Organizers of the California AIDS Ride said Saturday that a competing ride and a lawsuit claiming the event doesn't give enough of its proceeds to research have cut by half the number of participants in this year's trek.

About 1,200 people have signed up for the grueling seven-day ride between San Francisco and Los Angeles along Highway 1, and organizers said they expected about two-thirds of those would actually embark Sunday on the 575-mile trek. Last year, the AIDS Ride attracted 2,600 participants. One reason for the current low turnout is that some riders participated in the AIDS/LifeCycle Ride two weeks ago, according to Craig E. Thompson, an AIDS Ride organizer and executive director of AIDS Project Los Angeles. The Los Angeles Gay & Lesbian Center and the San Francisco AIDS Foundation organized the LifeCycle Ride after claiming that not enough funds from the California AIDS Ride were going toward their programs.

In 2000, the San Francisco AIDS Foundation received 65 cents of every dollar raised in the California AIDS Ride. Last year, spokesperson Gustavo Suarez said that went down to about 50 cents. Expenses generally should not exceed 35 cents per dollar, according to the Better Business Bureau's Wise Giving Alliance. Mark Cloutier sued Los Angeles-based Pallotta Teamworks, alleging the AIDS Ride organizer has misrepresented and mismanaged the amount of money distributed to nonprofit agencies for research. Cloutier said Pallotta delivered less than one-third of the $28 million it received from its 2000 and 2001 Vaccine Rides to charities that conduct AIDS vaccine research.

Still, hundreds of riders who came to San Francisco to register Saturday said that while they're aware of the legal problems, they believe in the cause. Since 1994, 11,000 cyclists have participated in the AIDS Ride, raising $40 million. This year's ride will benefit 18 AIDS organizations across the state.

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