FACE AIDS Ride Against AIDS 2010 Blog

SPOT System: Follow Us Live!

Map of 2010 Route

Map of 2010 Route
You can view the day-to-day schedule, terrain, mileage, and checkpoints by clicking on the map!

Tuesday, June 22, 2010

Day 8: Reno 911

Well, we had to take a little detour after yesterday's ride and ended up in Reno, NV. While I had a great day yesterday it unfortunately didn't end well for Shane. About a mile outside of town, Shane got hit by a car. Before I go on, he's okay and will definitely recover. So you can take a breath, I'm not going to hold you in suspense.

Fortunately, Claire was close behind Shane and was able to stay with him throughout most of the time in transit to the hospital. We then regrouped and headed to Reno, as that was where Shane was headed since they had a trauma center and the medical crew wanted to be cautious. They did all the necessary tests and checks. No broken bones, luckily just some bad deep tissue bruises. He got all cleared and will hopefully be good to go and back on the bike in about 10 days.

Shane was really lucky his injuries were minimal after the accident. He was riding properly, in the shoulder and abiding by bike laws, which was confirmed by passerbys. This just goes to show that accidents happen and we reallllllly have to be careful and alert. So if you see bikers while you're driving, please slow down, give them some space, and respect what they're doing.

So we spent last night, today, and tonight in Reno and will make up our lost day tomorrow in the car, adapting to the situation as best as we can. That way, we can stay on schedule. Luckily, we have had amazing hosts the past few days, especially on such short notice. They really have taken us in and been more than accommodating, welcoming Shane's mom and two FACE AIDS' board members into their home as well.

We spent all day with board members Brenda Freiberg and Jonny Dorsey, which was really amazing. Brenda and Jonny filled our day with stories, help, advice, and support. Brenda is an amazing woman, with an amazing story who has been involved in AIDS work for over 25 years. She has been around since the beginning and was very inspiring. She let us pick her brain for hours on end, which was really a great opportunity since she has so much experience. It was also quite an honor to be able to spend so much time with Jonny Dorsey, one of the co-founders of FACE AIDS. It is pretty powerful to hear the story of FACE AIDS from one of the three individuals who started the FACE AIDS movement. We spent a good chunk of time having a semi-heated discussion about international vs. domestic focus of NGO's (non-governmental organizations). I'm no stranger to this debate, as the most common question I get after explaining my interests and majors in Anthropology and International (African) Studies to people, is "Why don't you focus on these types of issues and problems in the U.S.?" I obviously won't get into that now, it would take a million years to try to explain that in this type of setting, but we definitely had a good chat between the 9 or 10 of us.

The riders with Brenda and Jonny.

We got to see a little bit of downtown Reno and check out the University of Nevada Reno's campus while we drove by. I know this was a great misfortune, the whole accident and all, but as our host said, "Misfortune brings fortune as we all are able to gather together." If we're going to look on the bright side of such a gloomy incident, it is true that we had the chance to meet another group of very, very, very wonderful people.

So tomorrow we'll be off to get back on track in Ely, NV and stay on schedule from there (cross your fingers).

No comments:

Post a Comment

Blog Archive

Followers