"It was a personal challenge, and also for me, since I've never been sick and have been very fortunate, it was to do it for the others who ... couldn't do it," said Duffy of his decision to participate in HIV/AIDS rides throughout his life. As an active part of the community that raises awareness of HIV/AIDS in Boston, Duffy has seen numerous friends pass away as a result of AIDS.

The Harbor to the Bay Ride was created in 2003 as a charity ride that was dedicated to donating 100 percent of its riders' pledges to HIV/AIDS organizations. Today, the ride benefits the AIDS Action Committee, Fenway Community Health Center, Community Research Initiative and AIDS Service Organization of Cape Cod. Since its inception, the ride has raised almost a million dollars for AIDS organizations in the Greater Boston area. Duffy, who was on the board of the AIDS Action Committee and is involved in development and fundraising for Fenway Community Health Center, did not participate in the ride last year as he was opening a store in the South End. But he's looking forward to making the one-day trek from Boston Harbor to Provincetown this year.

"I sort of retired the year before, but I've come out of retirement, it was a short one," said Duffy, who laughed when asked about how he has prepared for his participation this year.

"I'm 52 now, and when I started doing these rides when I was 39. It's easier to do it when you're 39 than when you're 52," he said. Regardless of his age, Duffy feels that his participation is crucial in that it sends an overall message of awareness.

"I raised a lot of money, and even more than that I think we've raised a lot of awareness every time we do these rides. It helps galvanize the humility into understanding that this is an ongoing, chronic - unfortunately - it's an ongoing battle that we need to not let up on."

"I'm determined. ... I will finish this year," Haag said of her plan to participate in this year's ride, which will take place on Sept. 20.

While the main objective of the ride is to raise funds for HIV/AIDS, Harbor to the Bay also has a mission of increasing and improving awareness of the prevalence of HIV/AIDS in the Boston community.

"It's just a wonderful sense of community, and it's wonderful to know so many people still care about such an important issue," said Haag.

While she participated in the ride last year, Haag is no Lance Armstrong, and is currently trying to get in shape for her trek. "Well, I've already started carbo-loading, just so you know. I did have pizza today at lunch," she said, laughing.

Haag is riding the 68-mile route from the Sagamore Bridge to P'town, a half-length version of the Boston-to-Provincetown ride recommended for less experienced riders.

"But in all seriousness, I've been out on several longer rides and gone out with some of my colleagues. It's just such a great experience to also bond with other people who are as dedicated and who also want to do what they can to help. Several of my board members are riding, some of who are living with HIV. Those guys really just keep me going," said Haag.

Despite the fact that she had not been interested in cycling prior to her participation in last year's race, Haag did invest in a new bicycle last year. While the event has gotten her more interested in biking, it's the cause that keeps Haag riding.

"I run an AIDS agency and we serve 2400 clients, and they all inspire me to ride," said Haag. "Every day in the office when I talk to folks and realize the difficulties they're having and the bravery and endurance they show in living with this disease and the barriers they overcome, it makes me feel like the least I can do is get myself on a bike for sixty- eight miles."

He recalled being asked to emcee the event's opening and closing ceremonies and then being offered the chance to actually do some pedaling.

"I don't know if they were serious about that, but if I do something with an organization I really like to be involved," said Brown, who is openly gay. "So I'm going to emcee the opening ceremonies at 6 a.m., get on my bike at 6:25 and ride to Provincetown, and then emcee the closing ceremonies at 7:00, 7:30 at night."

Brown said he hopes to arrive in P'town in one piece to welcome riders for the closing ceremony.

"I'm not worried about being out of breath. I'm just worried about cramping. I'm eating bananas, upping my potassium, and all that," said Brown.

Brown is one of a handful of high-profile riders taking part in the ride's sixth year. Other big-name riders this year include Rebecca Haag, the executive director of AIDS Action Committee, and interior design guru Dennis Duffy. Led by the late Michael Tye, former president and CEO of United Liquors, the ride's organizers founded Harbor to the Bay in 2003 in response to complaints about the Palotta TeamWorks AIDS rides from Boston to New York. The Palotta rides, which folded in 2002, became the target of intense criticism after it was discovered that much of the funds raised by the ride paid for the overhead expenses of putting on the event, rather than going to the HIV/AIDS charities that were the ride's beneficiaries. The Harbor to the Bay ride, by contrast, donates all of the funds raised by riders to the beneficiary organizations, which include Fenway Community Health, AIDS Action, Community Research Initiative, and AIDS Support Group of Cape Cod.

Prior to signing up for the ride Brown said his biking experience consisted solely of going on leisurely rides with his 8-year-old son. With just two months to train for the 125-mile ride Brown went out and bought a new bicycle, new biking clothes, new sneakers, and began an aggressive training program with a friend of his who is also doing the ride.

