My latest fundraising e-mail, sent today (pictures were smaller in the original, but I’m less worried about file size on the web server):

Last year, I (the fellow to the left there) signed up for this June’s AIDS/LifeCycle ride, a seven day bicycle ride running the full 545 miles from San Francisco to Los Angeles, to help raise funds to continue the life-sustaining work done by the San Francisco AIDS Foundation and the Los Angeles Gay and Lesbian Center.

This ride will be the first time I’ve ridden more than 100 miles in a day, the first time I’ve ridden over an extended period of time, and even my first time raising serious money ($3,000!) for charity.  I’m very excited to have this opportunity, and I’m looking forward to pushing myself in ways I’ve never pushed myself before.

It’s been a long couple of months since my last fundraising e-mail, but generous donations have been pouring in anyway.  I’m happy to announce that I’m sitting now at $2,225 – just $775 short of my goal, with 44 days left before the ride!

I’m also happy to report that I think I’ll be okay riding the 80 mile daily distance on AIDS/LifeCycle 9, but I’d like to get a lot more hill training in before the ride.

It would really help me out if I could focus on climbing, rather than worrying about wrangling the money I need to even participate in the ride.

You can help; donate on my behalf at http://www.tofighthiv.org/goto/sharper.  Every little bit counts!

To encourage participants like me to keep up our fundraising, the AIDS/LifeCycle organizers occasionally offer bonuses and prizes, and their latest contest is a doozy: if I can raise $1,000 before 11:59PM on Tuesday, April 27th, I am entered in a drawing to win an Apple iPad.  $1,000 in donations would put me over my goal, but here’s the kicker: I don’t really want an iPad, so I’m extending the contest to you.

The picture to the left is my bike computer today, with the odometer total – last reset sometime in February – blanked out.  For every $10 you donate to me at http://www.tofighthiv.org/goto/sharper, I’ll give you one guess at the number.  If I win the iPad, I’ll give it to whoever guessed the closest (including the decimal).  In case of a tie, I’ll give it to whoever donated first.  I’ll announce the winner via e-mail and on my AIDS/LifeCycle blog at http://nothingsharper.com/blog/lifecycle.php.

Just like I need your help to keep the San Francisco AIDS Foundation in business, I’ll need your help to quality for the iPad giveaway.


With much gratitude,

Ryan Sharpe
AIDS/LifeCycle Participant #1699


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To donate to AIDS/LifeCycle on my behalf, visit
http://www.tofighthiv.org/goto/sharper

For information about AIDS/LifeCycle, visit
http://aidslifecycle.org/

For information about the San Francisco AIDS Foundation, visit
http://www.aidslifecycle.org/beneficiaries/sfaf.html

My personal AIDS/LifeCycle blog is available at
http://nothingsharper.com/blog/lifecycle.php

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I would like to publicly thank all of my previous donors (in no particular order):

Carol Fulkerson, Joseph Kaufman, Alan Barnard, Ralph Andersen, Sebastian Brenton, Nick Shelley, Beth and Stephen Pladson, Benefit Resources, Inc., James and Bonnie Dean, Libby Welton Baldwin, Jeffery Beaudette, Russ Carter, Lillian Yam, Heidi Wilson McClellan, Sue Teranishi, Melissa Benbrook-Corker, Anonymous, Teresa Tolbert, Scott and Brenda Lobenberg, Anonymous, Rod Benbrook, Tegan Sharpe-Cockrum, Suzy Sharpe, Jeri Howell, Kent Johnson, and Mike Skidmore