Plenty of avid cyclists live in our neighborhood, but you may be seeing four in particular — Trae Schaefer, Elijah Hawken, Roberto De La Cruz and Christy Lestina — more often these days. That’s because the four are in training for the upcoming AIDS/Lifecycle, a seven-day 545-mile ride from San Francisco to Los Angeles on May 31-June 6, which raises funds for the San Francisco AIDS Foundation and the L.A. Gay & Lesbian Center.
"We all came together for a common cause initially, the Lone Star Ride Fighting AIDS here in Dallas," Lestina says. "Then we branched out and helped MS 150 and various local charity bike rides, but the HIV/AIDS ride has been our primary focus. We decided to do this ride to challenge ourselves further for those who needed us the most — friends and family who have been affected by this horrible disease. Each of us knows someone who has been diagnosed with HIV/AIDS or has died from it. So for many of us, this is very personal and true to our heart."
Training means riding 80-plus miles per week, and not surprisingly, much it involves lapping White Rock Lake, but the group also meets at Winfrey Point on the weekends and bikes from there to DFW Airport, Grapevine or Far North Dallas. Lestina, De La Cruz, Hawken and Schaefer are each trying to raise $3,000 for the ride; to contribute to their efforts, click on their names, or donate to another member of the Wild Stallions team.
