Braking the Cycle Attracts Record Participation, Celebrity Support

NEW YORK, June 16, 2005 — Activist and winner of the reality television show the Amazing Race Chip Arndt will return to this year's Braking the Cycle, a fundraising bicycle ride benefiting the HIV/AIDS services of the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual & Transgender Community Center in New York City. With precious few open slots remaining for the three-day AIDS bike ride, the event is projected to fill all 100 spaces open to riders. The third annual Braking the Cycle is slated for September 16–18, 2005, and travels from Maryland’s Chesapeake Bay to the Closing Ceremonies in the Center in Manhattan’s historic Greenwich Village neighborhood.
New York continues to be an AIDS epicenter, and the LGBT community continues to be greatly affected by the disease, which has gone on to claim millions of lives around the world. Richard Burns, the Center’s executive director, notes the importance of community involvement in this event: "People are in need, yet public funding levels remain insufficient. We must therefore rely more heavily on donations and fundraising events to support our lifesaving services." At the same time, complacency and misimpressions about the state of the epidemic have posed added challenges with respect to AIDS fundraising. Those realities highlight just how critical it is for the community to rally around an event that bolsters HIV/AIDS services.
The first two years of Braking the Cycle raised more than $340,000 for the Center's HIV/AIDS programs. Seventy-three riders participated last year, including Chip Arndt, who made history when he and Reichen Lehmkuhl were the first openly gay couple to win the $1 million grand prize on the Emmy award-winning CBS reality show The Amazing Race.
Consequently, Chip Arndt's return to Braking the Cycle this year is inspiring. It was the 2003 edition of The Amazing Race in which Arndt traveled 44,000 arduous miles around the world, defeating 11 other teams, before landing on the winner's mat. He recently reiterated his commitment to using every opportunity to draw attention to the need for supporting HIV/AIDS services and LGBT rights. "The challenges I faced during The Amazing Race were nothing compared to those that the Center's clients confront every day. The exhilaration I felt winning was no greater than what I felt upon completing Braking the Cycle last year, knowing how much the Center's programs mean to those clients." Indeed Arndt’s experiences during last year’s Braking the Cycle ride contributed to his recent decision to accept the position of Public Relations and Marketing Manager with Care Resource, South Florida’s oldest and largest HIV/AIDS service organization.
From condoms to counseling, the Center has been at the forefront of providing services in the fight against HIV/AIDS. For example, the Center provides 5,000 counseling sessions annually for people living with and affected by HIV/AIDS, and, since its inception, more than 3,000 people have attended the annual World AIDS Day vigils sponsored by the Center — thousands more have attended the Center’s educational forums, conferences and other HIV/AIDS events.

For more information or to register for Braking the Cycle, call 212.989.1111, or visit www.brakingthecycle.org. To learn more about the Center, visit www.gaycenter.org.
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Media inquiries go to Mark Roy at 212.620.7310; e-mail: mroy@gaycenter.org.
Established in 1983, the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual & Transgender Community Center is the largest lesbian and gay community center organization on the East Coast. More than 6,000 people visit the Center weekly and 300 groups meet there.