During the summer of 2001, my wife Susan and I
began to ride bicycles for more than just a short pedal around the
block. I found cycling to be an excellent substitute for running,
which had become a problem because of an aching knee, and we both
wanted to get into shape for a planned biking vacation in Ireland.
That vacation turned out to be more of a challenge than we had anticipated—there
are lots of hills and steep climbs in Connemara, and it rains all
the time—but it also was great fun. One thing led to another,
and soon enough we were on good road bikes and learning how to do
longer distances.
Meanwhile, I became interim provost and began to learn more about
all the great research that is going on at Emory. I knew a good
deal about the work being done in the Rollins School of Public Health,
in the School of Medicine, and in the hospitals on AIDS. I also
was familiar with the new drugs being developed in the labs of people
such as Dennis Liotta and Ray Schinazi, but I only learned last
year of the pathbreaking work being done at the Emory Vaccine Center
by Harriet Robinson and others.
In the late fall of 2001, Susan and I were invited to a holiday
party at the medical school. It was a chilly day, and we had just
finished a 76-mile ride before we arrived at the party. Before we
had a chance to eat anything—but after a glass of wine—Phil
Hills,
a senior development officer in Health Sciences, said to us, “I
understand you ride bikes. How about doing the AIDS bike ride this
summer from Amsterdam to Paris to benefit the Emory Vaccine Center?”
That sounded like fun (and it seemed that the route from Amsterdam
to Paris would be much easier than the hills and mountains of western
Ireland), so we both said, “Sure, sign us up.”
Next thing I know, we are in serious training, we have an Emory
team of nine riders, and we are lugging bike boxes to the airport
to fly to Amsterdam. What follows are excerpts from the letter Susan
and I wrote to those wonderful people who sponsored us by making
donations to the Emory Vaccine Center:
“Yes, we did it! We and our seven fellow cyclists of Team
Emory Vaccine rode from Amsterdam to Paris—540 surprisingly
hilly miles. And yes, it was difficult—even more difficult
than we had imagined. We had rain, headwinds, flat tires, flooded
campgrounds, heavy traffic—and a wonderful time! Along with
more than 600 cyclists from across America, supported by 300 non-riding
but extraordinarily hard-working crew members, including three additional
members of money for AIDS vaccine research.
Now for the details of our adventure: We had anticipated that the
ride would be a challenging physical effort, and it was indeed that.
But our training prepared us well for the long daily miles. What
we were not prepared for was the almost daily rain, headwinds, flooded
campgrounds and flat tires (those scenic cobble-and-brick Dutch
bike paths required heavy-duty Dutch bikes, not lightweight road
bikes!). Changing a flat tire in 40-degree weather and rain is not
fun, but by the 11th flat, our tire-changing skills had improved
dramatically. And, oh yes, it was sleet that whipped our faces as
we rounded a turn on Day 2.
The route planners actually managed to find a steep (but, thankfully,
short) hill in Holland, but by the time we got to the Ardennes region
of Belgium, it seemed they had sought out the steepest and longest
climbs. And of course any climb feels hard with wind and rain blowing
in your face.
But we persevered, as did every member of Team Emory, three of whom
succeeded in riding every mile on every day, truly a major accomplishment
given the long mileage and nasty weather. We were not among those
three, but we came very close.
On the day of sleet and multiple flat tires, we were “swept”
by the SAG bus—so named because its job was to sweep up tired
riders who’d begun “sagging” behind—still
30 miles from the finish when the route was closed due to rain,
cold and darkness. Susan was swept another day, 15 miles from the
finish, when sidelined by an unfixable flat, and she admits—with
a certain amount of pride in maintaining her sanity—to boarding
the SAG bus at mile 70 of Day 4, while I climbed four miles of 11
percent grade in driving rain and ferocious truck traffic. (The
Tour de France rates a climb of more than 8 percent grade as “Beyond
Category.”)
It also was very satisfying to have finished pain- and injury-free,
unlike many younger riders who thought that youth and a moderate
degree of physical fitness would see them through, but who later
discovered that the only effective way to train for an endurance
ride of this kind was with many, many miles in the saddle.
So how does it feel to have ridden all those miles and to have lived
in mildewing clothes for a week? The answer is thrilling. And not
just because we met the physical challenge; equally thrilling was
being with a group of so many dedicated people, each of whom had
raised a minimum of $5,000 plus expenses just to be there.
The experience of sharing this adventure with so many, of knowing
that we were united for a common goal, is something Susan and I
will never forget. We are not yet sure how it has changed our lives,
but we know it has. We also know that we will continue to be dedicated
to supporting the work of our Emory researchers at the Vaccine Center
as they get up every day and work long hours searching for ways
to defeat disease and improve the human condition.”
The wonderful members of Team Emory Vaccine who rode with us were:
Joe Miller, team captain and a Vaccine Center researcher; Krista
Fajman, ’02C; Mike Peters, ’02C (Mike and Krista are
Joe’s lab assistants); Teresa Rivero, ’87B, ’93MPH;
Carol Fuzzard, ’93T; Clara Hagens, ’02MPH; and Noel
Hagens, Clara’s mother. Our ground crew consisted of Phil
Hills from Institutional Advancement, Dave Hanson from Goizueta
Business School, and Nancy Seideman from Public Affairs.
Thanks—and congratulations—to all who participated.
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