Lucky To Have Type 1

After 900 posts and nearly 10 years since the launch of this blog, it is time for me to officially pull the plug on Type1Rider.  The blogger site will stay up as reference material until the new admins change that, and I will also leave the @Type1Rider twitter feed around.  I will still be doing what I do, and launching into some new ventures (like tonycervati.com), but I will be shelving this volume of my book.  This will be my very last update on each.

I have been Type 1 since 1976, and over these past 42 years I have experienced almost everything a person with Diabetes could have.

 The massive changes in technologies - from Diastix to the Artificial Pancreas - to the rise of the internet and how it was leveraged by passionate people to change the face of public acceptance and awareness of this disease. 

I have experienced hypos that have tempted fate, and, on the other end of the spectrum, have manipulated the technologies of available treatment devices to yield to my will in winning mountain bike endurance championships.

I have also viewed this disease from the side of a parent of a child with Type 1 when my youngest got diagnosed in July of 2014 at the age of 6.

Through out all my 15,200+ days of living with Type 1 so far - including 100,000 finger pricks, 1000+ pump site changes, 725,000 units of insulin, and 70,000 injections - I have as of yet not a single diabetes related site affect.  Not one.

Creating Type1Rider in 2008 has provided a vehicle allowing me to meet some of the most amazing people on Earth.  Thank you ALL who have followed me on this journey, and those who have supported all of our efforts.  Through T1R we, as a team, a community, have hopefully inspired a few others to pedal a bike regardless of the degree of incline of the hill they are facing. 

I am without words to express how much you all mean to me.

In particular I want to mention Steve McGuinn for pushing square pegs through round holes to make things happen, George Scott for just freaking EVERYTHING (without you sir, T1R never happens), Michael Sullivan & Kristin Brewer for telling the world a story, everyone at Trek Bikes (the greatest bicycle company in the world) for the opportunity to represent you and ride rigs of dreams, The UNC Diabetes Care Center for listening when I told them I wanted to try the seemingly impossible, and Mr. Travis Goodman.   TPG you sir, my friend, believed at your very core when literally no one else on earth did (sometimes not even myself). 

You all believed for no other reason but the power of a guy on a mission to redefine the believed limits with a mountain bike.


 Over 4 decades with Diabetes has shown me the world, and afforded me opportunities that most cannot say they have had.  Type 1 has taught me that I can face and conquer ANY challenge that will ever be presented to me in life.  Any. 

It has shown me that I am, indeed, quite fearless, strong, and simply unbreakable.  It taught me to squeeze the absolute very most out of each and every day, to take risks, deal positively with setbacks, look at things from unique angles, and to always, always believe. 

Those aren't just nice words.  They are core components of me now.

Am I lucky to have been diagnosed with Type 1?  Yes.  Yes I most certainly am.

I honestly and truthfully wouldn't want it any other way....

 Keep Choppin'!

Thomas Moore - RIP

All of us in the DOC, and here at Type1Rider, are completely overcome with sadness with the news of the sudden passing of our dear friend Thomas Moore.

Thomas was the glue of our organizations - T1R, The Blue Heel Society, The Diabetes Monster, and Life Inside the Blue Circle.  The small, talented, dedicated group that works on those entities are reeling from this loss.

Thomas was a very unique individual.  He understood how powerful grassroot movements could be, and knew how to extend the reach of a cause through hard work, dedication, and relationship building.  I believe, outside of his dedication to his family, his biggest strength was to be able to find a benefit for two completely different parties working together.

He was the king of fostering those relationships into long lasting and boulder moving forces.

Thomas also believed in helping, in anyway, grand or small, everyone he contacted affected by Diabetes.  If you look at Facebook today, you will seen countless Diabetes organizations singing his praises, and mourning his lost.

Thomas Moore was the true essence of the DOC.  Not just a major component of it, but a foundation cornerstone placed at its root levels.

He was a crusader for the little group with big dreams.

He was always a voice that could be heard, although he spoke softly.

He was a leader of of the DOC, and all that it represents.

Thomas was part of our family.

He loved his own family very much, and most of the time, especially lately, our communications where about what they were doing and he enjoyed the times he had with them.  Even when things were difficult, he always found a way to accentuate the positive of being with and around them.

We all offer our condolences to Thomas' family and loved ones for their loss.

On a personal note, it wasn't long after Type1Rider came online that Thomas and I met via the interwebs.  Thomas took my little fledgling idea and built it into something meaningful using the skills only he possessed.

It didn't take long before he has arranged meetings with sponsors, taught me how to use social media to everyone's advantage, and brought a fresh emphasis on what was indeed possible by a single diabetic on a bicycle.

Thomas believed, more than anyone I think, and definitely more then I, in the work we did attacking Tour Divide.  All of the behind the scenes work - the countless interviews, speaking engagements, posts, social media entries - where all the hard work of Thomas Moore.

I never took the time, after all was said and done, to truly and appropriately thank him in an appropriate way for all of that.  I'm not even sure that I ever could.

Not that he needed or cared about that... he was just forwarding the cause for every diabetic.... He did not need, nor search out, accolades or acknowledgement.

Thomas was the man behind the scene.  Working for the common good for all of us.

The Diabletes Online Community has lost a true super hero, a tremendously dedicated man, and, most assuredly, one of its brightest blue candles.

RIP in my dear friend.

From myself, and the other 28 millions of folks in the US with diabetes....

Thank you for everything.

Thank you Thomas.

#GumbyDammit

All gave some.

Some gave all.

We humbly and forever thank you and your families.

We will never forget.