If you have a minute check out my new post on the OmniPod Suite D blog about the first ever NC ADA Off-Road Tour de Cure event.




http://bit.ly/WgOevX

It was an amazing experience, and a great success!!! A VERY special thank you to my new friend Ryan Reed for coming out and speaking to everyone before the ride started.

Hopefully the event will continue to grow over the years, and will become defacto standard cycling celebration of the fall!!


Thanks to all the hard work put into this event by the staff at the UNC Chapel Hill North Forest, and the NC American Diabetes Assoc. that made this all happen.

Looking forward to next year already....... :)


- Posted using BlogPress using my iPad from somewhere in the universe

It certainly was a VERY HECTIC November! The celebration of World Diabetes Day on November 14th, and the 30 days of Diabetes Awareness Month kept us ALL hoping.  Everyday gave us the wonderful opportunity to actively advocate for Diabetes causes.  Some of the major highlights are:

Over at The Blue Heel Society we successfully participated in the 30 Day, 30 Posts National Health Blog Post challenge.

In response to being named one of the International Diabetes Federation World Diabetes Day Heroes, I wrote and published a blog post over at Insulet's Suite D site about us All Being Diabetes Heroes.  If you have a moment take a look at it here:

http://suited.myomnipod.com/manage-diabetes/we-are-all-diabetes-heroes/

The book by Dr. Beverly Adler, My Sweet Life: Successful Men With Diabetes, that I was so grateful to be asked to contributed a chapter to was published.  

A team of 10 of us raced under the Blue Heel Society banner at an event called Rebel Race in Haverhill, MA.  It was a 5k with 23 obstacles ranging from fire to barbed wire to 25 foot vertical walls.  The event made a donation to a diabetes charity in the name of team.  While there all of the team members met and spoke to a ton of people about diabetes. We will certainly be doing this, and other similar races, again!  Look for a blog entry on Suite D shortly! 

I was fortunate enough to be nominated for the 2012 WEGO Health Activist Hero Award.  To be nominated and supported by members of the Diabetes Online Community is very humbling.  I am SO grateful.  Thank you!

In the middle of the month, I was asked to participate on a WEGO Roundtable discussion about Diabetes.  It involved a few of us on a call-in basis, and a very active Twitter, radio, and online interactive audience. A summary of the discussion can be found here: http://blog.wegohealth.com/2012/11/14/roundtable-recap-diabetes-awareness-month/.

The Blue Heel Society launched its IRL (In Real Life) Luminary Campaign.  The campaign provides free tools, aptly collected in The Shoebox, to people interested in leading advocacy campaigns in their local areas around the globe.  The response has been overwhelming, and The Luminaries have already scheduled events starting now. 

Along the same lines, The Blue Heel Society was also nominated by our friends in the DOC for the 2012 WEGO Health Best Ensemble Cast Award.  All us involved with BHS where simply blown away by this honor.  

From the bottom of our collective hearts, Thank You ALL for being a part of the most globally successful Diabetes Awareness Month ever!!

It is the hard work everyone of you do, the stories and experiences that each share, and the non-judgmental support and encouragement that we give each other that makes the DOC family so incredible.

Thank you.

Keep Choppin' everyone!!  

The final part of my series about the 2012 Tour Divide is now up and available on the OmniPod Suite D blog site.

It has been an honor to be able to share these thoughts about my Tour Divide race with all of the members of the DOC.  Thank you for supporting me and for taking the time to read about this adventure.

Tony Cervati’s Tour Divide Journey Part Five: Anything is Possible

Anything, really is, indeed, possible.  It truly is.

I look forward to blogging for Insulet over the next months, and sharing my experiences with all! 

Keep Choppin' everyone. 

Just.

Keep.

Choppin.

Friday's installment of my 2012 Tour Divide thoughts and experiences is now published on the OmniPod Suite D blog.  Endurance bicycle racing is eerily similar to living with diabetes....

How Taking on Diabetes can be like Taking on the Tour Divide

Thanks everyone!!

Keep Choppin'!!!!

Installment number 4 in my week long 6 part series about the 2700+ mile 2012 Tour Divide mountain bike race has been published to the OmniPod Suite D blog.

Included in this segment is how I would normally sleep while participating in this race.  A little inside look at my home away from home.  :)

Thank you for the interest and excitement surrounding this, and I hope you enjoy today's first entry!

Tony Cervati’s Tour Divide Journey Part 4: Lows & Highs

Today the 3rd entry in the 6 part week long series detailing my 2012 Tour Divide race attempt was published on the Suite D Blog by OmniPod.

Things get a little more series today, with a range of emotions from total euphoria to the encountering of a serious problem.

Again, my heartfelt gratitude and thanks for all the requests about this subject.

Tony Cervati’s Tour Divide Journey Part Three: Standing Up to Old Ghosts…and on Rotted Logs

(BTW - just a humorous aside... the video included in this segment was filmed by my 7 year old son.  Didn't George Lucas start about that age too?  LOL!!)

Part 2 of my 2012 Tour Divide race was published to OmniPod's brand new Suite D blog this afternoon.

Thank you SO VERY MUCH for the continued interest in this story.

Tony Cervati’s Tour Divide Journey Part Two: Just Getting Started

Time has passed quickly since my 2012 Tour Divide attempt ended back in July.  During that time period I was honored to be asked to write for Insulet Corporation the makers of the OmniPod on their very newly launched Suite D blog.

Myself and the team from Insulet figured the best way to kick this relationship off was to chronicle my Tour Divide adventures this year on their new platform.  

I couldn't be more thrilled!!

Although it took a bit longer for me to complete the entries than I first thought i tmight, Part 1 of a week long series of posts (6 in all) is out today.  The other 5 parts will be published, one or two a day, for the rest of the week.

Thank you for ALL the support and encouragement you have provided to me while I prepared for, and raced in, this history making event.

Part 1: Join Tony Cervati on his Tour Divide Journey

 

It's been going on 60 days since the end of my Tour Divide attempt for 2012.  Time has been moving VERY quickly, and I am all healed up (both body and soul) and have been doing some strength training to get back into the swing.

I have been riding, some, and my 29ers are in the shop getting some upgrades and small repairs after a very busy 10 months of preparation.  I am looking forward to getting back heavier training, and my races and events over the next few months.

Quite a few have emailed or messaged to ask about when I am going to do a write up about my wonderful, albeit slightly shorter than planned, Tour Divide experience this year.

A few months back my friends at Insulet, the makers of the OmniPod, asked me to document the Tour Divide race (as well as a few others scheduled events) for their brand new blog Suite D.  I was SO honored and super excited to have the opportunity to do that! I appreciate that fact that the folks at OmniPod have provided a larger platform to share my experiences and emotions of this amazing race attempt.

My TD race recaps will be featured on the Suite D blog in the next couple of weeks, and other events and features will be following throughout the year.  I am thrilled to be joined by amazing others in the efforts of this resource.  Natalie Strand of The Amazing Race fame, and pro snowboarder and Riding On Insulin author Sean Busby are among other that will be writing for Suite D as well.

I will post when my articles start appearing on the Suite D blog, but in the meantime check out their new blog, other writers, and my specific page there.

Thanks!!

Keep Choppin' and have a great day!!