Orange County's first Ride for AIDS event Saturday will wind riders through century (approximately 100 miles) and metric century
(approximately 62 miles) courses that take in some of the region's most scenic spots in Santiago Canyon, Tustin, Corona
del Mar, Laguna Beach and other areas.
About 100 cyclists are expected to pedal the courses to
raise money for the thousands of people affected by HIV/AIDS in Orange County.
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The event begins and ends at Saddleback College in Mission Viejo, starting at 7 a.m. The course closes at 5 p.m.
“It's great if cyclists complete the full 100 miles,” said physician Dr. Jorge Rodriquez, the event chairman, in a statement from organizers. “But it's really about the message, not the miles. We want people to sign up, ride as far as they like and raise money to help people with HIV/AIDS.”
To participate, riders are asked to pledge $500 in donations and pay a registration fee of $25, which gets them a free OCRA jersey. All proceeds go to AIDS Services Foundation Orange County.
Organizers created OCRA after participating for many years in AIDS/LifeCycle, a nearly 600 mile, 7-day ride between Los Angeles and San Francisco. That 10-year-old event has raised millions of dollars for people with HIV/AIDS.
“AIDS/LifeCycle is a wonderful event,” Rodriquez said. “Our goal is to produce a great cycling event here and have the money raised stay in Orange County.”
Visit ocrideforaids.com for more information.
OC Weekly Editor-in-Chief Matt Coker has been engaging, enraging and entertaining readers of newspapers, magazines and websites for decades. He spent the first 13 years of his career in journalism at daily newspapers before “graduating” to OC Weekly in 1995 as the alternative newsweekly’s first calendar editor.