Hi.

Although I am not all the way home yet, I am happy to be back on American soil resting and recouperating.  Traveling is proving to be a little "uncomfortable", so I might just sit here for a few days. 

To be truthful, worse than the physical ailment is the mental trama. So many emotions to sort through.  Some postive.  Some negative.  Dealing with the very real near drowning in the river, and the fact I didn't accomplish my goal(s) after 2 years of planning, has left me reeling.


Thank you for all of the amazing and thoughtful well wishes, thoughts, prayers, posts, emails, tweets, and  messages. I could not believe how many of you took the time to write to me and tell me how much this experience affected you.   It will take me some time to respond to each message, but I very much want to respond to each of you personally.

I am completely humbled by the affection and the love, and they have GREATLY helped to move me to a better place in the healing process.

Thank you all so very much.

It will take me a while to find my bearings, and, afterwards, I will be able to "hopefully" explain how much all the preparations and the very abrupt end to the race affected me. I really want to share my experiences with you.......... I just can't right now, as I am still trying to come to grips with all of it myself.

Keep Choppin'.

STATEMENT FROM TONY CERVATI:  ( statement given via telephone)

"Words cannot express the horrific, bitter disappointment I feel by not being able to finish Tour Divide. The purpose behind doing Tour Divide was for me to prove that a person living with Type 1 Diabetes can accomplish anything. I feel like I let the DOC proper down in every way by not accomplishing what I set out to do. I do not even know why any of you are even still speaking to me. I promised to prove a point about living with diabetes and having no limits. I am completely wrecked in my failed attempt. I feel, seriously, like I personally let every single one of you down.

In my efforts to avoid that damn bear ( one of the coolest things I have ever seen! A real bear in his own habitat.....one of the highlights of my life, btw) I fell into the rapids about 10 feet below. I was swept down stream in very frigid 40 degree water VERY NEARLY DROWNING ME. I just kept calling out my son's names........ I just needed to get back to my boys. I just needed to get out of those rapids before they killed me and go home to my boys. The injuries I sustained will heal and I may be able to return to riding shortly....but that near death experience has rendered me unable to emotionally reconnect with the original reason for TD and for racing or biking right now. I want to respond to all of the posts and well wishes and love, but I am an emotional wreck and I just need to get home to my family. Thank you for all of it. I want to personally thank all of you. For all of it. I am humbled by this experience. I believe I was given another chance at life to continue to ride, post my blood sugars, see my kids, learn more about diabetes....so while I can't say Tour Divide wasn't a waste, without feeling conflicted,  I can continue to keep choppin' and work on Type 1 Rider, and be a great dad.....just not from Banff."

UPDATE: Family is in contact with Tony Cervati.

Word is that Tony's family has spoken with him at length about his ordeal, found him to be in decent spirits and he intimates that he is expected to recover. He is obviously battered from the fall, and with the fractures, attempting to finish TD is all but moot. He is expected to announce his withdrawal soon. This is a heartbreaking turn of events for Tony. The last few years and certainly the last 6 months of work to get him to Banff was successful, but the finish will have to wait another year. Tony is devestated. Thank you for your continued prayers and support.

RELEASED FROM CANMORE HOSPITAL:

Tony  Cervati was discharged from the hospital to which he had been driven following a fall, moments ago with contusions, abrasions, and several fractured ribs.

 He will be transported to an area hotel where he will contact Type1Rider.org with his plans for return. Thankful for each and everyone of you who are praying for our friend.

UPDATE:

He is reporting that he has now checked into his accomodations for the night and under the competent medical supervision of the Canmore Hospital staff, will remain in his hotel for the night and will gather his thoughts in the morning and report to his family in North Carolina to assist getting him and his trusty superfly back to the states, safe and sound.

Stay tuned.

UPDATE FROM CANMORE HOSPITAL:

BG is 13.2 ( about 237 in America)
EKG is normal
No punctured lungs or heart issues

It appears that Tony Cervati had angels flying with him on that Superfly. They walked with him away from the bear. They slid with him into the rapids. They swam with him until they could guide him safely to land. They sent a family to drive him the distance to seek medical help. He is alive and is in good hands. He is in communications with his family and wants everyone to know how much he loves each and everyone of you. He is being relayed the OUTPOURING of love and prayers and well wishes and just wants to share with you his heartbreak at not being able to finish Tour Divide.....this time.

Once he is released from medical care, Type1Rider.org will contact his family and will report back here for you, his online family, to follow.

Thank you for all of the love and prayers. This is indeed a family of people who love and support each other in every manner possible. God bless each one of you.

Keep Choppin'.