Despite having a Boston Marathon under his belt, Brown said he expects the Harbor to the Bay ride to be a challenge. His longest training ride thus far has been 80 miles; Brown said training for Harbor to the Bay has been much more of a logistical challenge than training for the marathon.

"Unlike running, in which when you run, you literally put on your running clothes and go outside and do your mileage, with riding you have to worry about your bike, you have to worry about the maintenance of your bike, you have to get the appropriate clothes, you have to not only map out a path but then you also have to worry about the additional traffic," said Brown. "I'm amazed by trying to maneuver around the traffic that's out there and the condition of the roads. Each town where I've ridden has a road condition that goes from fine to poor."

Some of those poor roads have taken their toll on his bike, and Brown said he's quickly become a do-it-yourself repairman. On a recent training ride Brown got a flat tire out in Bolton, far from his home in West Roxbury. He sat by the side of the road, pulled out his repair kit, inserted a new tube in his tire, patched and re-inflated the tire, and continued on his ride.

Brown first got involved with HIV/AIDS charity work through Channel 5, which sponsors the AIDS Walk and Harbor to the Bay, but like many of the more than 300 riders taking part in this year's ride he also has a personal connection to the fight against AIDS. About 20 years ago, when Brown was working as a meteorologist at a station out in Sacramento, he got word that a friend of his named Charlie had died of complications from AIDS. Brown said he and his friends were shocked, because Charlie had never told any of his friends that he was battling the disease.

"All of a sudden I found out Charlie had died, and then you find out that he had HIV, and he had AIDS, and it was 20-some years ago, right when AZT was coming out. So you think about people like that," said Brown. "I'm kind of the generation which I feel at times that it skipped me, luckily; however, when you think about the new infection rates coming out, it's still out there. I always think of Charlie."

Brown first joined the NewsCenter 5 team in 1995 as a meteorologist, but last year he made the shift to the anchor desk for the station's early morning newscast. He said he has been out publicly about being gay from day one in Boston, and he was also out in the two previous cities where he worked as a meteorologist, Milwaukee and Sacramento. He was less open about being gay at his first two jobs in the field, in Terre Haute, Indiana and Chico, California, but Brown said once he became established he found it much easier to be out.

"In the small TV markets you lead a closeted life, and then the more comfortable you are, the more established and confident you become in your career ability, the more open life you lead," said Brown.

He said his work as an openly gay anchor in Boston has been entirely without controversy, and he credited openly gay Boston media forerunners like the late David Brudnoy and WHDH anchor Randy Price with paving the way.

"It's all on not only their shoulders but their hard work and bravery," said Brown.

"Our motto is 'eliminating stigma through positive public example,'" said Emerson Miller during a telephone interview this week. Miller has led the group for the last three years, first with the Mass Red Ribbon ride, and then with Harbor to the Bay. "There’s a perception out there that HIV Positive People are different. Putting a positive face on HIV is what we’re trying to do here. We’re never going to end this epidemic without eliminating the stigma." When Miller spoke to the New England Blade on Tuesday before the ride, 17 people have signed up to ride with the Peddlers, and he expected a couple more late registrants. They aren’t a team in and of themselves, but a sub-team riding for other teams and raising money for each of the four groups which are the beneficiaries of the event.

But new this year, the Positive Peddlers will be easily identifiable with new jerseys thanks to donations that the group has received this year. Other riders will affix an orange flag to their bicycle, designating their affiliation with the group.

And if riders think the distance from Boston to P-town is long, they need only keep in mind Garrison Grace, who has come much, much further.

Grace lives in San Francisco. He will fly to Boston especially to join the Positive Peddlers for the Harbor-to-the Bay Ride. "I'm extremely excited to be working with folks that are pos and want to show the world they are active and empowered and living a vital and exciting life," said Grace during a telephone interview this week.

Grace, 56, has been HIV-positive since the early 1980s. He has been involved in the national Positive Peddler's organization for twelve years. The group started with the very first California AIDS ride in the early 1990s, he explains.

"I try to not count them," he says, when asked how many such rides he has participated in. But then he ticks off a list: he's ridden in rides in Alaska, Hawaii, Minnesota, Florida, Texas and North Carolina. Recently, he completed a 450-mile ride from Vermont to Maine. "That ride was particularly special because my sister rode with me," he said.

Grace became involved with Harbor to the Bay when he was approached by Miller about getting the organization's jerseys for this year's ride. "The first time I heard of Harbor to the Bay it particularly struck a nerve," said Grace. "Its a grassroots organization and 100 percent of the proceeds go to the beneficiaries. That's very much a critical issue for me ... This is a cause we feel very strongly about. When I see something like Harbor To The Bay, all these good people who are working strictly because they believe in the cause, it's something I want to be involved with."

