Team Midnight Ridazz

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During the fall of 2007, a few people from Midnight Ridazz, who had signed up for the AIDS LifeCycle ride, decided a team should be formed. The idea to form a team was promoted within the Midnight Ridazz community and more riders came forward to join. Gary Kavanagh was nominated by Danny Gamboa to be the team captain, and the nomination was unanimously seconded by the other members of the group at the time.

The following months began the preparation for the ride, which included recruiting new riders, training and fundraising. The team also pulled funds toward the creation of a team jersey, which was designed by Gary Kavanagh in collaboration with Liz Hayward and incorporated the logo of Midnight Ridazz.

Their AIDS LifeCycle team page can be viewed here.

1 Training
2 Eating
3 Fundraising
4 The Riders
5 Links

Training

Meghan Passes 3000 FT. On M-Ojai training ride.

The first ride together as a group was for the official AIDS LifeCycle October training kick off ride, which is the same time that many of the newly interested riders registered.

In supplement to the usual riding most members participated in, team training efforts began with rides promoted within Midnight Ridazz, participation in other club rides, and personal training. The team training rides, publicly posted in the Midnight Ridazz forums, differ from typical Midnight Ridazz rides in that they are scheduled during the day, and cover more ground and challenging terrain then is typical of most Midnight Ridazz rides. The pace is kept moderate, which distinguishes it from fast paced rides such as Wolfpack and CubCamp, that might cover routes of similar length and elevation gain, but at faster speeds.

Team training rides brought attention to the group, which gradually grew with new riders signing up all the way until the registration closed after AIDS LifeCycle passed it's limit for riders from Los Angeles.

Eating

Team chowing on nugz.

As a result of all the intensive training, members of the team have to spend a lot of time putting food in their face. This hunger is satisfied by group potluck dinners, restaurants, and copious snacking during rides in between lunch breaks. A popular team eating establishment is Vegan House, home of delicious veggie nuggets, commonly referred to as Nugz.

Fundraising

Cathy cleaning a chain at Bike Wash fundraiser.

Each rider in the team has to raise a minimum of $2,500 through fundraising in order to participate in the AIDS LifeCycle ride. This high minimum donation & large number of participants raises a tremendous amount of money for the San Francisco AIDS Foundation and the AIDS related services of the L.A. Gay & Lesbian Center. This money also pays for the overhead of the ride it self, which is a fully supported ride, with support vehicles that carry bags for the riders, rest stops with snacks and provided meals, and camp sites that are set up before the arrival of the riders each day.