INDIAN RIVER COUNTY — She’s a far cry from age 20 and she doesn’t have the brawn of many Indian River County athletes.
But Sharon Lapoint, a retired Indian River school teacher, sure has the determination to raise money for AIDS organizations by competing in a the two-day, 165-mile bike ride that starts in Miami and ends at the AIDS Memorial in Key West.
For her, it’s a journey of a lifetime that began in June after her father, whom she cared for at the end of his life, died.
To say Lapoint is pumped for the November ride is an understatement.
Sure she’s suffered some falls while getting used to stepping out of the clips that hold her racing shoes to the bike pedals. And she’s suffered some achy muscles. But she’s also felt the thrill of racing down a steep overpass.
“It’s such a rush,” she says. At times, Lapoint has to remind herself that she is not as young as the people she has met along the way in her rigorous training schedule.
“I’m my mind, I’m the same age as these people, but then it’s like, ‘wow, I’m not,” said Lapoint, 64.
She never participated in a competitive sport until she took up golf about 18 years ago. Until June, she tooled around Grand Harbor on a bubblewheeled, beach cruiser, though with not much interest and regularity.
But now she’s become an icon of sorts at Grand Harbor with more and more people stepping outside their doors to cheer her on as she ambles her way out the gates and over to the island to train five or six days a week.
Now, she’s on a hybrid bicycle, one that allows her to sit upright as opposed to hunched over the wheels like many a competitive bicycle rider.
Lapoint is believed to be the only Indian River County resident participating in the nation’s second-biggest AIDS benefit bike ride. The Southern Most AIDS/HIV Ride (SMART Ride) is Nov. 16 and 17.
Seven-hundred and forty-five people have signed up for the ride. Each rider has pledged to raise a minimum of $1,250 for eight AIDS organizations that are beneficiaries.
Lapoint has been travelling to the Keys since 1972. Five years ago, she and her husband Howard Lapoint, also a retired educator, started spending a month in the Keys each year.
Over the years, she’s returned to many of old haunts in Key West, only to find that the disease has stolen another acquaintance. Key West, a city of about 25,000 residents, has lost about 1,000 of its citizens to AIDS.
By comparison, five new cases of AIDs and eight new cases of HIV infection were reported in Indian River County from January through June this year.
Reporting of AIDS became mandated in 1983. Since that time, 387 cases have been reported in Indian River County, and 196 people have died.
“HIV doesn’t discriminate,” said John May the HIV/AIDS Outreach coordinator for the county Health Department. Since the month of May, the health department has been offering free AIDS blood test where the results can be found out in 15 minutes. Older tests, which could have been done through a needle prick or a mouth swab took about two weeks to get the results. Problem was not everyone came back to get the results.
Most people in the area don’t want to talk about HIV and AIDS, said Linda Gordon, who tracks the disease in Indian River, St. Lucie, Martin and Okeechobee counties for the Florida Department of Health.
“Peoples’ lives are at stake and I think people have become very complacent,” Gordon said.
Enter SMART Ride, which is meant to not only support AIDS organizations, but also keep people talking about the importance of testing.
“I love it,” said Glen Weinzimer, the founder of the SMART Ride when told of Lapoint’s personal journey to get on a bike and finish the ride without any past experience as a cyclist.
Lapoint will be in good company, Weinzimer promises as most of the riders are not avid riders but continue to come back year after year for the cause. In the past, people from as far away as London have participated. The event has become such a draw that it no longer is accepting new riders as of late September.
The ride’s first day will be the toughest, 100 miles. Lapoint is hoping that someday this month she’ll hit that goal of riding 100 miles in a day. She recently rode 65 miles in a day along the island.
“The bike path is amazingly comfortable to ride,” Lapoint said. “You feel like you have enough space. This has really been a blessing. We are really lucky in this community to have someplace to ride.”