Miller said he was very happy to have Garrison ride with the Peddlers. "It kind of makes it a national thing," he said, noting that most of the riders come from either the Metro Boston area or from Cape Cod.

In total, Harbor to the Bay has raised more than $1 million for four local HIV/AIDS organizations — Fenway Community Health, the largest provider of HIV and AIDS medical care in New England; Community Research Initiative of New England (CRI), the only independent, nonprofit, New England-based organization solely dedicated to HIV clinical research, treatment, education and financial assistance for approved drug treatments and health insurance coverage; AIDS Support Group of Cape Cod (ASGCC), the sole HIV/AIDS organization serving Cape Cod's communities; and AIDS Action Committee of Massachusetts, New England's first and largest AIDS organization — and all signs point to this year being the biggest ride yet. As of Wednesday morning, 313 riders had pledged over $280,000 for the event.

The Harbor to the Bay ride takes place on Saturday, Sept. 20, 2008. As of Wednesday, Sept. 17, organizers will not be accepting additional registration for riders, but are still looking for crew members. Rider orientation will take place on Friday at Club Café and on Saturday, the day of the ride.

"Since I started working in the field of HIV services twenty years ago, awareness of these problems has gone down," said Laura Thornton, AIDS Support Group of Cape Cod executive director. "But local service providers are seeing new cases of HIV infection every week. Additionally, the Center for Disease Control indicates that 25 percent of persons infected with HIV are unaware of the fact that they have this disease. That is why the ASGCC stresses the need to get tested, and provides free and confidential testing."

As one of the beneficiaries of the annual Harbor to the Bay AIDS Ride, ASGCC relies on the monies raised by riders to help augment its annual budget. Founded in 1983 as a response to the AIDS epidemic in Provincetown, the AIDS Support Group also serves as the lead agency for the Cape and Islands Service Coordination Collaborative, which includes all of Cape Cod, Martha's Vineyard and Nantucket.

Tim Leahy, director of development and communications for Community Servings of Jamaica Plain, is often asked to donate his time and money to organizations. And while he "carefully" selects those organizations to which he can give, without question, the one that gets an immediate yes is the Harbor to the Bay AIDS Ride.

"I love the cape and feel very fortunate to spend some time here each summer, which makes me want to do something to help out," said Leahy. "Since I work for an AIDS service organization in Boston, I feel drawn to ASGCC. I love the services available for their clients, especially the meals available to all clients. In addition to the nutrition program, the ASGCC provides a huge range of services, it's literally a one-stop-shopping for anything one might need while battling HIV/AIDS."

The ride, launched in 2003, has raised nearly $1,000,000 for four local HIV/AIDS organizations: Fenway Community Health Center; AIDS Support Group of Cape Cod; Community Research Initiative (CRI); and AIDS Action Committee of Massachusetts (AAC), with 100 percent of all rider-received pledges going directly to these beneficiaries.

This year, according to the event's Web site, 203 riders have signed on to ride and have already netted $41,095 in donations. The one-day event, taking place this year on Sept. 20, is open to all cyclists who commit to the goal of raising at least $500 in pledges. Participants have the option of riding the full 128 miles from Boston to Provincetown or completing about half of the distance (Boston to the Sagamore Bridge, or the bridge to Provincetown). Ride organizers are also seeking to recruit a large number of volunteers to help with preparations and with the ride itself.

The ride benefits four Bay State HIV/AIDS organizations: AIDS Action Committee, Fenway Community Health Center, Community Research Initiative of New England, and AIDS Support Group of Cape Cod. Currently there are 137 riders signed up for this year's ride. All proceeds from the ride are donated to the benefiting organizations.

Riders can choose among three different routes this year. Those feeling up to the challenge can ride the entire 125-mile route from Boston to P-town. Less adventurous riders can choose either a 68-mile ride from Boston to the Sagamore Bridge or from the bridge to P-town, a 57-mile trek. Those who want to get involved in the event but do not want to ride can volunteer as crew members.

During the reception organizers introduced attendees to some of this year's riders and crew members and representatives from the four benefiting organizations. They also gave attendees the details of this year's ride and welcomed veterans from past Harbor to the Bay rides.

Right now, nearly 250 cyclists are training for the annual Harbor to the Bay HIV/AIDS benefit bike ride, a 128-mile journey from Boston to Provincetown on Sept. 15 aimed at raising money and awareness to fight the spread of HIV/AIDS.

Among them is Krzysztof Krakowiak, a Roslindale man who will be participating in his very first benefit bike ride this year. Krakowiak, 49, has been HIV positive for 23 years. "Obviously it hasn't been a bed of roses. It's been a struggle here and there. I just wanted to do [the ride] because I figured if I don't do it now, I might never do it again." It's not that Krakowiak, a native of Poland, is pessimistic about his future, he quickly clarified, "but I felt that I was in good shape enough to do it."

