Six members of Team DC, 4 riders and 2 crew made the commitment over a year ago to raise funds, train and travel to the ends of the earth to participate in the first Alaska AIDS Vaccine Ride. Each rider raised a minimum of $3900 as a condition to participate. Team DC was part of the 1,955 remarkable men and women from all over the U.S and beyond that completed the grueling 450-mile, six-day bicycle journey from Fairbanks to Anchorage, August 21-26. Our efforts netted $4.1 million that will benefit the work of three of the world's most respected AIDS research facilities as they endeavor to eradicate AIDS through vaccine. Day One, less than 120 miles from the Arctic Circle, North Pole, Alaska is 37 degrees (1700 miles south of the true pole), we stopped at Santa Clauses' House for refreshments. Our five camp-site locations included a ball field, the terminus of Gulkana Glacier, Eureka Pass gravel pit and beside the Alaska State Fair. Each day was a challenge with awful and awesome weather conditions as we pedaled an average 80 miles every day through snow storms, chilling winds and torrential rain through Alaska's mountain passes, green valleys, braided rivers, as well as sharing the road with 18 wheelers, Winnebagos, cars and occasional wildlife. We came through wilderness beauty to Anchorage, a city of 300,000 people and 1400 moose to cheers, tears and joy. Dan Pallotta, originator of the AIDS Ride series, told riders at the Closing Ceremonies--

"The world will not forget what you all did here this week. You're gonna have children, you're gonna have grandchildren... And those children will say, 'My mom rode across Alaska to help find a vaccine for AIDS' and fifty years from now, they'll say, My grandfather, rode across Alaska to find a cure for this thing that was called AIDS ". --Dan Pallotta, August 26, 2000