I know many who are and have served in our Armed Forces. Some are acquaintances, some are good friends, and some are family. I wanted to make sure... though it's now technically Thurs... I stopped for a second and told all of them and those I don't even know...
Thank you for your service that provides me with the freedoms and opportunities I have in my life... as you have and continue to face the many challenges and dangers each day in your effort to protect them for me and the millions of this country... both domestically and abroad.
Stay as safe as you can and again... Thank You... --J
Thursday, November 12, 2009
Wednesday, October 28, 2009
Race Across the Sky (Quick Review)
RATS as it's now being called was shown nationwide on Oct 22nd and had such a great turnout that there will be a second showing on November 12th. Yes, these are single night showings! Tickets for the Nov 12 date go on sale November 6th.
Overall the movie was really good. It does focus a great deal on the "front of the pack" story... but who outside of the LT race or mtb community would have much interest intially were it not for the Lance vs Dave story? The movie was an idea to draw more attention to the LT100 mtb race and help draw revenue to the little mining town that sits in the heart of CO... something race founder Ken Choubler always says he will never apologize for.
The scenery was awesome and it gave many cyclists, family, crew, and friends who've only ever heard stories about the LT a chance to really see a large part of the course (which is out & back). The movie includes some of the moving personal story lines of racers like Ricky -- a 16-time LT finisher, and Roxanne Hall -- a CO local mtb native whose 2008 LT attempt was sidelined while she fought just to survive a collision with an automobile only to recover and make an attempt @ the LT in 09 again!
If you pay attention to details... you learn a lot of the "fine points" about racing the LT during the movie. Sure, the camera didn't do superb justice to the weather experienced during the 09 race. But it's the little things like types of terrain, types of surfaces, altitude gains/losses, speeds, food, hydration, time factors, bottlenecks, power requirements, longevity need of the racer's endurance & equipment... the list goes on!
It was very entertaining to watch... and I knew EXACTLY what the outcome was given that I was there. But it was cool to see the race, course, people, atmosphere, nerves, volunteers, and perspectives that I had only a 1st person view of on race day. It was funny to watch Lance panic when he stopped b/c of his flat tire, fully expecting Dave Wiens to come flying around the corner at any second and dash his shot at winning the race.
I will add that, between the "round-table discussion" and footage of the movie... Everyone in the country will fully understand why the LT100 community has such great respect for Dave Wiens. And it is still very evident that Mr. Armstrong has a great deal of respect for him as well.
It will be interesting to see what effect the movie has on the 2010 lottery for entries... to Ken C... I think your plan is working!
If you missed the first showing... go see the movie on NOVEMBER 12! Likely to hit dvd after the first of the year. Take care --J
Overall the movie was really good. It does focus a great deal on the "front of the pack" story... but who outside of the LT race or mtb community would have much interest intially were it not for the Lance vs Dave story? The movie was an idea to draw more attention to the LT100 mtb race and help draw revenue to the little mining town that sits in the heart of CO... something race founder Ken Choubler always says he will never apologize for.
The scenery was awesome and it gave many cyclists, family, crew, and friends who've only ever heard stories about the LT a chance to really see a large part of the course (which is out & back). The movie includes some of the moving personal story lines of racers like Ricky -- a 16-time LT finisher, and Roxanne Hall -- a CO local mtb native whose 2008 LT attempt was sidelined while she fought just to survive a collision with an automobile only to recover and make an attempt @ the LT in 09 again!
If you pay attention to details... you learn a lot of the "fine points" about racing the LT during the movie. Sure, the camera didn't do superb justice to the weather experienced during the 09 race. But it's the little things like types of terrain, types of surfaces, altitude gains/losses, speeds, food, hydration, time factors, bottlenecks, power requirements, longevity need of the racer's endurance & equipment... the list goes on!
