Positive pedalers

Positive Pedalers is a group of people living with HIV/AIDS committed to building a supportive and inclusive community for others and ourselves through participation in bicycle-related activities.

Positive Pedalers comprises nearly 500 men and women with HIV/AIDS from across the United States, primarily California. Positive Pedalers also has an international presence in a small number of countries. Positive Pedalers eagerly welcomes new members, wherever they live. Belonging to Positive Pedalers is free of charge. Membership privileges include receiving a newsletter, Positive Traction, and email announcements. Information at pospeds.org includes an up-to-date calendar of events in California and AIDS fundraising rides across the country.

Positive Pedalers also welcomes people who are not HIV-positive to enlist with the group as supporters.

In the group’s mission statement, Positive Pedalers declares: “We are a group of people living with HIV/AIDS committed to eliminating the stigma of disease through our positive public example.”

Positive Pedalers is closely connected to AIDS/LifeCycle, an annual fund-raising event produced by two of the largest organizations in California that provide services for people living with HIV/AIDS: the L.A. Gay & Lesbian Center and the San Francisco AIDS Foundation. Prior to AIDS/LifeCycle ’s creation in 2002, nine California AIDS Rides took place. Positive Pedalers also had a strong presence in the annual California AIDS Rides, and some members of Positive Pedalers have participated in all nine California AIDS Rides and all five AIDS/LifeCycle events.

AIDS/LifeCycle 6, held in June 2007, raised more than $11 million for the L.A. Gay & Lesbian Center and the San Francisco AIDS Foundation. It was the most successful AIDS/LifeCycle ever.

A 12-member Board that includes members living in San Francisco, Los Angeles, Orange County, California, and Portland, Oregon, governs Positive Pedalers. The all-volunteer Positive Pedalers Board includes longtime members and others who are new to the organization. Two emeritus members also participate in the Positive Pedalers Board.

Activities
A set of aims of Positive Pedalers, adopted by the Board, articulates the activities of the group.

These aims are stated as follows:
 * Expand awareness and recognition of people living with HIV/AIDS
 * Encourage active participation of members in the work of the group.
 * Actively participate in AIDS/LifeCycle
 * Promote and support positive participation in other HIV/AIDS cycling-related fundraisers
 * Maintain a strong working Board
 * Ensure adequate funding of the group's activities

Positive Pedalers is committed to maintaining a strong presence in AIDS/LifeCycle. Many members of Positive Pedalers are clients of those organizations, and participate in AIDS/LifeCycle as a way of acknowledging the impact of those organizations on their ability to cope with living with HIV. Individual members of Positive Pedalers provide a positive example for other participants of AIDS/LifeCycle, and the group as a whole plays a special role in the opening ceremonies of the event.

AIDS/LifeCycle 7 will begin in San Francisco on Sunday, June 1, 2008 and conclude on Saturday, June 7 in Los Angeles. In 2007, 2,333 riders participated in AIDS/LifeCycle 6, and more than 450 volunteers served as “roadies.” For each of the seven days of the annual AIDS/LifeCycle, riders and roadies travel up to 105 miles along a 545-mile route between San Francisco and Los Angeles, stopping at campsites at the end of each day’s route. Each rider is required to raise at least $2,500 in order to participate in the event as a rider.

In the months leading up to AIDS/LifeCycle, many members of Positive Pedalers participate in training rides to prepare for the multi-day ride in June. Several members of Positive Pedalers serve as Training Ride Leaders, and possess certification to provide guidance and supervision for other riders in ALC-sponsored training rides.

Members of Positive Pedalers can often be identified on rides by the official Positive Pedalers jersey, T-shirt or orange flags with the Positive Pedalers logo. The Positive Pedalers logo, designed by Michael Brown, is a circle with the words “Positive” and “Pedalers” forming segments of the circle’s perimeter. One quadrant of the circle is a bicycle wheel and tire; another quadrant is a bicycle gear. In the center of the wheel is a bold plus sign with the word “HIV” in its center.

Spelling
The group’s formal name is “Positive Pedalers .” The group is also known informally as “Pos Peds,” sometimes seen spelled “Poz Peds.” (“Poz” is widely used as a shorthand way of referring to someone who is HIV-positive, or infected with HIV.)

History
In 2006, David Duncan and Wilfredo Ortiz, two longtime members of Positive Pedalers and current Positive Pedalers Board members, prepared historical reviews of the organization, which were used to prepare the summary here.

Positive Pedalers originated in the second California AIDS Ride in 1995. Jonathon Pon, a participant in the first California AIDS Ride, recognized a need to recognize and support HIV-positive riders on that ride. In California AIDS Ride 3 (1996), Jonathon Pon, Donald David Ferhenbach and others formally launched Positive Pedalers. Jonathon Pon worked with the San Francisco AIDS Foundation to secure a telephone number and mailing address for Positive Pedalers. That year, the first Positive Pedalers Board was formed.

The group gained recognition and community support in the following few years. In 2000, the City of San Francisco recognized Positive Pedalers with a plaque and presentation at City Hall. The years 2000 and 2001, when California AIDS Rides 7 and 8 attracted 3,000 participants each year, are recalled as being peak years for Positive Pedalers.

Positive Pedalers founder Jonathon Pon died in his sleep in Houston, Texas, in December 2001. An annual Positive Pedalers ride in northern California is named in his memory.

Pallotta TeamWorks, the company that produced the California AIDS Ride, and the two beneficiaries, San Francisco AIDS Foundation and the L.A. Gay & Lesbian Center, split in 2002, with the Foundation and the Center holding its first AIDS/LifeCycle within a few weeks of the final California AIDS Ride. Positive Pedalers maintained neutrality in the conflict between Pallotta TeamWorks and the two organizations, with members of Positive Pedalers participating in both events.

Today, Positive Pedalers has a strong relationship with AIDS/LifeCycle while also supporting HIV-positive cyclists in other cities. Its website, www.pospeds.org, serves as the primary portal for information on the group and its current activities.