Posted November 17, 2011

Her jersey is vintage California AIDS Ride 4, or her T-shirt sports the ALC 1 logo.  She awes Newbies and veterans alike with her tales of the “good-ole-days”.  And Doreen should know because she has ridden in every single California AIDS Ride and AIDS LifeCycle…all of them.  Not only that, this mild mannered hero has ridden EVERY MILE of every ride that has ever saddled up and traveled down the coast.  That is roughly 9,900 miles on a bicycle!!  And that is only the event miles to say nothing of all the miles she has ridden training over the years.

How has Doreen pulled this off?  If you ask her she would tell you that her talents are no greater than the next persons.  She is modest to a fault and most who meet her would never suspect she has accomplished such a feat.  But listen to her talk to new riders and you will get a sense of what drives her to continue to ride.  She will tell you about the scenery and camp fun.  She will tell of the hijinks of two other ride legends, Ginger Brewlay and the Chicken Lady.  She will talk about all the change she has seen over the years.  And then she will talk about the friends she has lost to AIDS.  Intermingled with all the talk of good times and ride memories is the underlying feeling of loss.  As she speaks of fellow riders no longer with us, her smile remains but her voice changes.

It is clear that Doreen has never once thought of “taking a year off”.  Even when she broke her foot last year those words did not enter into her vocabulary.  With her doctor’s blessing she cross trained and when the cast came off mere weeks before the ride she hopped right back on her bike and once again pedaled from San Francisco to Los Angeles.  It goes without saying that Doreen has pedaled her way into AIDS/LifeCycle history.  But that is not the end of this story.  This year, Doreen is joined on ALC 11 by her brother.  Is this chapter 2 in the story of the pedaling Gonzales’?  Guess you’ll have to stay tuned to find out.