the Whitefish Chain of Lakes that provides HIV education and recreation to families affected by HIV. Last year, the Minnesota AIDS Trek returned 100% of the money raised by riders to the beneficiaries, and we plan to repeat this in 2006. The Trek is completely volunteer, and has no paid staff.

This is a fully-supported ride with meals, rest stops with snacks and hydration beverages, bicycle techs, bike and luggage transportation, crew members to assist riders on their journey, one night of outdoor camping, support vehicles, and nurses and first-aid. Riders should provide their own tent and sleeping bag, or they can stay at a hotel in Hinckley at their own expense if they choose to make such arrangements.

Riders and crew are encouraged to register on-line after February 1, 2006 at www.aids-trek.org. The registration fee is $75. Each rider commits to raising $500. If you are joining the Trek from outside Minnesota and need accommodations in the Twin Cities before or after the Trek, please contact Andy Momont at positivetrekkie@aol.com and he will assist you with low-cost housing. For additional information contact William Larson at william.larson@earthlink.net.

Personal statement from the Associate Director

It turns out Thomas Wolfe was wrong: You can go home again. and I will be doing just that in September-to participate in the 2006 Minnesota AIDS Trek. I will be wearing two hats during the ride-in addition to a bike helmet. The first is official: I am the associate director of the UCLA AIDS Institute, which has been named a beneficiary of this year's Minnesota AIDS Trek. The money that the Trek raises will support pioneering work being done at UCLA to develop two kinds of AIDS vaccines-one kind that will immunize uninfected individuals against HIV infection, and a so-called therapeutic vaccine, which will one day be used to boost the immune systems of people living with HIV.

The other hat is unofficial, but no less important to me: I was born and raised in Rochester, and although I have lived on one coast or the other for the better part of two decades, I still think of myself as a Minnesotan. The Land of 10,000 Lakes has always been my real home, and riding with the Trek in September will be a very special homecoming for me.

Edwin Bayrd