BY KAREN BOSSICK
Some people talk of moving mountains.
Rick and Lynn Flickinger move cities.
One week every year Lynn puts down the violin she plays for the Wood River Orchestra and Rick puts down his golf cubs to serve as roadies, helping to move more than 2,700 cyclists and 600 roadies down the road in the seven-day, 545-mile AIDS/LifeCycle.
The two got started with it five years ago and have not been able to stop.
“Honestly, it’s been a life changer for me,” said Rick. “You have no idea what it’s really like until you go on one of these. I get shivers now when I talk to people about it.”
The Flickingers got involved through their daughter Kristin—a Wood River High School grad who served as director of AIDS/LifeCycle in Los Angeles before assuming her current position as director of programs for the Los Angeles LGBT Center.
The bike ride, which will be June 3 through 9, raises awareness about AIDS/HIV—a disease that has all but been forgotten, even though it has made inroads into the straight population.
Under the umbrella of the San Francisco AIDS Foundation and Los Angeles LGBT Center, it also raises money to prevent new HIV infections and ensure testing and care for those who do have it.
“The biggest misconception among my buddies is that it’s a gay/lesbian issue,” said Rick. “But at least 25 percent of those with HIV or AIDS are not gay or lesbian. And, if it’s not addressed, that percentage will climb to 30 percent or even 40 percent.”
One in four people living with AIDS are female, Rick continued. And 90 percent of them got it through heterosexual activity—often from acquaintances who did not know they had the disease.
Many young people are getting it from the ink parties, or tattoo parties, that are making the circles among college and high school students. And the Flickingers met a young woman during last year’s ride who was riding with her grandmother who was HIV positive. Her grandmother had gotten it from her husband, who had since died from the disease. The grandmother is expected to live a long full life, thanks to the medications that are available today.
“The sad thing is it could be eradicated with education about how it can be transmitted,” said Rick.
“But college students don’t’ realize the danger. They think AIDS was in the 1970s,” said Lynn.
The task of serving as a roadie for the effort is a mammoth one.
The flickingers volunteer with the Sweep Team, driving the route to pick up cyclists experiencing bike problems, exhaustion or injury. They’ll drive up and down the daily ride route, working with anywhere between six and 14 single-spaced pages a day that give specific instructions about which stop sign to turn at and how many tenths of a mile it is until the next turn.
Hanging over the back seat is Spuddy Buddy, a toddler-sized representative of the Idaho Potato Commission that puts a smile on the faces of those who need help.
“We call ourselves the Idaho Hot Potatoes. Last year we filled potato bags with balloons and put them on top of our car. We’ve become the talk of the ride because we’re so different. People are always saying, ‘Oh Idaho, is that by Iowa, Ohio?’ ” Rick recounted.
Cyclists and volunteers live together for the seven days in what resembles a massive fire camp with more than 1,500 wall-to-wall tents, 15 shower trucks and a bevy of chiropractors, massage therapists, Cannondale mechanics and cooks from the organization that supplied the food at the Olympics.
Breakfast starts at 5 a.m.; lunch begins at 9 and dinner is served until 9.
Last year riders ranged in age from their 20s to 75. They came from 50 states and 18 different countries. A group of bakers who called themselves the order of Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence dressed up in wild nun costumes, hosted a vigil candlelight ceremony on the beach and did good works at rehabilitation centers along the route.
A group of Chinese have participated every year in hopes of learning what they can to prevent AIDS in China where the topic is hush hush.
A riderless bicycle reminds participant of those who have been lost to HIV/AIDS, while honoring those who continue to be affected.
“On the day they dress red—the AIDS/HIV color—it looks like a red ribbon winding uphill,” said Rick. “The riders are both gay and straight. They’re all riding for their own reasons. Some have AIDS or HIV. Some have lost a friend to it or have a friend with it. They’re all riding for good reasons.”
In the seven days it takes the riders to bike from San Francisco to Los Angeles, more than a thousand people in the United States will become infected with HIV—one in four of them between the ages of 13 and 24. One out of every five people living with HIV nationwide is not aware of their status, making prevention difficult.
“Our children and grandchildren should not be faced with this epidemic,” said Lynn. “We have the power through education, prevention and treatment to stop HIV transmission in our lifetime, and AIDS/LifeCycle plays an important role in making that happen.”
Each cyclist raises an average of nearly $6,000. Roadies are encouraged to contribute, as well.
Those who wish to help the Flickingers reach their goals can go to tofighthiv.org/goto/lynn or tofighthiv.org/goto/flick.
Visit www.aidslifecycle.org for more information.
BY THE NUMBERS
From 2008 to 2014 Americans newly infected with the HIV virus declined by 18 percent, thanks to education and meds.
In 2014 there were 37,600 Americans newly diagnosed.
In 2016 about 19 percent of AIDS diagnoses were women, up from 7 percent in 1985. There are more than a quarter million women living with AIDS, or 23 percent of all Americans living with AIDS.
In 2016 about 24 percent of HIV diagnoses were of straight men. Those between 20 and 29 years of age are hit the hardest.