Though he has been a casual bike rider for most of his life, it wasn't until last spring that Krakowiak began biking more intensely, having joined Positive Pedalers, a group of cyclists who are living with HIV/AIDS. "I really just became so consumed by it," said Krakowiak, an accountant. "It is addictive. It really is," he laughed. "You become so aware of your body and all your senses just become so heightened." On top of that, he added, "and it's healthy and it's good for you, you know."

Krakowiak is participating in "H2B," as the ride is known, on behalf of AIDS Action Committee (AAC), the newest of the ride's beneficiary organizations. In past years, proceeds of the ride were divvied up between the AIDS Support Group of Cape Cod, Fenway Community Health Center and Community Research Initiative of New England. AAC was added to the list after it decided to discontinue its own Red Ribbon Ride after last year due to low participation and merged its resources with H2B. By joining forces with AAC, said H2B Director Jim Morgrage, "we've really picked up a huge influx of new participants."

Now in its fifth year, organizers of H2B anticipate that this year's trek will be the most lucrative to date. With increased ridership, Morgrage said H2B is on track to raise $300,000. By contrast, last year's ride drew 158 cyclists who raised $238,000. With no paid staff members and a grass-roots approach to producing the event, H2B promises that 100 percent of rider-received pledges goes to the beneficiary organizations.

Morgrage said the no-frills attitude of the ride is what makes it unique among the plethora of similar charity fundraisers. "Sometimes we sit around the table as members of the [organizing] committee and say how is it that we continue to grow and we continue to raise more each year?" he said. "The only thing I can tell you is, I think it's the model which we've done at Harbor to the Bay and that is it's a word-of-mouth type thing. We don't have a big advertising budget." Rather, volunteers and riders recruit their friends to get involved in the event and interest spreads on its own. "Of course you do it because you believe in the cause," said Morgrage, who will be among the cyclists this year, as he has been in the four previous. "But I think that they choose Harbor to the Bay because there's no elaborate productions, there's no paid staff and I think most of them do it because they see that it's a grassroots thing, it's all volunteer." Morgrage notes the beneficiary organizations help the recruiting effort as well, not only by organizing groups of riders, but through their longstanding reputations for providing quality services to the community. "We're really working with four great organizations in the Boston area that have a long and distinguished track record of providing the right kind of services to the right people," said Morgrage.

H2B riders have the option of starting in Boston and riding as far as their legs can take them, pedaling all the way to Provincetown or doing a Bourne-to-Provincetown jaunt. H2B will coordinate transportation from the Sagamore Bridge to Provincetown for cyclists who need it.

Krakowiak wants to go the distance. Toward that end he's been regularly logging 50-60 mile training rides back-to-back with a short a break in between. "People tell me that if I can do 50-60 mile rides back-to-back that I should be okay with doing 130 [miles]. So I want to believe them," he laughed. "And if I feel like I'm dying in the middle of it, there's always the Sagamore Bridge." That option is "less appealing," Krakowiak added.

He said he looks forward to the sense of accomplishment that will come from completing the ride. "Obviously we all could [just] write a check. But obviously you're combining a personal challenge with raising money and I think it makes it that much more meaningful," said Krakowiak, who aims to raise $1000 for the cause. "It is a tremendous sense of accomplishment." He emailed his fundraising appeal to friends across the country earlier this week and has already been overwhelmed by some of the responses. "I tell you, I choked [up] a couple of times reading those emails and the messages and the donations that started to come in. ... I don't know how to say it, it just felt terrific," said Krakowiak. "I have wonderful friends."

If you donate to Harbor to the Bay (H2B), the sponsoring organization of an annual bicycle ride which takes participants from Boston to Provincetown, then you do know where your funds go because all raised money is given back to nonprofits moving toward a cure for AIDS and helping men and women currently living with HIV or AIDS.

The organization's founders, led by the late Michael Tye, had been disappointed when it was revealed that the now-defunct Pallotta TeamWorks, a group that produced a number of fund-raising events around the country, including the three-day Boston to New York AIDS Ride (which later became the Northeast AIDS Ride), used more than half of event proceeds to pay for its elaborate marketing campaigns and production costs.

Enter H2B, a 501(c)(3) community organization managed by volunteers, which uses donated supplies to advertise its annual event, and relies on the contributions and time of local bicyclists interested in helping, however they can, men and women living with HIV and AIDS.

There are two options for men and women interested in participating in the ride. For the more athletically minded, you can ride the entire 125 (sic) miles from Boston to P'town, or you can elect to ride from the Sagamore Bridge to P'town, effectively cutting the ride in half. Be warned. Veteran riders suggest practicing on hills, as the road in Truro is hilly, even if it doesn't feel like it when making the trip by car.