TOUR DIVIDE UPDATE:

I am writing this blog post relieved and heavy hearted. Tony Cervati will be returning to the United States this weekend after suffering a considerable fall from a gorge on the Tour Divide Trail. He is being stabalized in a hospital in Canmore Alberta, after happening upon a bear on the divide route. He indicates he was startled by the close proximity of the animal and was attempting to back away in torrential rain, when he lost footing and plummeted into the rapids below. He was swept considerably downstream in 40 degree whitewater, before being able to remove himself from the frigid rapids. He hiked back to his summit, secured his bike and belonging and began hiking to the nearest town. He was picked up by a local family and driven 40 minutes to the area hospital where he remains. I will update the information as it becomes available. He is alert and oriented to his time and place, but is completely devestated at the early "scratch" that has occured in this historic race start.

Here is the link for my start on the official Tour Divide Spot Leaderboard.  Holy Smokes!  :)

http://trackleaders.com/tourdividei.php?name=Tony_Cervati

I have also modified the menu item above to follow me via this link.  I have about 10 hours left to go.  Feeling nervous.... scared, and nervous.

Have arranged pickup via UPS of the items I don't need until I am done (i.e. the clothes I have worn here, and some of the extra optional items I brought just in case but am not going to use on TD).  These will be shipped to a staging location, and then FedEx over night delivered to me when I am through (wherever that may be).

Time to find some dinner and send a few more messages before my life goes upside down for a while.

Wow.  Nervous.

Nervous.

Remember what I said about don't startle the bears?? Well, this is how long I need to wear a bell. :)

http://tinyurl.com/22tfhdh

Pretty much the entire route. Don't know whether to thank or unfriend the person who sent me this map. ;)

Going over last details for first 6 days of Tour Divide. Mapping target towns for each day, confirming routes and reroutes, and fine tuning the packing.

I am trying not to let "fear" of the unknown in terms of diabetes control dictate my packing. How much fast acting do you need for 12-14 hours in the saddle?? LOL!!





I have also managed to get ALL of my diabetes supplies into on small Pelican case. In this box is 3 vials of humalog, a pediatric humalog pen, 5 OmniPods, 2 pod filling needles, my spare PDM, a bunch of Skin Tac Wipes, and 150 test strips.

The advantages the OmniPod presents is CLEARY visible. So much less stuff.





I am carrying a GPS with the course on it, but navigation will be done via the Adventure Cycling Assoc. maps and the substitute re-route cues provided by Tour Divide organizers.





I am also becoming more aware of my seemingly MOST important piece of equipment:





My bear bell. DO NOT STARTLE bears. :)

I am under 18 hours to go before I role out of Banff. I hope to be back in the US (God willing) by Saturday night. From there, just day by day right?? :)

I am hoping to do one last TwitCast before bed tonight.

Thanks again everyone. This will be some adventure. :)

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Finally in Banff. I plan on wandering around today testing out the spot device. I am walking downtown right now to find a grocery store, the UPS, and a bike shop. :)

Thinking of each and every one of you. Right this minute. Each step I take is for you.

I've been waiting for this for 2 years. The unknown is ahead, and I don't have a clue how this is going to turn out, but for now I am just going to try and enjoy the journey.




The support from everyone over the past few months has been amazing. I truly cannot express how much it has helped when I was struggling.

I was talking today about the DOC and how people who have never met un person become family members due to the common enemy link.

You're posts, emails, tweets, and messages have made the world of difference. They really have.

Each and every single one of them.

Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

I have a full range of emotions today.... from anticipation, to joy, to victory, to fear. The whole gambit.

Today I found this in my carry on bag....




A gift a few months ago from my oldest son. It is going to be my mojo for this trip.

When he was 4 told me to "ride really, really fast..."

That my dear JC, is exactly what I am hoping to do.

Keep choppin'!!


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Yeah we know that come tomorrow, none of this will be here 
So hold tight on your anger 
Hold tight on your anger 
Hold tight to your anger, and don't fall to your fear 

Now when all this steel and these stories, they drift away to rust 
And all our youth and beauty, it's been given to the dust 
And your game has been decided, and you're burning the clock down
And all our little victories and glories, have turned into parking lots 
When your best hopes and desires, are scattered through the wind 
And hard times come, hard times go 
Hard times come, hard times go 
And hard times come, hard times go 

Hard times come, hard times go 
Hard times come, hard times go 
Yeah just to come again 

Bring on your wrecking ball 
Bring on your wrecking ball 
Come on and take your best shot, let me see what you've got 

Bring on your wrecking ball 
Bring on your wrecking ball
Bring on your wrecking ball

Take your best shot, let me see what you've got, 


bring on your wrecking ball 

Ever take a look under the hood? I just couldn't resist. Cartridge is near full.