It was very entertaining to watch... and I knew EXACTLY what the outcome was given that I was there. But it was cool to see the race, course, people, atmosphere, nerves, volunteers, and perspectives that I had only a 1st person view of on race day. It was funny to watch Lance panic when he stopped b/c of his flat tire, fully expecting Dave Wiens to come flying around the corner at any second and dash his shot at winning the race.
I will add that, between the "round-table discussion" and footage of the movie... Everyone in the country will fully understand why the LT100 community has such great respect for Dave Wiens. And it is still very evident that Mr. Armstrong has a great deal of respect for him as well.
It will be interesting to see what effect the movie has on the 2010 lottery for entries... to Ken C... I think your plan is working!
If you missed the first showing... go see the movie on NOVEMBER 12! Likely to hit dvd after the first of the year. Take care --J
Thursday, October 1, 2009
Late Summer Recap -- "Friends for Life" Children with Diabetes Conference
Another entry from my hiatus midsummer. Enjoy!
"Friends for Life" Conference
One of the best parts of the year for me is July. Why? Because that means it's time for the Children with Diabetes conference in Florida. CWD was started in the 90's by Jeff Hitchcock when he and a couple of other parents began chatting about their diabetic kids over the internet. When a trip to Disney was mentioned, many of the families decided to meet... and from there CWD is now an international diabetes outreach organization. The Friends for Life conference is held in Florida each summer and now has attendance numbers over 1500 each year -- ages cover the gammut from newborns to adults w/ diabetes.
The conference has programming for preschool through adult, even including grandparents for almost a week solid. There's always a great exhibit hall with the newest & best products on the market. The week is capped off with the Friends Banquet and the farewell breakfast.
I have helped for the last 3 years at Sports Central with other DESA (Diabetes Exercise and Sports Assoc) members and athletes. During the programming for each of the groups of kids, they rotate through educational sessions, play sessions, etc. They also get to come into Sports Central for at least one session to hear from d-athletes and play games with all of them. It gives me a chance to catch up with folks like Judith & Danny Ambrosini, Rick Philbin, Bill King, Doug Burns, Chris McGee, Jen Alexander, Joe Eldridge, Missy Foy, Monique Hanley, Sebastian Sasserville, and many others!
It's hard to put it all into words. It's an amazing time and one I would very highly suggest everyone attend! Enjoy the pictures from this year's conference @ Disney!
"Friends for Life" Conference
One of the best parts of the year for me is July. Why? Because that means it's time for the Children with Diabetes conference in Florida. CWD was started in the 90's by Jeff Hitchcock when he and a couple of other parents began chatting about their diabetic kids over the internet. When a trip to Disney was mentioned, many of the families decided to meet... and from there CWD is now an international diabetes outreach organization. The Friends for Life conference is held in Florida each summer and now has attendance numbers over 1500 each year -- ages cover the gammut from newborns to adults w/ diabetes.
The conference has programming for preschool through adult, even including grandparents for almost a week solid. There's always a great exhibit hall with the newest & best products on the market. The week is capped off with the Friends Banquet and the farewell breakfast.
I have helped for the last 3 years at Sports Central with other DESA (Diabetes Exercise and Sports Assoc) members and athletes. During the programming for each of the groups of kids, they rotate through educational sessions, play sessions, etc. They also get to come into Sports Central for at least one session to hear from d-athletes and play games with all of them. It gives me a chance to catch up with folks like Judith & Danny Ambrosini, Rick Philbin, Bill King, Doug Burns, Chris McGee, Jen Alexander, Joe Eldridge, Missy Foy, Monique Hanley, Sebastian Sasserville, and many others!
It's hard to put it all into words. It's an amazing time and one I would very highly suggest everyone attend! Enjoy the pictures from this year's conference @ Disney!
Playing volleyball with the teens.
We get the chance to talk to the kids. It's so much fun to talk and play with kids... especially this preschool age group! (left to rt: Judith, Jen, Chris, me, Danny, and Bill)
The view from the dinner restaurant @ Animal Kingdom.
