Ready to Rock!!!

Here's the skinny! My bike is fixed, brakes tuned, wheel trued as best as possible! I have steroid cream for my poison ivy! Bags are packed to pre-ride the course tomorrow. Had Molly's incredible pizza for dinner. Now it needs to stop f-ing raining so I can ride the trails tomorrow! WTF!!!

Mother nature, hellooooo, I have a race on Sunday!!!! Sheesh!

Extra long days

Every time my brother goes in for his scans, the days seem extra long and extra dreary. He goes every 8 weeks since the conclusion of his chemo treatments in February. I know they are long days for him and dare I say he would rather sit through the classes he is missing then go for these scans? But as I sit here at work my mind can't help but wonder how he is doing. Where will I be when I get the all clear call from my Mom or brother, how long will I let the phone ring before I answer, how long will they wait to tell me everything is ok, how long will I wait to breath again? I always wonder on these long days of waiting.

Livestrong Kevin.

I'm a Red Rider!!!

Mari Ruddy, a Colorado Tour de Cure rider, is the founder of the Red Rider program. Mari has lived with type 1 diabetes for more than 25 years. Here's the reason why Mari wants to recognize people with diabetes that ride in a Tour de Cure as Red Riders:

"I have type I diabetes. I have lived with this challenging disease since I was 16 years old. That's over 25 years of blood testing, shots, insulin pumping, carb counting, and meal planning. If that wasn't enough, two years ago, I was diagnosed with breast cancer. Because of living with diabetes, I thought I understood illness. However, chemo, radiation, and surgery all knocked me down harder than I ever imagined possible. But my lot in life is to get back up no matter the punch. And with the support and love of my family and friends, excellent medical care, and the good fortune of life, I'm officially NED (no evidence of disease). At least no evidence of cancer, as I still have diabetes. That was a rude awakening, if only chemo could cure diabetes.

In my 25 years of living with diabetes, I have walked, run and cycled for the cure for diabetes, but never once at any of these events was I asked to declare myself as a diabetes-surviving person. I was never given a special t-shirt or water bottle. There has never been a special finish line acknowledging the courage, perseverance, and sheer determination it takes to live with diabetes and be out on that course riding, running or walking.

I want this to change.

Mari Ruddy & Marcey Robinson, C.D.E.

I want you to help me change this. I want to work to find the cure AND to celebrate the people who are courageously living with diabetes. I want you to help me encourage people with diabetes to become RED RIDERS!

One could think I just want special recognition, and maybe I do. Why? Because receiving the recognition on race day gives me and my fellow diabetics the motivation to continue seeing the glass half full on the days when our blood sugar soars to 400 for no explainable reason, or when we have no desire to eat but we must or risk passing out if we don't.

Cancer is dramatic. Diabetes is a grind. Both drop people at the door of death, just in different styles.

If you are a person surviving diabetes, I implore you to ride this year and do everything you can to declare your status, so others on the course and in the wider community have the opportunity to celebrate and be inspired by you. I ask you to get on your bike and ride strong and sure. Riding in the Tour de Cure itself is the affirmation of your courage and perseverance."

Not so bad!

Had my Dr. Appt. today and received some good results on my A1C. How does 6.6 sound??? Normal people have an A1C between 4-6. Diabetics that can keep there A1C below 7.5ish drastically reduce there risk of complications. Small things like peripheral neropathy, blindness, kidney failure and death. Sometimes you get all of those sometimes just one or two either way I want no part in that.

In other news my cholesterol was low with LDL being 88. :) Bring on more burgers!!!

Otherwise I'm pretty darn healthy, for a diabetic!

I did get out for a great MTB ride and did a solid 10 miles at West Branch. However, I went down hard in the many rock gardens on the back half of the trail. Busted up my arm pretty good, luckily our new butcher let me clean it off as I was weeping down my arm while perusing the meat, my girlfriend wasn't a big fan of the 2.5lb. beef tongue or beef hearts they had for sale. I was intrigued, go figure!

Also busted up the MTB bending the derailleur hanger as I bounced the bike off of the rock garden. I took Herald straight to the bike shop to get him fixed up for the race this weekend! He'll be good as new by Friday!

That's all for now, however, I am working on a plan to hit up some off-road endurance races next season. Some 6 or 12 hour races. Who knows maybe we'll go 24 hours solo!!! :)

Here goes nothing!

Wish me luck, big Dr. appt. tomorrow with my Endocrinologist marking the one year anniversary on my pump. Let's see if I've been able to utilize the pump to it's fullest extent at controlling BS. I'll keep you posted on my A1C levels when I get my results. Then I will follow my Dr. appt. with a kickass training ride on my new MTB tires. Big Valley Race this weekend! Yikes!!! Wish me luck there too! I'll give a race report ASAP for that.

Subway, WTF???

Why on earth should I hear a hard working sandwich artist get scolded today for putting to many olives on a footlong veggie subway. As I ordered my incredibly healthy footlong meatball marinara sub my vegetarian friend ordered a veggie sub.

