AIDS/LifeCycle Rider Shares Personal Reason for Pedaling
Shannon Webb, who works in the Dean's Office in the UCSF School of Pharmacy, is not that crazy about riding a bike, but she is crazy about the AIDS/LifeCycle ride.
She rode for the first time last year, and she's gearing up to do the 545-mile journey to Los Angeles again next month.
Webb has a very personal reason for participating in AIDS/LifeCycle. Fourteen years ago, her father succumbed to AIDS.
"At the time, I thought that my whole world had ended," she writes on her
webpage. "Over the years, I have struggled with the pain of losing my father, of losing my father to AIDS. But, I am empowered; empowered to heal this pain by making a difference in the lives of people living with HIV and AIDS. I am taking the opportunity to show the world that the people fighting this disease are not horrible, or scary, but that they need our love and support. I have decided to make a difference."
Like so many of the other riders, including several others from the UCSF community, Webb receives inspiration from the "Positive Pedalers," a group of HIV-positive riders. "I can't complain about the pain I might feel after riding all day when I see one of the Positive Pedalers whizzing by," she says. "It's very inspirational. I wish my dad could be one of them."
She has been training for the ride by hitting the gym in Millberry Union on the Parnassus campus every day to spin and lift weights. She has recently added a new activity to her exercise regimen - swimming in the bay, which she finds very liberating.
She also admits she's more of a runner than a bicycler. "I'm addicted to running," she says," but I'm more addicted to the AIDS ride. I've wanted to do something to help people with HIV and AIDS, and so I'm so excited to be participating again."
UCSF Today, May 8, 2007 Training for AIDS LifeCycle Puts Knee Replacement into Perspective
UCSF Today, March 12, 2007