You never know who you'll reach on the road...

On more than one occasion this weekend, I thought about a very discrete experience I had at a grocery store in Fountain Hills on a training ride the previous weekend.

Cruz and I had stopped to refuel and I had gone in to purchase fruit, water, power bars, and the like. There was only one lane open, but another employee quickly offered to open a nearby register to help me. She was very friendly, which is always a plus after you've climbed a few hills on the way into town. As she handed me by grocery bag, I caught a glimpse of the red ribbon tattooed on her forearm.

I didn't comment on it until I got outside, but I had an AIDS LifeCycle "RIDE TO END AIDS" jersey on and can't help but think that the way she turned her arm showing her tattoo and the smile on her face might have been a subtle way of saying "thank you for riding for me" or "thank you for riding for my loved one".

You don't always know who you will reach when you're out on the road, but our presence on hundreds of miles of training rides and during the week of AIDS LifeCycle helps to remind the world that we are all living with HIV and AIDS, that we care deeply about lending our voices and bodies to eliminating stigma, and that we continue to seek an end to this disease.