Launched in 2003, H2B has raised more than $250,000 and has given 100 percent of these funds to three local nonprofits: Fenway Community Health, the largest provider of HIV and AIDS medical care in New England; Community Research Initiative of New England (CRI), the only independent, nonprofit, New England-based organization solely dedicated to HIV clinical research, treatment education, and financial assistance for approved drug treatments and health insurance coverage; and to AIDS Support Group of Cape Cod (ASGCC), the sole HIV/AIDS organization serving Cape Cod's communities.

H2B divides event proceeds and raised funds in a way that provides the most benefit to each of the three organizations, Eric Santamaria, H2B marketing director and event participant, said. This year Fenway Community Health will receive 70%, CRI will receive 15 percent and ASGCC will receive 15percent. Donors, however, if desired, can earmark their funds to a specific organization, which would then be given directly to the chosen beneficiary.

Last year's event, despite an unexpected bout of rain, raised $134,000. This year, should rain again fall on the scheduled September 17 event date, a rain date of September 18 has been set-up. Event organizers are hoping to raise $250,000 this year - monies raised by the pedal-power of an expected (and hoped for) 150 riders.

According to CRI Deputy Executive Director Craig Wells, the funds CRI receives from H2B ($25,000 last year) have helped pay for clinical trials and fees associated with these trials not paid for by sponsoring drug companies. It's a windfall for the nonprofit, which is attempting to remain independent despite fiscally unsound times.

"Contracts don't pay for the full range of research," he said, "which is where the ride comes into play. It helps us cover costs and the involved overhead in our clinical trials. We have to rely on fund-raising and the generosity of people and corporations. It's a constant challenge."

This is the main reason behind H2B. The organization "endeavors to improve consumer identification with HIV/AIDS awareness, preventing infection, and caring for people impacted by HIV/AIDS," according to Santamaria. "[We] hope to build the trust of fiscally discerning donors who expect transparency and accountability from the charities they support."

This is why H2B annually publishes its books, making the information available online. It is also registered with Guidestar.org, a policing agency, of sorts, for nonprofits.

Accountability may not top the list of reasons Rob Phelps, CRI research participant, feels blessed to have benefited from H2B. Instead, he feels blessed that the trials have given him back his life.

"How do I break that down to a single thing? I've stopped thinking of myself as a sick person. I can work again. I can play again. I've gone to graduate school. I'm working on my novel. I'm planning for my future instead of just getting my accounts in order," Phelps said. "I have a greater appreciation for life, having been so close to death."

Harbor to the Bay ride is scheduled for September 17, with a rain date of September 18. For additional information, connect to harbortothebay.org. For additional information about the event beneficiaries, connect to their individual Web sites: fenwayhealth.org, crine.org, and asgcc.org. Riders can register up until the day of the event itself. Registration forms are available online. Registration is $50, with each rider expected to raise at least $1,500.

The event, celebrating its third ride this year, donates 100 percent of the monies raised to Fenway Community Health, AIDS Support Group of Cape Cod and Community Research Initiative.

I'm humbled, really, to be blessed to be in a community where so many people step up to the plate, work, lend time and energy, and pledge support," Morgrage said earlier this year. "It's an understatement to simply say that our community pulls together and takes care of one another."

The first charitable AIDS bike rides were organized in 1994. In the past 10 years, these rides have collected an estimated $220 million, but this financial success was overshadowed when, in 2002, lead organizer, Palotta TeamWorks, closed after it was revealed it had used large portions of raised monies to pay operating and overhead costs.

As a result of this closure, local organizations were forced to seek financial support elsewhere. Community leader and philanthropist Michael Tye envisioned "Harbor to the Bay" (H2B) and teamed with Morgrage to then create the ride.

Since 2002, H2B has raised more than $250,000, with riders paying a $50 registration fee and also asked to raise $1,500 in pledges, and these figures are often paraded out when those involved with the event are asked to talk about it and drum up additional support. What often goes unmentioned, though, are the numerous businesses that help make the event a reality, from those that make in-kind donations to those that provide corporate sponsorship for the ride each year.

These businesses, according to Eric Santamaria, are often the "unsung heroes" of the ride, and include such major sponsors as Club Café, Bayside Betsy's and The Boatslip (both located in Provincetown), Jet Blue Airways, United Liquors, Computer Simple, SkyMedia Graphic Arts, and In Newsweekly.

Frank Ribaudo, who owns Club Café and Restaurant 209 (where Morgrage is general manager) has been HIV-positive for 21 years, lost a partner to AIDS in 1986, and has seen firsthand what the disease can do to a person.

But that's just part of why he and his businesses support the ride each year, he explained.

"The other part of it is that it just needs to be done," he said. "People are starting to think about AIDS like diabetes. You take some insulin and you're all better. The reality is that that's not the case. People are still dying, but we may not see them. The reason for that is that the gay community has pulled together and taken care of their own."

