american diabetes association

Riding to End Diabetes: Tour de Cure 2017

~ ghostfaceknitter ~ Leave a comment
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me and my uncle scooter pie at the 2016 Tour de Cure

It’s that time of year!  Tour de Cure Time!!

For those of you new to this blog, Tour de Cure is an annual bike ride to support the effort to find a cure, prevention, and treatment for Diabetes.

You can donate to me directly here. 

Each year I have to reflect on why I ride for this cause. The answer is simple – it’s for my family and for all the families that have been affected by diabetes.  Diabetes is not a disease only for the obese, the old, or the ‘unhealthy.’  Diabetes strikes anyone at anytime no matter their fitness or health habits.  While we know there are prevention items that lower the risk, we still see that every 19 SECONDS someone is diagnosed with diabetes.

EVERY 19 SECONDS.
3 people per minute.
180 people per hour.
4,320 people per day.
1,576,800 people per year.

Furthermore:
1 in 11 Americans has Diabetes.
1 in 4 adults who has Diabetes doesn’t know it.
1 in 3 adults is at risk of developing Diabetes.
And it must be stopped.

I’m lucky that I’m able to live a diabetes-free life.  I’m lucky that I don’t know what it’s like to be at risk, that I don’t have to worry about DYING due to complications that the rest of us couldn’t begin to understand.

I ride for the 29 million people in the USA that have diabetes.

I ride for the one person I knew who struggled with diabetes until his death – my grandpa. You can see his story here. 

Every dollar that you can donate for the ADA goes directly towards:

RESEARCH

Since the American Diabetes Association launched its Research Programs in 1952, it has funded nearly 4,500 research projects, investing more than $700 million in diabetes research.

In 2014 alone, the Association funded 376 new and continuing research grants and made nearly $30 million in diabetes research funding available through its four major grant programs: the Core Research Program, the Pathway to Stop Diabetes? Program, Research Co-Support, and Collaborative Targeted Research. These funds supported 364 investigators at 143 leading academic research institutions across the U.S.

INFORMATION

The Association provides the public and health care professionals with the most up-to-date information to help take a stand against diabetes through our Center for Information and Community Support (1-800-DIABETES) and two web sites, www.diabetes.org and www.stopdiabetes.com, as well as via consumer and professional books and periodicals. The organization has offices in communities across the country and serves the public through a multitude of programs and activities including American Diabetes Association Expos, Diabetes Camps, and outreach to high-risk populations through its Por tu Familia, Live Empowered! and Native American initiatives. In 2014, 5,400 youth attended one of the 50 Association Camps hosted in 24 states.

ADVOCACY

The Association fights on behalf of the diabetes community to increase federal funding for diabetes research and programs, improve comprehensive health care and insurance coverage, and to end discrimination against people with diabetes. Explore the Advocacy section on our main ADA website and learn what is being done on a local and national level to support people with diabetes, and also learn how you can get involved in those efforts.

You can donate to me here.

Please let me know if you have any questions, comments, or concerns.

Thank you again for all your support in this effort to end diabetes!!

Brianna

Diabetes Ride – Tour De Cure 2016

~ ghostfaceknitter ~ 1 Comment

Some of you may remember my Diabetes ride last year, well, it’s that time again to start fundraising!

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at mile 20 on then 2015 tour de cure.

The Tour de Cure is a GREAT event to ride to raise money to help fund diabetes research.  Each year they raise over $29 Million to support the American Diabetes Association.

Why do I ride?

Screen Shot 2016-05-26 at 2.15.44 PM

I ride for my grandpa Dan DeNeice. He had Type 2 Diabetes as a result of always being a huge (tall/250lb+) guy.  He did make radical changes later in his life and got moving by riding his road bike all over the neighborhood. But, the great changes he made were too late for some things and he struggled with complications from Diabetes in his last years and sadly passed away in 2007 from heart failure. His absence has always been felt in our family and I wish that I would have gotten the time to ride more with him. I ride for him because I know if this race had been around when he was healthy he would have kicked everyone’s butt.  Coincidentally, the first Tour de Cure took place in 2007 and that year the ADA received $13 Million from riders.  I ride for him, because I don’t want anyone else in my family or yours to get their life cut short or diminished by having Type 2 Diabetes. I strongly support advocacy and education in the hopes that others can make the changes before it’s too late for them.

