While hitting the beach on a sunny summer weekend sounds alluring to Brigid Myers and Tony Armelin, the two have something else they plan on accomplishing Aug. 13.
The two Northeastern staff members are training to take part in the Massachusetts Red Ribbon Ride, a two-day, 175-mile bike ride for AIDS research and advocacy organizations.
“It’s a good time to do it, and there’s no better cause,” said Myers, who works in the office of the senior vice president of enrollment management and student life. “I figure if you’re going to do it, you might as well go big.”
A third team member, middler physics major Andy Pickering, had also been training to complete the ride, but has recently suffered a strained hamstring and will most likely not be able to ride, he said.
The ride begins in Pittsfield and will continue for 75 miles through the hills of the Berkshires. Rest stops every 15 miles will provide food and water to the bikers, who will sleep on a gymnasium floor before the final 100-mile ride to Weston the second day.
The three teamed up in April after Armelin, director of Information Services in the Division of Cooperative Education, sent out notices asking for people interested in completing the ride with him. Armelin has been participating in bike rides for AIDS research for eight years.
“I’ve known a number of friends who have died of AIDS,” he said. “I’ve also had a number of friends who are HIV positive. It’s something that has been part of my life for the past 20 years, something I feel I want to try and do something about.”
In order to participate in the full ride, each participant must raise $1,800 through donors and sponsors. So far, raising the money to ride has proven even more difficult than training, Myers said.
“The hardest part I think, for me, is raising the money,” she said. She is currently selling raffle tickets for a Sept. 6 Red Sox game through her office in Richards Hall to try and raise money for the ride.
Armelin said he has received generous support from co-workers, other members of the university and his family and friends, but that the team still has only raised half of the money needed.
“This kind of event is really kind of one where you need to have a grassroots approach to it,” he said. “More often it’s successful through lots of smaller donations, rather than trying to go for big bucks. But people are stepping up as individuals and are helping us out.”
Pickering said, although he won’t be able to ride, he still plans on donating $500 to the cause and riding again as soon as he can.
“I plan to start training again after my injury heals and do the complete ride next year,” he said.
While the two continue raising money, they are also training for the strenuous bike ride. Each has been training on their own since the team formed in April, Armelin said, although the two have plans to train together before the ride.
Myers said her bike is her main mode of transportation, while Armelin prefers weekend bike rides and weekday trips to the gym for strength training. Finding areas around Boston to bike, Myers said, has been difficult.
“It’s not easy finding a 30-mile loop around Boston,” she said.
The two will continue training until a week before the ride, reaching their “peak,” Armelin said.
“You really stop riding the last week, just to kind of give your body a rest,” Armelin said. “There is a strategy to not really overdoing it in the end.”
This will be Myers’ first long bike ride, and she expects some of it to be trying on her body.
“I know I’m going to struggle through the hills,” she said. “I’m sure I probably won’t be on my bike the next day [after the ride].”
With three weeks to go, Armelin said that although he is still preparing physically, he is mentally ready for the challenge the ride offers.
“The key message we continue to remind people is that AIDS is not over,” he said. “It’s a much bigger issue than what’s happening here in this state and country.”
