Positive Pedalers is a non-profit California corporation whose mission is: "Eliminating Stigma Through Our Positive Public Example." Members of this organization are people either living with HIV/AIDS or supporters of people living with HIV/AIDS and are committed to building a community through participation in bicycle-related activities.
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The group’s formal name is “Positive Pedalers.” The group is also known informally as “PosPeds." “Pos” is widely used as a way of referring to someone who is HIV positive.
Members
Positive Pedalers is nearly 1,100 people, mostly in the United States. There is a small number of members from other countries, notably, United Kingdom, Australia, China, and South Africa. Positive Pedalers has no membership fee. Membership privileges include receiving a newsletter, Positive Traction, and email announcements. Information at pospeds.org includes a calendar of events and AIDS fundraising rides across the country.
Positive Pedalers welcomes people of all HIV status.
Members of Positive Pedalers can 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 letters “HIV” in its center.
Board
A volunteer Board of Directors governs Positive Pedalers. The Board includes longtime members and others who are new to the organization. Two emeritus members also participate in the Positive Pedalers Board.
Activities
The aims of Positive Pedalers, are:
AIDS/LifeCycle
Positive Pedalers has a presence in 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. Many members of Positive Pedalers are clients of those organizations, and participate in AIDS/LifeCycle among other multi-day cycling events around the US.
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. Prior to AIDS/LifeCycle’s creation in 2002, nine California AIDSRides took place.
Positive Pedalers had a strong presence in the Boston>New York AIDS Rides, Twin Cities>Chicago AIDS Rides and Texas AIDS Rides to name just a few. Some members of Positive Pedalers have participated in all nine California AIDS Rides and all five AIDS/LifeCycle events. Some have participated in up to six AIDS Rides in one year. A Minnesota Positive Pedaler has completed over 30 AIDS Rides since 1997. He has ridden around the US including Alaska, Canada and Europe.
AIDS/LifeCycle 7, held in June 2008, raised $11.6 million for the Los Angeles Gay and Lesbian Center and the San Francisco AIDS Foundation. It was the most successful AIDS/LifeCycle up to that time. In 2012, AIDS LifeCycle raised over $14.2 million.
For each of the seven days of the annual AIDS/LifeCycle, riders and roadies travel up to 110 miles (168 km) along a 545-mile (872 km) 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 $3,000 in order to participate in AIDS/LifeCycle as a rider.
About 300 members of Positive Pedalers participated in AIDS/LifeCycle each year as riders and roadies.
History
In 2006, David Duncan and Wilfredo Ortiz, two longtime members of Positive Pedalers and former 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, Jonathon Pon 2-Day Memorial Ride.
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, such as Dallas, New York City, Twin Cities, Washington DC, Miami, Toronto, Chicago and Boston. Its website, www.pospeds.org, serves as the primary portal for information on the group and its activities.