BLOOMINGTON, Ill. – Biking 4,000 miles across the United States in just three months may seem like a grueling task for most – a task possibly accompanied by dangerous weather conditions, rugged back-roads, and pure exhaustion. As rigorous of a journey as this may be, there are those few strong-willed and committed souls who attempt and succeed at this challenge.
Vadim Kogan and Michael Henry, both members of Illinois Wesleyan University’s Class of 2012, attempted this endeavor. This summer they participated in “Ride Against AIDS,” a cross-country bike ride for the organization FACE AIDS. Beginning in June, Kogan and Henry started their cross-country bike ride in Half Moon Bay, Calif., and completed their trip in Boston, Mass. in August.
FACE AIDS, an organization founded at Stanford University in 2005, “is a student movement geared towards fighting HIV/AIDS and global health inequality,” said Henry. The “Ride Against AIDS,” now in its fourth year running, is meant to raise not only funds, but also awareness about the FACE AIDS organization. “We raised over $50,000,” said Kogan. “Individually the riders came up with $26,000. Along the trip we raised about $3,000 and there was an anonymous donation of around $22,000 once we got to Boston.”
Accompanied by four other riders, Kogan and Henry’s 67-day journey consisted of stops in 20 states and 53 different towns. “We had around 35 host families,” Henry said. “So there were 47 days where we had a roof to stay under.”