Doug and Michelle with Snow White & Prince Charming @ the Farewell Breakfast
Liz & I w/ Cinderella and her Prince Charming @ Breakfast
CWD families getting ready to enjoy the afternoon parade @ Magic Kingdom
Late Summer Recap (continued) -- Cowbell Kenda XC race
So I went MIA for the end of the summer prior to Leadville... here's part of the short recap between ADA Tour de Cure and leaving for Colorado in August.
Cowbell Kenda XC
So when I woke up on Sunday June 21, I wasn't sure what the day held. The day before had been the Cowbell marathon and I'd had an all but bust of a day... a big adrenal bg spike at the start of the race followed by yo-yo bg the rest of the day that weren't following normal responses to insulin and carb factors in the equation. It was also hard fighting the heat and dehydration; other factors in the equation. After a couple of hours post-race, everything had calmed down and with some concerted effort I had a great refueling meal and rehydrated well. Tony checked in on me... we were both puzzled overall.
My bg reading when I awoke on Sunday was 86 and I felt "like me". I talked it over with Liz and knew that the xc race would only be about an hour. Figured I could at least handle that. Plus, I wanted to see how I could do running full throttle for a sprint effort and see if I would get the same adrenal bg response.
I knew it would be a fast race. Having done the marathon, I now knew what the course looked like and we were told some of the most challenging technical elements would be bypassed. For kicks, I opted not to ride the HiFi 29er but instead roll on Liz's Fisher X-Caliber 29er hardtail.
It was a fast start again and I made my way up to the leading group around 4th-5th as we went through the winding flats in the woods. As we went through a slick section an older gentleman slid and clipped my front wheel a bit. I went down but avoided running over him or being hit by anyone behind me. By the time I got situated and pedalling again I was mid-pack around 10th or 11th.
Knowing I only had about 4 miles to go, I just decided to put it out there. If I was high or low afterwards, I would deal with it... right now I felt GREAT and wanted a better performance than yesterday! The rest of the race is a blur, though I can vividly remember the various parts of the course and how hard I was going in my 4 mile time trial.
Following Cowbell... I felt tired but pretty good the rest of that day. Bg's were good all Sunday & I hadn't seen any adrenal spike. The next two though I ran a low grade fever and had to up my basal rates to keep my bg's in the 130-140 range. I believe that's what I was "seeing" on Saturday's race... the precursor signs of being ill... and I didn't recognize them, just compounded the issues that day. Probably wasn't a great idea to have raced the xc on Sunday, but there weren't any significant signs that day. Glad I didn't exacerbate things by racing that second day and that things ended up working out well. Welcome to the world of diabetes!
Cowbell Kenda XC
So when I woke up on Sunday June 21, I wasn't sure what the day held. The day before had been the Cowbell marathon and I'd had an all but bust of a day... a big adrenal bg spike at the start of the race followed by yo-yo bg the rest of the day that weren't following normal responses to insulin and carb factors in the equation. It was also hard fighting the heat and dehydration; other factors in the equation. After a couple of hours post-race, everything had calmed down and with some concerted effort I had a great refueling meal and rehydrated well. Tony checked in on me... we were both puzzled overall.
My bg reading when I awoke on Sunday was 86 and I felt "like me". I talked it over with Liz and knew that the xc race would only be about an hour. Figured I could at least handle that. Plus, I wanted to see how I could do running full throttle for a sprint effort and see if I would get the same adrenal bg response.
I knew it would be a fast race. Having done the marathon, I now knew what the course looked like and we were told some of the most challenging technical elements would be bypassed. For kicks, I opted not to ride the HiFi 29er but instead roll on Liz's Fisher X-Caliber 29er hardtail.
It was a fast start again and I made my way up to the leading group around 4th-5th as we went through the winding flats in the woods. As we went through a slick section an older gentleman slid and clipped my front wheel a bit. I went down but avoided running over him or being hit by anyone behind me. By the time I got situated and pedalling again I was mid-pack around 10th or 11th.
