Ready to ride

-- Mathis Winkler

Caroline Good is back in the saddle.

Just as the Costa Mesa resident was getting ready to start her

training program for the 575-mile AIDSRide from San Francisco to Los

Angeles, someone stole her bike Wednesday.

Devastated about the loss -- her only means of transportation -- Good

had feared she would not be able to participate in the event, which

benefits AIDS organizations.

She wanted to ride to honor her cousin Jimmy who died of AIDS several

years ago.

And that’s why Dover Shores resident Chris Miller decided to help Good

out and bought her a new bike Monday.

“I knew that [Good’s] heart was in the right place,” said Miller, who

will participate in the ride for the third time after losing her brother,

Anthony Fazio, to AIDS 10 years ago.

“I felt kind of a kinship” to Good, she said, adding that she paid for

the $262 bike “because I could.”

Dressed in blue, tightfitting biker shorts and a matching jersey

Miller had also bought her, Good said she couldn’t thank Miller enough

for her help.

She added that Miller had also offered to share a tent with her along

the ride and said she hoped she could join Miller for training sessions

before the June 3 start.

“She’s taken me under her wings as far as what to do,” Good said,

adding that she’d decided to name her new bike “Grace.”