Screen legend Doris Day, now 88, surprised the nearly 3,000 AIDS LifeCycle riders and volunteers over the weekend when she sent a personal message that was read to the group during a candlelight vigil on the last night of their ride.

Day, star of such film classics as Pillow Talk, Calamity Jane and The Man Who Knew Too Much, had a friend who was riding in the 545-mile bike ride from San Francisco to Los Angeles.