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Gary Davis rides between 100 and 300 miles a week to train for the California AIDS Ride, a seven-day bike tour that will take him from San Francisco to Los Angeles.

Ride Aid

Sunnyvale man joins 2,500 in a bike tour for AIDS

By Steve Enders

Gary Davis, 39, says he doesn't know what it's like to have HIV or AIDS, but he thinks he has an idea.

He has diabetes and is dependent on insulin, which means he has to take insulin shots every day and has had to adjust his lifestyle and eating habits to account for energy loss and low blood-sugar levels.

It's with that in mind that he's busy collecting pledges to participate in this year's California AIDS Ride, a seven-day bicycle tour from San Francisco to Los Angeles that will raise about $9 million for AIDS charities.

"I have a chronic disease that I constantly have to take medication for, for the rest of my life," Davis said. "With HIV and AIDS, you can take whatever kind of drug therapy they give you, but sooner or later they don't seem to work."

Despite being what he calls a "sugar-challenged guy," Davis is an avid cyclist and is constantly at work prepping for the ride, which happens this year from May 31 through June 6.

His intense training regimen includes biking between 100 and 300 miles a week, which has varied recently because of rain and road conditions in the hills and on the coast where he likes to ride.

Davis says his friend Joel Ransom of Palo Alto has had a slightly tougher time training for the ride and better represents the riders involved in the event, many of whom aren't regular cyclists. Most participants, he says, have recently taken it up to be involved with this ride.

"He's probably not ridden 10 miles in his entire life. So he asked me to help him train. The more I got into it, the more I got into it, and the more interesting it got to be," Davis said.

Ransom, 41, says he's had a great time getting into cycling for the event, but he doesn't get to ride as often with Gary as he'd like.

He also says he's in it for the charity behind the ride but does have some ulterior motives. "One of the main reasons I wanted to do this is because there are a lot of races and rides around the area that look pretty fun, like the Waves to Wine ride up in Napa. I've got a nice bike now, so I can do it."

Since Ransom hasn't been involved in cycling for more than a few months, he says he doesn't have the skills Davis has. Not many do.

Davis is involved in mountain biking in the summer and a sport during the fall and winter called "cyclocross." The sport was invented in Europe for riders who wanted to ride in cold weather but couldn't bear the wind chill. It involves more running than biking, as the athletes run while carrying their bikes on their shoulders over obstacles.

But Davis is an altrusit as well as an athlete. Besides being an avid cyclist, he's also an avid volunteer.

"I drive a van for Sunnyvale Community Services for their food drive," he said. Also, last year Davis dressed up as Santa Claus and went with his wife, Monica, and other friends who were dressed as elves to Stanford's Ronald McDonald house to hand out presents to kids.

The Davises and their friends usually hold a gift exchange each year, but last year they decided to take their fun and good fortune to others that weren't quite as lucky.

"I'm a distributor," Davis said. "There's people who want to do things for people, and there's people who need things. Then there's people like me, who kind of distribute between the two.

"I try to help people who want to give good fortune to others but don't know how."

It would be logical, then, that Davis would jump right into something like the AIDS Ride.

"First it was just a pledge ride. Last time I did the Tour de Cure for diabetes. It was a one-day, 65-mile ride, and I [raised] about $350."

He got interested in the AIDS ride at the suggestion of a friend who wanted to raise money for the charities. Now he's bitten off a bigger chunk of fundraising responsibility. By the first day of the ride, he must have raised a minimum of $2,500. His personal goal is to get $4,000 by then. Right now, he's raised about $1,600.

The ride isn't for everyone, although participants have filled all of the 2,500 slots available.

First of all it's a long one, and participants must read and sign a survey to determine that they are emotionally into the event. They have to be 100-percent determined to collect their pledges and ride the course.

Second, they need physically to be able to ride from San Francisco to Los Angeles in seven days.

To keep up on the riders, event planners have added personal "ride coordinators" who discuss the riders' status at different points throughout their fundraising and training.

Davis figures he doesn't really have to worry about either.

"I volunteer a lot, and I don't mind. I'm happy with my job and have a good life. We're very fortunate," he said matter-of-factly.

Monica Davis is Gary's top supporter and will visit him as often as she can on the route.

"We're going to meet him on Wednesday [May 29] and give him some food and stuff," she said. The only other time she'll see Gary on the ride is in Los Angeles on the last day of the race, when a closing ceremony will be held for the riders and other volunteers.

"I've been raising money for him, and I'm not the one who's going to have saddle sores," Monica Davis says, laughing.

The ride is being sponsored by the Tanqueray liquor company, which is pitching in supplies and food for the riders and volunteers. According to Davis, the riders will camp out each night in various places along the route, none of which have been disclosed yet.

"They're pretty secretive about that. I guess they don't want riders starting early or anything," Gary Davis said.

All he knows so far is that the first leg of the trip will take the 2,500 riders from San Francisco to Monterey, a journey of at least 85 miles, depending on the route traveled.

Everything else about the trip is a big maybe, Davis says. The ride might be starting at the Polo Grounds in Golden Gate Park, and it might finish in the L.A. Coliseum, he says.

The mystery of the route and the distance of the ride don't really matter to Davis. It's the cause behind those things that drives him to ride.

"People might have negative feelings for it," Davis says. "I don't have any judgment to those that have AIDS; I just want to raise money for it. You can't ignore 2,500 people riding their bikes."

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This article appeared in the Sunnyvale Sun, March 18, 1998.
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