It’s almost been a couple weeks but I want to get my ride results in for the Tour de Cure here in San Diego.  A fundraiser for the American Diabetes Association, the 2010 tour used the same excellent routes as the 2009 tour that I blogged about here: http://nerdnotes.net/blog/PermaLink,guid,70d1a34e-b41f-4124-a563-efb8dc736c36.aspx

Once again I considered the century route and on the day of the ride (or day before in this case) decided to go with the 71 mile route.  However the difference from last year is that last year at the end of 72 miles my thought was ‘good decision, not sure I could have made it another 30 miles.’  This year at the end my thought was - ‘I should have gone for it’ which is a good sign.  I have been getting in more training but was just a little short of what I considered my comfort level for doing the century.

The result this year were similar at one level with my results the year before  The Garmin shows me at 13.7 mph again this year.  However, I know I spent a significantly longer time at the 3rd rest stop as I’ll explain in the numbers. Last year the 3 legs averaged 14.0, 14.4 and 15.8 respectively.  Unfortunately this year I forgot to tag my garmin when I left rest stop 3 and lost that gap in my timing.  However, my first two legs averaged 15.5 and 15.2 respectively.  That’s an awe inspiring 1.5 mph increase in the first leg and a solid .5+ in the second leg.  Why is that time important? Because even though in terms of hours on the clock my times were almost identical the bike computer tells the rest of the story.

On my bike computer my bike computer showed that my average speed climbed from 15 mph to 16.1 mph and my time spent riding was only 4 hours 30 minutes.  That means almost 45 minutes was spent stopped.  17 minutes was spend at my favorite rest stop – stop 2, just before the climb up Circle-R.  It’s run by a sorority and in something even rarer here in SoCal – the shade of trees.  The third rest stop took up an even bigger chunk because I stayed a little long to go for a ride with my Doctor. He was also on the ride again this year (I think he last did it in like 2007 when it was still out in East County.)

He was a little slower than me – he’s also more than a couple years older and has a hip problem.  The interesting thing is I actually felt I was sand bagging in the last leg even though my speed was taking me well over a 16 mph pace for the full 70 miles.  That’s why I wrote I could have taken on the 100 miles. 

Once again it was an awesome ride, a great day for a ride and a great group of people to be out riding with.  The ride was somewhere around 1000 people this year – well above the 300 or so that would come out when I started back in 2003.  I think the ride raised somewhere around 400K for the ADA which is used not only for research but also for education and assistance programs for those with or at high risk of Diabetes.

In theory you can still make a donation through my page at: http://main.diabetes.org/goto/BillSheldon

Finally I’m going to leave with a post I’m making to the blog on that page.  It involves a friend of mine Scott Hanselman…

I'm sure that some people think the reason I ride is because I have Diabetes.  That's not really accurate.
A more accurate statement is I ride because by being diagnosed I learned about Diabetes - not just Type 2, but also the less common but far more devastating Type I.

Type 2 which I have is something I like to think of as "God's way of telling me to get off my fat but and get rid of my belly."  That's a very 'optimistic' view but still for me Type 2 Diabetes is something I may have but not something that has me.

Now let me describe an entirely different disease.  It strikes people who are still young, it's fatal and without expensive treatment and drugs, but eventually still terminal.  Even with those drugs and treatments it's 100% incurable and has taken some amazing people before their time.  Research in recent years has made amazing progress and those diagnosed now live years longer than just 20 years ago.

Sounds a little like AIDS - but it's not, that's Type I diabetes and the big difference is that 1. it's not contagious, 2. It strikes almost randomly to people between the age of 6 months and the late 20's.

As I learned about my disease and how to manage it, I learned about Type I diabetes and just how devastating it is. 

An acquaintance of mine ( I hesitate to say 'friend' although we co-authored a book together) has Type I diabetes.  Scott Hanselman, currently of Microsoft, is quite open about his battle with this disease.

Scott just yesterday posted a new You Tube video that I'll link to in a second.  However, before you go to the video let me speak for Scott for a second.  In it he shows just what's involved with setting up his insulin pump and continuous blood sugar monitoring.  It is painful to watch - but he isn't complaining about the process.  He would be the first person, and I'm pretty sure he does at the start, to say how amazing and wonderful this process is compared to the alternatives.  When I said advances in technology and treatment have helped with the control of this disease the process Scott shows is testament to that.

The key in the video however is at the end.  This is the point where Scott and I have a common feeling.  He'll hold up his tray of waste from the process and then he explains the real motivation.

I mentioned this disease strikes children as young as 6 months - think about going through the process Scott shows - or worse being limited to test strips and 3-4 injections a day from that age.  Think  about that as you watch the process Scott is demonstrating.  Scott described this video on Twitter as having his 'fat' belly on display - but a more accurate description would be 'bruised' belly - look for it as he sets up his glucose monitor and think about having multiple bruises like that as a child, the daily, weekly pain of the injections and finger sticks that leave bruises like that - even when you do them perfectly.

http://hnsl.mn/iamdiabetic 

but he’s not alone, so here is a young man I’ve never met named Thor – check him out, then think about the process involved in setting up that pump he’s using:

That’s why I ride, donate and raise money - not for me; Type 2 Diabetes? I can handle this, and in comparison, its not bad at all.

Update: Made some minor gramar and typo corrections, and need to note one wording issue.  The last sentence implies I only ride to raise money.  To clarify, I got back on my bike and started riding it to help control my disease.  That sentence isn't refering to me on the bike in general, its focused on why I ride in the Tour de Cure every year.