Moments after this photo was taken I did happen to accidentally find the infusion needle release mechanism. LOL!




BTW the insulin IS recoverable. Simple tilt of the reservoir and reverse the filling process. Needed to investigate that option in case of emergency need while on Tour Divide.

Very cool technology in a very small unit.




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Training Hours: Ride: 03:05 Run: 00:00 Other: 00:00

Was able to get out and ride the Superfly today in it's totally Tour Divide loaded configuration.  Everything I am bringing with me during my ride on Tour Divide was packing on this bike or in my Osprey pack today.  No weight yet, but it is a lot heavier then the singletrack strafing machine it was .  :) (On a side note, it will return to that form once TD is over).

Today's ride was a fair amount of stop and go after the first 45 minutes so we could get some good work in with Taproot Films.  They did a LOT of great camera mounts and stuff, and we had a great time.

Taproot is really going above and beyond to get this project completed.  I totally want to publicly thank them for all they have done.  Thank You!!

I haven't slept very well in a few days with all the things going on... so I might not make it to TwitCast time.  Look for an early version of the possibility of doing it tomorrow morning.

Thanks!!

I have been using an insulin pump since 2005, and switched to the Deltec Cozmo in April of 2008.  Although it was one of the lesser know brands, I liked the pump's unique features and how those items would most directly benefit me on the bicycle for the racing at hand.

As we know, sales of the Cozmo was halted in 2009.  Existing customers are supported through the end of their warranty periods, but no new pumps are being sold.  I had no acted upon the "upgrade" and "switch" offers from other manufactures, as the benefits and familiarity the Coz offered still out weighed the desire to switch.

Until now.  Until Tour Divide.

Over the past couple of weeks I began to investigate other pump technologies as I forced to warranty replace my Cozmo twice.  Also the collection of connected blood glucose meters that I have for the device have been failing one by one.

I was able to demo my first device of choice and it worked flawlessly under all conditions.  I was a little surprised at just how well it performed under difficult conditions considering the results I had the first time I demoed one a few years ago.  The changes to the adhesion characteristics of the device has made ALL the difference.  The system is now PERFECT.

With that, I switched to using the Insulet OmniPod  insulin management system full time today.

In terms of helping with Tour Divide, the lack of tubing connecting the insulin to a infusion set has made wearing different types of backpacks and gear storage configurations possible. Also, a LARGE driving force for this switch was the sheer compactness of the entire unit.  The OmniPod system devices store in approx. 1/2 the space of other pump technologies. This will make packing all the diabetes items needed for Tour Divide just that much easier.

Yes, a little risky or unusual to make a hardware change this close to a major event.  Granted.  However, the device proved to be extremely reliable during the demo and rides, and I feel the reward of space savings negates the risk.

Now I JUST need to come up with a new name.... Sorry Gomer.  The times are a changin'.

:)

Related articles

• Insulet seeks FDA approval for smaller, lighter insulin pump (medcitynews.com)

It's official.  ITT-Divide it is!

Um..... awesome.....

Y'all think I might need to check this out in the morning??  Actually it is not my SPOT communicator device, but I appreciate Taproot Films passing this along.  My ESN is 0-2101188.

Saw this at a store at Crabtree Mall and at first just walked right past this.  Then I remembered something that someone I thought I was close to told me about 3+ months ago.  It really hurt my feelings, and surprised me.  I got over it though, and realized that sometimes some people whom you may really respect might not be as wise and cool as you once thought.

I went back and looked at this shirt and it just made me laugh very hard to myself.

 Life lesson learned.

I am beyond honored and excited to begin working with the JDRF Advocacy group. Their goals align perfectly with those of the Type1Rider Organization.  I would like to thank Michael Kondratick, Courtney Davies, and the local and national staff members and volunteers for this amazing opportunity.
The volunteers and Children's Congress work tirelessly towards acquiring US Representative support in the continued quest to fund the artificial pancreas project, support stem cell research, and to find a cure. I encourage everyone to support their local Children's Congress members on this mission.  Click for more information about JDRF Advocacy.

The kickoff blog is at this link:

Type1Rider and the Tour Divide - Advocacy Blog - Juvenation

Thank you!!!

It is the fire that lights itself
But it burns with a restless flame
The arrow on a moving target
The archer must be sure of his aim

It is the engine that drives itself
But it chooses the uphill climb
A bearing on magnetic north
Growing farther away all the time

Can't stop moving
Can't stop moving
Can't stop...

You may be right
It's all a waste of time
I guess that's just a chance I'm prepared to take
A danger I'm prepared to face
Cut to the chase