And….well you also guessed it. I NEED YOUR SUPPORT! I’ve set a goal to raise $750 in order to ride the race.  That means I need to raise it all to be allowed to burn out 50k in late September! You can donate on my page here if you would like.

You may wonder where your money goes – well ADA does a great job prioritizing the money raised from Tour de Cure – take a look!

RESEARCH

Since the American Diabetes Association launched its Research Programs in 1952, it has funded nearly 4,500 research projects, investing more than $700 million in diabetes research.

In 2014 alone, the Association funded 376 new and continuing research grants and made nearly $30 million in diabetes research funding available through its four major grant programs: the Core Research Program, the Pathway to Stop Diabetes? Program, Research Co-Support, and Collaborative Targeted Research. These funds supported 364 investigators at 143 leading academic research institutions across the U.S.

INFORMATION

The Association provides the public and health care professionals with the most up-to-date information to help take a stand against diabetes through our Center for Information and Community Support (1-800-DIABETES) and two web sites, www.diabetes.org and www.stopdiabetes.com, as well as via consumer and professional books and periodicals. The organization has offices in communities across the country and serves the public through a multitude of programs and activities including American Diabetes Association Expos, Diabetes Camps, and outreach to high-risk populations through its Por tu Familia, Live Empowered! and Native American initiatives. In 2014, 5,400 youth attended one of the 50 Association Camps hosted in 24 states.

ADVOCACY

The Association fights on behalf of the diabetes community to increase federal funding for diabetes research and programs, improve comprehensive health care and insurance coverage, and to end discrimination against people with diabetes. Explore the Advocacy section on our main ADA website and learn what is being done on a local and national level to support people with diabetes, and also learn how you can get involved in those efforts.

I had a great time at the event last year, riding solo – BUT this year I get to ride the 50 with my uncle! I’ll again be riding on my single speed KHS and I’m super excited.  This year I am changing up the race location – I’ll be riding the Parker Tour de Cure instead of the Boulder/Ft. Collins Tour de Cure.

I’ll be updating here as I train, and prep for the race.  I can’t wait!

And if you would like Donate here! 

 

 

 

Tour de Cure – Colorado August 2015

~ ghostfaceknitter ~ Leave a comment

A few months ago, I decided to ride in the Tour de Cure, a bike event for the American Diabetes Association.  I wished my grandfather who loved riding and also had diabetes knew about this cause when he was alive because I would have LOVED to ride with him.

At first, I signed up for the 100 mile century ride. I started training doing several 30 mile rides and about a month before the event I decided I had no interested in riding 100 miles. I felt kind of like a weenie for backing down, but I’m privileged enough to work with Iron Man competitors, marathon crazies and overall excessive exercise folks.  They were instrumental in me realizing that I have no desire to go that far- I don’t want nor do I need a geared bike (which I would have for this ride), I didn’t have the time to train properly and safely – it just isn’t the time in my life for this distance.  Also training for and riding the 100 miles alone just didn’t really seem like something I was looking forward to.  I planned at first to train and ride with some friends, but life is busy so the training never happened together and to be honest I lost my mojo in pursuing this solo.


So I backed off the mileage to the easy 50 ride. It took place today and boy was it the right choice to ride 50km. I didn’t wear any special gear, no padded pants, no clips/shoes, no gears! I happily rode my favorite bike ever – Yoshi the KHS single speed I bought last year.  I’m so happy I rode for me and for the cause. Plus I rode 34 miles in 2:04! I was really happy with that. Plus I had lots of encouragement from other riders (as I passed them!) because they were blown away that I rode the ride with no gears!

I raised $620 – blowing my $200 goal out of the water!  So so happy with everyone’s generosity and kindness. Anyways, next year I think I’ll organize a group to join that are riding and training together, since it would have been even more fun to ride with some homies.