Knowing I only had about 4 miles to go, I just decided to put it out there. If I was high or low afterwards, I would deal with it... right now I felt GREAT and wanted a better performance than yesterday! The rest of the race is a blur, though I can vividly remember the various parts of the course and how hard I was going in my 4 mile time trial.
By the next to last climb I was running 6th and could see the guy in 5th walking up the hill so I pulled a CX effort and ran up the toughest part, hopped back on the bike and took off. Caught and passed him to finish 5th for the race... happy.
Brent Lester was back again that day too for the XC and he ended up on the podium. Great weekend results for him... Nice job B!
Following Cowbell... I felt tired but pretty good the rest of that day. Bg's were good all Sunday & I hadn't seen any adrenal spike. The next two though I ran a low grade fever and had to up my basal rates to keep my bg's in the 130-140 range. I believe that's what I was "seeing" on Saturday's race... the precursor signs of being ill... and I didn't recognize them, just compounded the issues that day. Probably wasn't a great idea to have raced the xc on Sunday, but there weren't any significant signs that day. Glad I didn't exacerbate things by racing that second day and that things ended up working out well. Welcome to the world of diabetes!
Late Summer Recap -- Cowbell Marathon
So I went MIA for the tail-end of the summer prior to Leadville... here's part of the short recap of things between the ADA Tour de Cure ride in central NC until leaving for Colorado in August.
Cowbell Marathon
On June 20th, Liz and I went to Davidson, NC for the 12th Annual Cowbell Challenge 50-mile mtb marathon. Tony couldn't make it to the race this year, which had me kind of bummed considering I've never run Cowbell and had been looking forward to another race with him at that point in the season. T knows Cowbell well and I always learn and enjoy races when we run together. Found out Brent Lester would be there though -- Brent & I met during the NCCX Winter Cup races at the beginning of the year -- and we always have a good time @ races.
The race starts in downtown, takes some greenways and roads out to Fisher Farm where it goes for 6 laps, totalling close to 56 miles. I ran Open Pro for the first time... partly to see how fast the "big boys" run and to see how my nerves & bg's would handle the additional excitement and pressure -- testing the "race regime" to see if I still had a handle on the adrenaline spike issue. The previous day and morning of the race my bg's had been running a bit high... 140-185... consistently and I couldn't put my finger on why. Now as bg readings during a race, I'd love these. But for non-race "at home" numbers they show something is "off".
To make it short... At the gun it was a "put the hammer down" sprint style and of course I fell into the "rookie" trap of not running my race, but trying to keep pace. Needless to say, as we approached Fisher I could tell my bg was high. A quick check -- bg of 290ish. So now knowing I wouldn't be able to run with an efficient engine, it was time to see WHAT managment steps could be taken to bring it back if anything... I mean worst case, I'd have to bail so wanted to see if I could learn something from it. (Note: I've had these adren events before in races... first one of note was Leadville 07... and I've worked to figure them out since.)
Rolled a moderate aerobic first lap and hydrated as hard as I could, both to help with the added dehyration from the high bg and because of the heat... it was the hottest weekend of the summer! Bg at the end of Lap 1 was ballpark 185ish. Lap 2 was much better with the bg's back in more of a "race range", but I still didn't feel great.
A quick bg check was 130ish. Lap 3 I felt like I was carrying a ton of bricks, so I stopped and checked... bg was 150ish. At the end of the lap I was battling nausea and dehydration. Thermometer at the start/finish line was reading 104 and with the humidity the heat index was close to 112. I checked my bg and it was below 75.
All I could think was "d#$%"... I decided to take a break to see if I could hydrate and what my bg was doing. I didn't want to eat much, so only had a 15g snack.Not long after I finished Lap 3, Harland won the pro class finishing his 6 laps in just over 4 hours.
