For Immediate Release

Media Contact:
Debra Holtz
Media Relations Manager
415-487-3071 or dholtz@sfaf.org

Cyclists to Cross Four Major Bay Area Fault Lines on 20th Anniversary Weekend of Loma Prieta Earthquake

Seismic 2.0 will raise critically needed funds for the San Francisco AIDS Foundation

(Oct. 8, 2009)--More than 100 cyclists and crew members will take off on a two-day, 200-mile loop around San Francisco Bay for Seismic Challenge 2.0., a fundraiser for the San Francisco AIDS Foundation. The event will kick off at the Presidio on Saturday, Oct. 17 – the 20th anniversary of the Loma Prieta Earthquake – and return to San Francisco over the Golden Gate Bridge on Oct. 18.

The Seismic Challenge 2.0 course covers all of the diverse landscapes of the Bay Area and crosses four earthquake faults: the San Andreas, Hayward, West Napa and Rodgers Creek.

Cyclists will leave at 7 a.m. from San Francisco and follow the San Andreas Fault south down the Peninsula. After circling the bottom of the Bay to join the Hayward Fault, the route continues north through rolling hills to Martinez, where participants will spend the night.  The following day, cyclists will begin their second 100 miles by crossing over the Carquinez Bridge to traverse the West Napa Fault into the Wine Country. After riding through the vineyards of Napa and Sonoma, cyclists will cross the final fault line, Rodgers Creek, and turn for the home stretch through Marin and over the Golden Gate Bridge.

For the past six months, the Seismic cyclists have come together for weekend training rides, socials and fundraising workshops. Each cyclist raised a minimum of $1,906 to support the services and programs of the San Francisco AIDS Foundation and its goal of radically reducing new HIV infections.

"Seismic Challenge 2.0 is our first cycling event to begin and end right here in San Francisco, the initial epicenter of the AIDS epidemic in the United States," said Mark Cloutier, CEO of the Foundation and a registered Seismic cyclist. "While this community has made great progress against HIV and AIDS in the past two decades, we must drive down the rate of new HIV infections by providing more HIV testing and counseling, and bringing more people into treatment."

For more information about Seismic Challenge 2.0, go to: http://www.begreaterthanone.org/events/seismic-challenge/