First off, the douche bag guy measured out exactly two little side cups of cheese to put on the veggie sub, Matt and I looked at each other and shrugged it off. Then the sandwich artist started to create his masterpiece and did the ol' Subway grab a handful of olives and sprinkle them on. The douche bag guy comes over in front of the lunch time crowd and says, "Only 6 olives for a footlong sub"! WTF!!!!! That means six half slices of olives for a footlong sub which, you guessed it, means 3 whole olives for 12 inches of bread. Sheesh! How cheap are we getting now??? Subway, are you really giving away the farm by adding a few more rogue olive slices. As we checked out the douche bag continued to scold the sandwich artist saying 3 olive slices for a 6" and 6 slices for a 12". Again, that means an olive and a half for 6" of bread.

Subway you have long since been a cheese hoarder only giving 4 slices of delicious pepper jack on my 12" on bread. If I were making a sub I would have no less that a slice per 2" ratio for better cheese coverage. Get with the program! Charge me the extra $2 to make a damn sub that I would want to eat. And good god, leave the sandwich artist alone! Artists make their own rules, otherwise call them the sandwich sherpas!

How cool is this???

Part of Lance Armstrong's cycling come back campaign was to help raise awareness about the ever growing need to find a cure for cancer. As any of you know who read my blog know my brother has battled cancer and fights every day to live cancer free. During the Tour de France this year a group of MIT students created a robot that paints inspirational messages along the TDF route during the entire race. Here's a link to check it out:

http://www.nike.com/nikeos/p/livestrong/en_US/chalk_messages

and here was my message painted somewhere along the Tour de France route in France:

http://tinyurl.com/n99p2v

I love to ride!

I felt like a little kid today hurrying home to get myself ready for a quick ride before the weather turns crappy! I got a great ride in and felt strong, even after my accident yesterday while on the MTB. I got a great 22 mile ride in before the rain starts for the week. I think I'm going to hit up Mohican State Park this weekend because it drains way better than any of the local trails and I can get a good training ride in before the weekend of my bike race on the 30th.

Accident, Harold (MTB name) and I were kicking ass through the rock gardens at West Branch when I came to a small decline that led to an incline. The rocks were mossy and slick which sucked, I was trying to keep my weight back when my front wheel slipped off a rock and wedged in between the rock next to it. It felt like slow motion as I lurched over the handlebars. Luckily the rocks that I would have ridden over in front of me broke my fall! lol Needless to say it was a painful landing. Outside of some nice bruises and scrapes up the entire right side of my body, the bloodiest gash occurred on my ankle. Here's a pic:



I got up dusted myself of and climbed back on the rig to keep on truckin'. Then I realized I was about 20 feet from the end of the trail. Sheesh!!!

Can you believe it???

I completely missed my pump anniversary!!! August second concluded my first year on the insulin pump. I love it, it's been great at keeping my sugars in check and my A1C in a very reasonable and manageable range.

It's probably the single best thing I could have done to better my overall health and probably add some more years to my time here on earth. It's been an incredibly easy transition on the bike, with shots it was kind of hit and miss most of the time. With the pump I have it down to a science as to where my temporary basal rate needs to be and for how long to keep my blood sugars from dive bombing.

I think I've come along way and with my sights set on some late season races and I'm going to start working towards a 12 or 24 hour solo race next year. Diabetes management will be a large part of the planning for that event.

I don't really know what to say in my reflection but as the enlightenment comes I will pass it along.

Rock on!

18.1

What does that mean you ask? That my friends is the average speed of my 25 mile ride and the start of something big! :) Training. I'm hitting some hill repeats in the valley tomorrow. I was hoping to break the 17mph average mark and ended up at 18!

Look out for my Aug. 30 MTB race! Here I come!!!

Rain, Rain Go Away!

I wanna ride!!!!

So it stormed like crazy yesterday afternoon and evening. To give you an idea of how bad it rained I've attached a few pictures of water coming in the Emergency Exit near my desk.

The start:


Sneaking under the door


It reminded me of being in a flood and water seeping through everywhere!


It kept coming.


So Molly and I went down to Szalay's fresh market to pick up some essentials for a wonderful dinner. Molly is a crazy good cook! I think she should try out for the food network! We had a breakfast dinner consisting of eggs and cheese, sausage, diced red potatoes with a dry rub and roasted in the oven all rolled in a garlic basil wrap. Yummy!!! I ate three wraps! :)

So with the rain hopefully behind us I will start to get some training rides in for the upcoming races. The closest being the Big Valley MTB race at Camp Manatoc! That's all for now, happy riding!!!

Health Care

Ok, this conversation could get long and ugly so I'll keep it short and sweet! Doesn't it make you wonder why, if this new health care plan is supposed to be the next best thing, that congress has already voted to maintain there own potentially better/less complicated health care plan??? If it's good enough for all of America then why isn't it good enough for Congress? I want whatever health care they want not a hand-me-down plan that gives us all the same amount of care regardless of age, family history, current health conditions and everything else. Do I deserve the same healthcare plan as someone who has choosen to smoke for 30 years??? Do I want the same healthcare plan as someone who has not seen a Dr. in 15 years???

Here's a thoguht, why not focus less on leveling the playing field for everyone and focus on how we bring those without heathcare into the fold of having a ferderally funded coverage plan? How about a little less socialism and a little more democracy please??? Sheesh.

Happy Monday! :)

I'm at a loss for words

Heaven has one more Angel tonight.

http://www.fatcyclist.com/

Crazy Runners!!!

Check out this website for the burning river 100 mile endurance run through NE Ohio:

http://burningriver100.org/wp/

I finally got out riding yesterday and managed to keep a steady 16.8mph avg. it helps when there isn't a slow leak in your rear tire! lol :)