I still had time for another lap. When I checked my bg again it was over 200... in just 20 min's! What the h#$%!!! Now I was mad. But, being "smart" about being an athlete w/ diabetes, I bagged my race. Within an hour my bg was back down below 75 and thirty min's after that back over 200... all without good reasons. It was one of those days.
We stuck around for Brent to finish his race and he ended up with a podium in the sport class. Here's a pic Liz got of his last lap.
I ended up 12th and wasn't last, so even with a bad day it wasn't a terrible result. If I could've finished 1 more lap I could've had a top 10. Needed some rest, rehydration, food... I knew something was up with me physically that I couldn't put my finger on it. Liz was worried... don't know what I'd do without her always there supporting me. If at all possible I wanted to run the Cowbell Kenda XC race the next day. Decided I'd make the call the next morning...
Cowbell Marathon
On June 20th, Liz and I went to Davidson, NC for the 12th Annual Cowbell Challenge 50-mile mtb marathon. Tony couldn't make it to the race this year, which had me kind of bummed considering I've never run Cowbell and had been looking forward to another race with him at that point in the season. T knows Cowbell well and I always learn and enjoy races when we run together. Found out Brent Lester would be there though -- Brent & I met during the NCCX Winter Cup races at the beginning of the year -- and we always have a good time @ races.
The race starts in downtown, takes some greenways and roads out to Fisher Farm where it goes for 6 laps, totalling close to 56 miles. I ran Open Pro for the first time... partly to see how fast the "big boys" run and to see how my nerves & bg's would handle the additional excitement and pressure -- testing the "race regime" to see if I still had a handle on the adrenaline spike issue. The previous day and morning of the race my bg's had been running a bit high... 140-185... consistently and I couldn't put my finger on why. Now as bg readings during a race, I'd love these. But for non-race "at home" numbers they show something is "off".
To make it short... At the gun it was a "put the hammer down" sprint style and of course I fell into the "rookie" trap of not running my race, but trying to keep pace. Needless to say, as we approached Fisher I could tell my bg was high. A quick check -- bg of 290ish. So now knowing I wouldn't be able to run with an efficient engine, it was time to see WHAT managment steps could be taken to bring it back if anything... I mean worst case, I'd have to bail so wanted to see if I could learn something from it. (Note: I've had these adren events before in races... first one of note was Leadville 07... and I've worked to figure them out since.)
Rolled a moderate aerobic first lap and hydrated as hard as I could, both to help with the added dehyration from the high bg and because of the heat... it was the hottest weekend of the summer! Bg at the end of Lap 1 was ballpark 185ish. Lap 2 was much better with the bg's back in more of a "race range", but I still didn't feel great.
A quick bg check was 130ish. Lap 3 I felt like I was carrying a ton of bricks, so I stopped and checked... bg was 150ish. At the end of the lap I was battling nausea and dehydration. Thermometer at the start/finish line was reading 104 and with the humidity the heat index was close to 112. I checked my bg and it was below 75.
All I could think was "d#$%"... I decided to take a break to see if I could hydrate and what my bg was doing. I didn't want to eat much, so only had a 15g snack.Not long after I finished Lap 3, Harland won the pro class finishing his 6 laps in just over 4 hours.
I still had time for another lap. When I checked my bg again it was over 200... in just 20 min's! What the h#$%!!! Now I was mad. But, being "smart" about being an athlete w/ diabetes, I bagged my race. Within an hour my bg was back down below 75 and thirty min's after that back over 200... all without good reasons. It was one of those days.
We stuck around for Brent to finish his race and he ended up with a podium in the sport class. Here's a pic Liz got of his last lap.
I ended up 12th and wasn't last, so even with a bad day it wasn't a terrible result. If I could've finished 1 more lap I could've had a top 10. Needed some rest, rehydration, food... I knew something was up with me physically that I couldn't put my finger on it. Liz was worried... don't know what I'd do without her always there supporting me. If at all possible I wanted to run the Cowbell Kenda XC race the next day. Decided I'd make the call the next morning...
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