Bertrand Boudreau Cycles for AIDS Awareness

Okay, say your name again and spell it. Okay, my name is Bertrand Boudreau, and B-R-T-R-A-N-D, last name, B-O-U-D-R-E-A-U. Tell me Bertrand, how is it, or how is it that you came, what are you doing and how is it that you came across it? What I'm doing, I'm well cycling around the world to create awareness and raise fun and compassion for people with AIDS, and especially to wake up the straight people to wake up and to teach everybody that is not a gay disease, that's everybody's disease. How's it going so far? So far it's been good, it's been good, the response, people start listening at least, as it go along, because then they realize at first when they see me, the thing I have the disease myself, but I don't, and on top of that when they realize that I'm straight and I'm

not gay, then they're a little bit confused at first, but after that they're more receptive. That was it that you came across, coming to the conclusion or whatever, that a world bike tour is something that would help to make you feel better about bringing awareness and compassion about AIDS, how did that come about in your mind? In my mind, not only started up in a dream, there was by checking the people around me, all my friends, when I started questioning them about, do you take protection when you made a lady and all that, and most of them were saying no, and I really scared me, and after that I started doing some a little bit survey into the bars and a few places like this, and maybe 99% of the people were saying no, we don't take protection, it's not for us.

So there's a lot of people who are in denial, and at that time maybe somebody's got to do something about it, because it becomes through strong. Tell us about your dream and how specific it was. Okay, my dream was I knew that I would be cycling around the world, and I knew exactly some places that I would stop, which is already happening, and it was a dream like it was with my dream, I was a donation all the way, which it started up, and the beauty of it, I would meet Angel, what I call Angel, the hero, as I go on every city, and it's been happening since the beginning, which is really nice, and now it's what we call the law of mitigation, from one angel, the refer me to another one and so on and so on, so it's been a beauty since the beginning. So everywhere you go, and each time you go to, you tend to meet somebody, tell, how did you, you basically have no backing or support.

I know that, tell us a little bit about one backer that you have, the Shaqli, and what they do for you, and basically what else you have to rely on to get by on a day-to-day basis. Okay, the only sponsor we came forward, it was Shaqli who supplied the protein and energy bar, and stuff like that, but the rest, it's all on the nation, as I go by, because we try at the beginning to contact quite a few, and every time you would mention the words aids, people when they don't want to sponsor you, or most of them were saying, like, it will wait till the end of the tour, so to maximize their advertising, but I'm glad Shaqli came along at least, I had the basic for protein on the way down, so it was nice at them. So how were you affording to go on a bike tour that's going to take you, what, how many years? It's going to take me three years, and it's totally on faith, and it's totally the people

donate as they go by, and even for to create the center, we're selling t-shirts around the world, so we're putting ads here and there, so quite a few papers, papers I should say is giving us three hats, so we want to put a wear hat, but for the rest, as far as the nutrition, I rely on people for the nation, and the rest for as far as things, places, I have a tent and a sleeping bag, and some of the big city, I sleep in somebody's backyard, but it's been good to me. So how are people, how do you get your donations when you go to town? I usually go down, I can tell them what I'm doing, and usually the kindness of people saying, okay, here's a few dollars for your next meal, and so on, so it's been working out. You don't get a lot of people who just think that you're just like a bum going door to door or anything, they just, they see you on your bike and they're sincere and warm-hearted. Do you get a mixed feeling?

No, because, no, I don't think so, no, most of them are really compassionate. There is a few people who are still in the denial, they don't want to talk about the AIDS factor, but for the rest most of them already, they understand, because at the most of them, what I notice it, they always care about their child and their grandchild, what's going to be happening, and so on, so people has been receptive. Tell me a little bit about your tour, the remaining part of it, you are just in the beginning stages, you have a long ways to go, a lot of people to meet, hopefully you'll be strong enough mentally and physically to make it to the end. So tell us a little bit about the route that you're taking and where you're going and where you'll end up, where you started, where you're going, where you'll end up, and all of that. Okay, I started August 1st in British Columbia in Victoria. I went all the way down to the West Coast, all the way to San Diego, and from there I'm

going across to Florida, like from here from Albuquerque, I'll go to Dallas, Houston, Louisiana and then Florida. And from there I'll go across the Gulf of Mexico, through Mexico, all the way through Central America and then South America, and from there I'll go to Alstadid up in New Zealand, from New Zealand, Australia, Malaysia, Republic of China, Hong Kong, all the way to Russia. And then I'll be going by down again to Afghanistan, Pakistan, and then do all the Indonesia, and then all the way up to Tibet. And from there I'm going to have to go back in the middle again, just to do all the Middle East, and then I'll do all Africa, and then from Africa I'll do all Europe, and then I'll fly from London, and 97, yeah, to Newfoundland, Canada, and then all the way to Quebec, and then I'll do New York and Washington, D.C., and then back to Canada and finish it to Victoria. So.

Wow, that 97, that seems like a really long time away. Tell me about your family in Canada, you're going to be away from them for a long time and not see them at all during those three years? Yeah, I think that's the hardest part. My daughter, especially my daughter, and all this, my girlfriend and Victoria, but people, you don't do a trip like this alone. There's so many people in the background, and sharing for me right now, so it's, I think it's hard on me, but I think it's hard on them. So anything else you'd like to say about your bike tour? No, I just want to be a people to really understand, to hopefully the words will pass around, to really people to wake up, and even to become passionate with the people with AIDS, because I'm sure in a couple of years there'll be so many people infected with it, we can, we have to treat them right, even if the, for some reason they ended up with the disease, or whatever the reason, let's get together and bring a stop to it.

So do you feel you've made any bit of a difference in the places that you've already gone through, have you touched any hearts, and if so, how, and what do you hope to prompt these people to do? Oh, yes, definitely, I'm sure I made an impact, and some places that tell me, yes, yeah, that I did for whatever the reason, and sometimes it's just the fact that I'm there and I'm doing it, and made the people aware, okay, maybe I should do something about it, and it's just creating awareness, that's basically what it is.