Bob and Henry Langlais of Computer Simple said that they and their business support the ride, not just because of what it means to the greater GLBT community, but for what it means to the men and women living with HIV and AIDS.

Along those lines, organization supporters will have the chance to win round trip plane tickets donated by Jet Blue as well as a Trek 1000-C bicycle donated by Ptown Bikes through a raffle. Prizes will be awarded on Dec. 1 at Club Café, following the Harbor to the Bay appreciation dinner. Raffle tickets cost $5, or three for $10, and can be purchased online.

But for Ptown Bikes' proprietor Bill Meadows, donating the bike is less about the number of raffle tickets it will help get sold, and more about helping out an organization "that seems like it's going to do a good job."

"I'm always happy to donate a bike for a raffle that looks like it will raise a significant amount of money," Meadows said during a recent telephone interview. "And anything that helps the folks on the Cape and in the greater Boston area is fine by me."

"I always wonder what he would think of this," says Morgrage. "He never got to see his vision carried out."

Tye, former president and CEO of United Liquors, who passed away from bone cancer in the summer of 2003, first conceived of the ride as a response to the controversy around the Palotta TeamWorks AIDS rides from Boston to New York, which folded in 2002 after it was learned that a large portion of the proceeds, in some cases more than half of funds raised, went towards the production costs of the event. Tye and Morgrage had both participated in the Palotta TeamWorks rides as part of a United Liquors/Club Café team, and Tye convinced Tanquery Gin to become the ride's first corporate sponsor.

"The last year we were riding we were at a garden party in the South End and we sat down around a table and we were talking about Palotta," says Morgrage. "And there was a lot of hard feelings about the amount of money going back to the beneficiaries, and Michael said at that point, 'I envision a one-day ride that is really community-based.' And he said, 'Whatever you do, make it fun, make it simple, make it easy for people to do, and have a good time with it.'"

That January, Morgrage and other members of the United Liquors/Club Café team founded Harbor to the Bay, a ride from Boston to Provincetown that followed the principles that Tye had set out. Tye's illness made it impossible for him to take an active part in organizing the event, although Morgrage and the other members of the 25-member ride committee kept him informed about their progress. Tye passed away in June, three months before the first ride.

orgrage was a novice at organizing a charity bike ride, but he looked at the Palotta TeamWorks model and thought of ways to improve it.

"Like any good gay man you take a look at what they're doing and say, 'Oh, I could do this better, I could do that better,'" says Morgrage.

In contrast with Palotta TeamWorks, all of the funds raised in the ride went directly to the beneficiaries. Morgrage says the ride was able to keep overhead to an absolute minimum by relying on volunteers and by shrinking the scale from the Palotta TeamWorks rides, riding for only one day and setting a cap on the number of riders. The first year featured 70 riders and a volunteer crew of 125; last year 87 riders and nearly 170 crew members took part.

"With Harbor to the Bay it's really important for us to stay small and limit the number of participants that we can have until we can find organizations that are willing to donate the things that we need logistically to carry out a bigger event. So we're working on really just kind of forging ahead slowly, and continuing to be out there and continuing to raise awareness," says Morgrage.

Beyond keeping down costs, the other major challenge in organizing the event has been publicity. The all-volunteer event has no marketing budget, and Morgrage says they have largely relied on word-of-mouth to recruit riders. The three primary beneficiaries, Fenway Community Health, Community Research Initiatives, and AIDS Support Group of Cape Cod, have recruited riders through their riding teams, as has United Liquors. Morgrage also credited Club Café owner Frank Ribaudo and Innewsweekly publisher Chris Robinson for helping spread the word about the event.

In keeping with Tye's vision of a grassroots event, Morgrage and other organizers worked with people in the communities along the route of the ride to get involved.

"We basically took the Palotta model, got volunteers to do pit stops and managed to get an amazing amount of local support from local businesses," explained Morgrage. "They did everything from breakfast the morning of to food along the way, water, Power Bars, Gatorade. They really kind of rallied around us."

And while the ride only lasts one day, Morgrage says the support of businesses in Boston and Provincetown has enabled organizers to plan an entire weekend's worth of festivities for the riders and crew members. Riders enjoy a cocktail reception in Boston the night before the ride and a hearty breakfast before they set out the next morning. After they arrive in P'town they take part in a parade through town, followed by a reception at the Boat Slip. The next day riders and crew members enjoy brunch at Bayside Betty's, and that afternoon the Crown and Anchor hosts a T dance.

With two rides under their belt and a third just on the horizon Morgrage says the committee feels like the work they put in to create the event from scratch has finally paid off.

"I know for us it's finally starting to get a life of it's own, and we're kind of like the proud parents, wondering what to do with that and hoping we can get the message out there and get them to sign up, because it's a good time and it's a great way to do something good for the community," says Morgrage.

