The ride a La Crosse this year was the biggest ever to date. There were over 400 riders. The amount raised was also the biggest ever. La Crosse riders raised over 1 million dollars. With your contributions I raised $13,875 for JDRF. That put me as the #3 fundraiser at La Crosse. I want to thank all of my supporters for your donations, your support, and your well-wishes. The work that Team Lance-a-lot is doing is helping to solve our Quest for the Cure. You are all fantastic!Sunday, August 14, 2011
To My Supporters
The ride a La Crosse this year was the biggest ever to date. There were over 400 riders. The amount raised was also the biggest ever. La Crosse riders raised over 1 million dollars. With your contributions I raised $13,875 for JDRF. That put me as the #3 fundraiser at La Crosse. I want to thank all of my supporters for your donations, your support, and your well-wishes. The work that Team Lance-a-lot is doing is helping to solve our Quest for the Cure. You are all fantastic!
The Weekend at La Crosse
What a fantastic place and what wonderful people. Everyone here was super nice. There were only two of us from the Dallas Chapter at this ride but we were welcomed in to the Northern Wisconsin group. Everyone we met from the Wisconsin, Iowa, Illinois, and Minnesota chapters were all very friendly and outgoing. We had a chance to meet with other families with young children that also suffer from this disease like Lance. We met one family from Illinois that had two young girls. The youngest one was Type 1. The Mom was riding the full century and the Dad and girls helped along with Stacey at the rest stop. We hope to see you again.
Thursday, June 30, 2011
Quest for Team Lance-a-lot
3, 780 insulin shots & 4, 725 finger pricks...
This is what my 5 year old, Lance, endured since he was diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes in December 2008. Please watch Lance's video quest to find a cure for Type 1 Diabetes at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S_Z188Y5hhM!To support Team Lance-a-lot, please visit http://www2.jdrf.org/goto/teamlancealot
Sunday, May 22, 2011
Celiac Disease
Do you know what Celiac Disease is? Well, it is fairly common in Type 1 Diabetes patients to also have Celiac Disease. Lance has tested positive for a blood marker that predicts 99% positive for Celiac Disease. The only way to be sure is to do an intestinal biopsy which is fairly traumatic to a child (i.e. surgery). We are not ready to face the implications of this diagnosis yet...more to come. Lance will be tested for Celiac Disease again at his next appointment.
Lance's New Regimen
We just made a change to Lance's insulin regimen. When he was diagnosed, the doctors put him on a combination of Humalog (H) and Novolin (N). The Humalog is a fast acting insulin and the Novolin is a long lasting one. It lasts about 10 hours but peaks after about 5 hours. So we used a combination of H and N in the morning. The H counteracts the breakfast carbs and the N would peak around lunchtime to counteract the lunchtime carbs. At dinner we gave an H-shot to counteract dinner carbs and before bed we gave an N-shot to keep him steady throughout the night.
This regimen worked well for us. It had one benefit in that he usually did not need a lunchtime shot. So at school or camp he just needed to be tested but did not need a shot unless he had unusually high blood sugar levels. It also has a drawback. His meal time and carb allotment had to be strictly enforced. All meals had to be at the same time every day. The amount of carbs per meal also had to stay the same. There was no room for adjustments.
This regimen worked well for us. It had one benefit in that he usually did not need a lunchtime shot. So at school or camp he just needed to be tested but did not need a shot unless he had unusually high blood sugar levels. It also has a drawback. His meal time and carb allotment had to be strictly enforced. All meals had to be at the same time every day. The amount of carbs per meal also had to stay the same. There was no room for adjustments.We switched to a Lantus regimen. Lantus is a long acting insulin that stays in your system for 24 hours. This is the background insulin that Lance needs. Then, he must take an H-shot at every meal to counteract that meal's carbs. Now there is always a lunch time shot, but our schedule is a little more flexible. Meals do not have to be at the exact same time every day. The amount of carbs can be varied slightly and adjusted for with the amount of insulin if we want. Afternoon and morning snacks are no longer mandatory. This will give Lance a little more independence as he gets older and enters Kindergarten.
WildRide 2011
On May 21 I rode the WildRide 2011. The ride starts in Richardson. There is a 20 mile jaunt to the Lake Lavon Dam, then another 24 miles through the twisty and hilly back roads of Josephine, and then a return across the dam back to the start. The route is 64 miles. I gather at the start with about 2500 other cyclists. At my side is my buddy Ken. The sky is a blanket of clouds and the air is thick with humidity. I secretly hope that the rain will not fall today.