The fact that Community Research Initiative of New England (CRI) is one of Harbor to the Bay's beneficiaries makes the ride that much more meaningful to Pasnick. With sites in Boston, Provincetown and Springfield, CRI is the area's only nonprofit, community-based organization dedicated solely to HIV clinical research. The organization has produced research and drug testing data that has contributed to FDA approval of nearly half of the available HIV treatments - and Pasnick has taken part in some of those research studies.

"I believe that because of them I'm still here," said Pasnick of CRI. "So it's just a real natural fit for me to ride for them. I'm one of the very lucky ones I would say."

As they did last year, Boston's Fenway Community Health and AIDS Support Group of Cape Cod (ASGCC) will also receive proceeds from the ride. With the addition of CRI to the roster of beneficiaries, Harbor to the Bay can channel funds to three critical areas on the continuum of care for those living with HIV/AIDS. According to ride chairperson Jim Morgrage, Fenway was chosen for its medical care and HIV testing component, ASGCC for its social services - among them transportation to medical appointments, meal programs, supported housing and needle exchange - and CRI "because we really wanted to do a little bit with helping to fund research." Morgrage stressed the importance of giving people hope that advancements are being made in stopping the disease.

Given the state budget cuts to HIV/AIDS programs in recent years, CRI Executive Director Julie Marston welcomed the opportunity to benefit from Harbor to the Bay. "There's never been more of a time when we need to collaborate and develop partnerships than we do now," said Marston, noting that AIDS service organizations have lost 40 percent of their state funds in the past two years. Like many other organizations, CRI, whose $2.5 million budget is comprised of state and federal dollars and in-kind donations, has seen its budget shrink because of the cuts, and the organization has been forced to diversify its funding sources, said Marston. Benefiting from Harbor to the Bay is a step in that direction.

Harbor to the Bay is a volunteer-driven, grassroots effort; keeping overhead costs as low as possible enables it to be a generous benefactor. A $50.00 rider registration fee covers incidental costs related to the ride, allowing every penny raised - a minimum of $1,500 per rider - to go directly to the beneficiaries. Last year, 70 riders raised a total of $123,500, said Morgrage; unused donations intended to pay for operating costs boosted the fundraising tally to $125,000. This year's goal is to boost ride participation to 140 - all of last year's riders plus one friend, Morgrage calculates - and double last year's take. About 50 riders have already signed on for this year's event, nearly half of them women, said Pasnick.

Donating 100 percent of the ride's proceeds to charity was a guiding principle in Harbor to the Bay's creation. The organization's founders, led by the late Michael Tye, had grown disenchanted with the now-defunct Pallotta TeamWorks, a group that produced a number of fundraising events around the country, including the three-day Boston to New York AIDS Ride (which later became the Northeast AIDS Ride), when it was discovered that in many cases more than half of the money the events raised paid for the Pallotta's elaborate marketing campaigns and production costs. Pasnick, a veteran of seven Pallotta events, recalls feeling embarrassed when asking friends to donate money for the rides, knowing that just 50 cents of every dollar he raised actually went to AIDS organizations.

Stephen Coady, a volunteer organizer who will be making his maiden voyage as a Harbor to the Bay rider this year, also emphasizes the benefit of the organization's grassroots approach.

"One-hundred percent goes to the beneficiaries; that's what really makes us unique. And also the fact that it's a grassroots effort, it's a very community-based, community-oriented effort."

That community spirit is also reflected in the fact that at 125 miles - or 68 - Harbor to the Bay, unlike the Pallotta rides, is a much shorter trek, making it accessible to a wide spectrum or riders: You don't need to be Lance Armstrong to complete this ride. As a crew member for last year's ride Coady observed "a lot of diversity as far as physical fitness and ability among riders," as well as riders of varying ages. The ride is challenging, Coady added, "but not to the point where it's exclusive of anybody who really wants to do it. It's important to note it's not a race." Riders are encouraged to train properly prior to the ride and make the 7-10 hour trek from Boston to P-Town at their own pace.

Though the Harbor to the Bay's most important goal is to give badly needed funds to HIV/AIDS organizations, organizers say there's more to the ride than money. With infection rates rising, particularly among young people, Morgrage notes, the ride also serves as a means to talk about HIV/AIDS and to remind people that the disease is still with us.

For Morgrage, the best part of Harbor to the Bay is the people: "[The] bottom line is working with such an amazing community and working with such a very dedicated bunch of volunteers." With the endless of loop of bad news and negativity on TV and in the newspapers, said Morgrage,

"it's like a light at the end of the tunnel to see all of these people coming together."

For Pasnick, the ride offers a deep sense of empowerment. He recalls pedaling across the finish line of the California AIDS Ride for the first time and thinking,

"If I can do this - riding my bike 500 miles - I can do anything."