After the anthem the cyclists are off. The first 20 mile leg is the most entertaining. There are so many people to look at: some with crazy helmets, some with crazy recumbent bikes, and some with top-notch racing gear. The pace is fast and you are constantly maneuvering for position by passing slower riders and picking up a draft from the faster riders. There was a patch of gravel road that most were dismounting to cross. I just rode over it to get past a slower pack and caught a group of four that pulled me into the first rest stop. Up to this point I was flying, averaging 18.7 mph for the first 20 miles.
After the break my buddy Ken turned around to complete a 40 mile loop but I pressed on. The second leg wound through the back roads of Wylie, Nevada, and Josephine on the far side of Lake Lavon. The area is serene and beautiful. Unfortunately, here is also where the drizzle started to fall and I had flashbacks to WildRide 2009 where I rode the whole way in the rain. By
the time I got to the big hills the drizzle had stopped and my glasses had cleared. I attacked the hills to the best of my ability by sprinting on the downhill part to give my as much momentum on the uphill part. By the third crescendo it became hard to power sufficiently down to sustain a descent cadence on the way up. By the fourth hill I find myself in my lowest gear grinding away to the crest. At last I turn toward the lake and stroll into the second rest stop (which is the same location as the first). My average dropped to 17.4 mph by this stage.
The last leg is the most difficult. First because it is the last and your legs are beginning to tire. Second because this last leg was primarily heading south which was right in the face of a stiff 15 mph wind. Everyone was struggling to keep a descent pace. You struggle against the wind and think you are doing a descent job until you look down at your GPS and see that you are only going 13 mph. I can do better than that you think so you shift up and pick up the pace a bit, but before long you have eased back to something slower. By the 64 mile mark I was pretty tired and ready to dismount.
By the end I had my average at 16.1 mph. This was not the farthest that I have rode to date this season, but it was the hardest due to the hills and because I did it mostly on my own without a group to draft behind. I am just a little nervous though…could I have done another 40 miles?
After the anthem the cyclists are off. The first 20 mile leg is the most entertaining. There are so many people to look at: some with crazy helmets, some with crazy recumbent bikes, and some with top-notch racing gear. The pace is fast and you are constantly maneuvering for position by passing slower riders and picking up a draft from the faster riders. There was a patch of gravel road that most were dismounting to cross. I just rode over it to get past a slower pack and caught a group of four that pulled me into the first rest stop. Up to this point I was flying, averaging 18.7 mph for the first 20 miles.After the break my buddy Ken turned around to complete a 40 mile loop but I pressed on. The second leg wound through the back roads of Wylie, Nevada, and Josephine on the far side of Lake Lavon. The area is serene and beautiful. Unfortunately, here is also where the drizzle started to fall and I had flashbacks to WildRide 2009 where I rode the whole way in the rain. By
the time I got to the big hills the drizzle had stopped and my glasses had cleared. I attacked the hills to the best of my ability by sprinting on the downhill part to give my as much momentum on the uphill part. By the third crescendo it became hard to power sufficiently down to sustain a descent cadence on the way up. By the fourth hill I find myself in my lowest gear grinding away to the crest. At last I turn toward the lake and stroll into the second rest stop (which is the same location as the first). My average dropped to 17.4 mph by this stage.The last leg is the most difficult. First because it is the last and your legs are beginning to tire. Second because this last leg was primarily heading south which was right in the face of a stiff 15 mph wind. Everyone was struggling to keep a descent pace. You struggle against the wind and think you are doing a descent job until you look down at your GPS and see that you are only going 13 mph. I can do better than that you think so you shift up and pick up the pace a bit, but before long you have eased back to something slower. By the 64 mile mark I was pretty tired and ready to dismount.
By the end I had my average at 16.1 mph. This was not the farthest that I have rode to date this season, but it was the hardest due to the hills and because I did it mostly on my own without a group to draft behind. I am just a little nervous though…could I have done another 40 miles?
Thursday, May 19, 2011
Training Log
I finally updated my training log for the season to date up to the time I had to ship my bike to Wisconsin. I had over 1360 cummulative miles for the season. Double-click the picture to make it bigger and readable.
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