For more information or to register for the Harbor to the Bay Ride, visit http://www.harbortothebay.org

"When he died I was bummed. I thought there goes our ride," said Gary Pasnick, a friend of Tye's. "But when I went to the funeral I looked around and thought this is our ride," said Pasnick, in reference to the thousands who attended Tye's funeral. "The race gained momentum."

Tye's friends met weekly at Club Café, a social center of the South End's gay community, to plan the first 125-mile Boston-to-Provincetown ride. Businesses donated their services and each of the 62 riders raised $1,500 required to participate in last Saturday's ride.

Pasnick, a manager at Club Cafe, has participated in eight AIDS rides. "Before, I felt powerless. The first time I did the ride I felt powerful over the disease," said Pasnick, who has been HIV positive for 16 years. In the past, Pasnick rode for his friends who have died as a result of the virus that causes AIDS, or acquired immune deficiency syndrome. "I stopped writing names down when I got to 50," he said. "This time I'm kind of riding for myself," he said.

Dr. Steve Boswell, executive director of Fenway Community Health, said he has seen a 10 to 20 percent increase in new infections this past year -- the same period public funding was cut by at least 40 percent. His clinic, where the first case of AIDS was diagnosed in 1981, now treats more than 1,200 patients with the disease, and will split the ride's proceeds with AIDS Outreach Cape Cod. Many of Boswell's patients rode in the ride last weekend, and he stood on the sidelines, cheering them on.

Frank Sutter, in charge of publicity for the ride, emphasized the lack of awareness among gay youth about safe sex. "They don't think of prevention. They think you get it (AIDS) and live with it. But the best way is not to get it."

Pasnick coasted along a bend toward the end of the route and looked over Massachusetts Bay. "We have friends scattered in the bay. The last couple of miles is devoted to them," he said.

The riders say they take inspiration from Tye's spirit. In Tye's eulogy, friend Thomas Leavitt described how Tye made the three-day Boston-to-New York ride one year into cancer treatment, with a hip replacement, wincing in pain. When Leavitt met him at a pit stop Tye said, "Whatever I am feeling has to hurt less than someone living with AIDS."

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The AIDS ride began at 6 a.m. in front of the popular South End hang-out Club Cafe and ended 125 miles later in Provincetown. So far, the cyclists have raised $125,000 for AIDS/HIV research and outreach. "People didn't think we could do it, but we did it," said Frank Ribaudo, the owner of Club Cafe, who added that donations keep pouring in.

However, organizers of the first Boston-to-Provincetown ride stressed, 80 percent of the proceeds will go directly to the Fenway Community Health Center, which last year severed ties with the massive Boston-to-New York AIDS ride. The rest will go to the Cape Cod AIDS Support Group.

The separation occurred after the ride's major corporate organizer, Pallotta TeamWorks, a Los Angeles fund-raising company, came under fire when critics complained that only a small percentage of fund-raising proceeds actually went toward AIDS and cancer research while the rest went to high overhead costs. "People riding in the ride felt like, `Why are they raising thousands of dollars when only 30 percent goes to where they intended it to go?"' Ribaudo said. After raising hundreds of millions of dollars for AIDS and cancer groups, last year nearly all Pallotta's clients, including the Avon walk for breast cancer, broke ties with the company. Facing several lawsuits, Pallotta TeamWorks closed its doors in August 2002, ending the Boston-to-New York AIDS ride and other fund-raising efforts.

Yesterday's ride was dedicated to the late Michael Tye, a former Fenway Community Health Center board member who challenged his friends to organize yesterday's effort. A faithful AIDS ride participant, Tye died in June of bone cancer. He was 49. Before his death, Tye convinced his friends that a local effort could be effective at raising money.

Currently, the Fenway center provides direct care to more than 1,300 AIDS patients.

"During last year's ride, he had cancer and could barely walk, but he said it's easier to ride than walk, so last year he rode from New York to Boston," Ribaudo said of his friend.

At first, no one believed that such a ride could be done, added Thomas Leavitt, a past president of the Fenway board of directors and ride organizer. "We were a little skeptical . . ., but Michael was a visionary," he said.

More than 100 local businesses, and 120 volunteers, including medical personnel, donated time and resources, organizers said. And Tye's vision of having 100 percent of the proceeds go directly toward patient care and research was fulfilled beyond the group's expectations.

"These were talented men and women who have full-time jobs but also believed this could be done," Leavitt said of the ride participants. "There were pit stops and food stops, and donors knew that every one of their dollars went straight to the beneficiaries."

Plans are already in the works for next year's Boston-to-Provincetown AIDS ride, said Leavitt, who added that even if the event grows, organizers will never hand the reigns over to major corporate organizations. "If they want to send a check, that's fine, we will send it right along to the beneficiaries," he said. "This ride is about respecting the donors' dollar and letting them know that every dollar will help support HIV and AIDS research."

© Copyright 2003 Globe Newspaper Company