Post your ride name (if applicable), location and as many friends as you would like in the picture with you sporting your RR shirt or jersey! Tell us how your ride went and where you were representing diabetics everywhere. Feel free to tell as much or as little about your ride! Let’s get this started! I will post my first RR picture ASAP! Feel free to get this party started!
The purpose of the Red Riders…is to support everyone who lives with diabetes and showcase the courage it takes to live every day with this difficult condition.
And being a Red Rider means…that you are not alone. With hundreds of riders who may share a similar story, and hundreds more to support you, being a Red Rider can help with your first step or your millionth—in your fight to live a healthier life!
For more information about Red Riders or how to become a Red Rider, check out the link below:
My name is Anthony DiPalma I was diagnosed with type 1 in May of 2008. I road in the National Capital Tour de Cure as the capt. Of the National Capital Red Riders. I have also started a Red Rider two man RAAM (Race Across AMerica) team. We hope to raise money for the ADA and provide valuable information to the ADA about how our bodies and the diabetes are affected by particapating in this race. We also want to use this event to inspire others and to show them that they can live long active productive lives with diabetes.
Hi Mike,
I’m getting a little frustrated trying to figure out what the Red Riders ARE. Is it a subgroup of some organization or what? A cycling team at some college? Followers of former USSR cyclists? Googling “Red Riders diabetes” gives 48,600 hits…
Which brings up a typical problem with nearly all technical discussions. When people use abbreviations WITHOUT defining them at the beginning, they lose readers. Not everybody knows what a CBGM is, or that a “One Touch xx” is a blood glucose monitor (BGM) manufactured by LifeScan. Unless I’m trying to kill an hour or two, I’m unlikely to cluck on undefined discussions. And now I don’t EVER dare to start a discussion myself…
By the way, the nickname “Cranky Pete” is only because I can’t stand to see cyclists with inseams over 32" twiddling away like an Irish Step Dancer, simply because their cranks are too short. Thor Hushovdt at this year’s Tour de France showed how it costs us in sprints. Then again, the only other times it matters is climbing hills and on the flat…
I also can’t find any link to Cycling Diabetics from the tudiabetes.comhome page. You’re not trying to hide from people like Cranky Pete, are you?
Go Red Riders (whatever they are),
Cranky Pete Barton
In the American Diabetes Association’s “Tour de Cure” cycling fundraising events, “Red Riders” are riders with diabetes. They’ve adopted the same idea to “Red Striders” on their “Step out to Cure Diabetes” fundraising walks.
“Cycling Diabetics” is a sub-group of TuDiabetes. You need to go into the “Groups” tab to find it.
OK. The explanation of Red Riders should be in the description of this group. That was a minor oversight on Mike’s part.
Red Riders are riders in the American Diabetes Associations Tour De Cure fund-raising bike rides who happen to be diabetics.
See: Red Riders
However, concerning the 48600 hits on Google, there’s nothing anyone can do to reduce the number of hits, but really, almost any of the first 10 links would have given you the answer. The second link I got when I tried the search was the page on the ADA web site that explained it all. The first link was a blog that pointed to the ADA page that explained it all.
Concerning the Cycling Diabetics group not being on the home page, do you have any idea how many groups there are in tudiabetes?
I’m impressed by the quick responses (hoping tmana Isn’t insulted by me answering the second response). I have been unable to join any of the local Tour de Cure events. Not enough have a 100 mile option, and they ALL have swept the course by 3 PM. It’s hard enough to eat breakfast five hours early (especially when that’s the meal where my BGs are most uncertain), but the CA (Napa and Sacramento) events claimed they would forcibly (cranky memory) drag me off of the course a full five hours before sunset!
My first century was back in 1977, when Eli Lilly’s Tes-Tape could check my urine and tell me either 1) my BG was WAY too high or 2) it wasn’t. It took me 7:44 with 8000 or so feet of climbing. I figured a century last summer would be easier with more advanced technology. In particular, because the route went within 1/4 mile of home at the 45 mile point. The temperature, however was reportedly over 100 (the digital thermometer at one bank said only 98) but the Lodi Rotary Club added two water stops at great locations. I paid no attention to my finishing time, but it was close to 5PM. I almost asked the ADA organizers this year if diabetics could start or finish later, but saw no mention of them seriously encouraging diabetics to participate at all. Glad to hear that has been corrected. Maybe next year. Cranky Pete is grateful for the information.
You can finish a century long before 3pm if you ride here in South Jersey. (Below I-195, Trenton to Long Beach Island in New Jersey, just for clarification) Total climb: 200 feet. Not including the 35,000 feet of climb in the A330… (Airbus A330, a small passenger plane. Again, just for clarification)
Thanks to the Mikes for the updates. With further investigation, I found that all three Tour de Cure events in northern California next year are on the May 1&2 weekend!!! Don’t the organizers talk to each other? No Red Riders teams are listed. With the weight I’ve put on (Jan Ullrich diet) since last year’s (15 lbs) and my 1977 (30 lbs) centuries I doubt I can get to 170 lbs before May. It’s hard enough to tweak Lantus changes for ONE century per weekend, but they expect me to perform at a Team Type 1 level when I’m more than twice their age? Then again, Lance Armstrong rode the Nevada City Classic this year at the same time as his Portland (OR) LiveStrong event and he’s considered really old. I’m only a couple of months younger than his MOTHER…
What amazes me about Mike Tosh’s quick century is his ability to pack up a bicycle, get through security and baggage claim and reassemble his bike in less than FIVE hours. Maybe he can start a USMC team which could ride camo MTBs on and off of a tilt-rotor VC-22 Osprey at each check-in point and save the packing time? Think of it – Race Across America in about six hours. Wouldn’t hurt for event security either…
Haha, guess I didn’t mean to suggest that you’d fly AND ride all in the single day. Perhaps flying-to the day before and flying-back the day after is a good idea.
Another Red Rider here. I participated in the Tour de Cure in Grafton, Illinois or the St. Louis ride. These pictures are from the MS 150 in Memphis, Tennessee this past weekend, September 12 and 13. Was proud to represent diabetics with the jersey. Many people came up to me and asked me about it and told me personal stories. By the way, great ride even though the weather got wet and dreary. My team and I burned up the 150 miles. JDRF Death Valley is coming up soon. 7107-MS1502009066.JPG (57.6 KB)
I’ve just signed up for the Basking Ridge, NJ ride on June 13, 2010. This will be my first Tour de Cure, and aiming for 50 miles (longer than I’ve ridden before in a single day), as it’s been the challenge presented to me to commemorate my 50th birthday. I’m very much looking forward to it…
That’s awesome tmana!
I’m sure it will be a great ride, and it’s a fantastic goal. Just make a plan to work up to that distance and you’ll have an amazing ride this June! (and hopefully it won’t be as stinkin’ cold as it is right now!
Good luck. If you can ride 25-30 miles in a day and not be totally worn out at the end, then 50 miles isn’t much. I’ve done the Jersey Shore ride a few times, which is run by the same chapter of the ADA (I think) and while there is some room for improvement, they have improved and done a good job each year. This year they are working with the riders to get TDC committees to help organize. Hopefully that will help them improve.
At last year’s jersey shore ride, the food vendor had run out of food, so the ADA folks told everyone there was no food. But there was plenty of PB&J in boxes under the table. I was somewhat disappointed that they were standing around and not making sandwiches for those of us who were hungry. Oh well, they are learning.
Cool. I have some concerns about the distance, but know I can train up to it. I’m more concerned about the climbs (Basking Ridge is hardly flat – and to a lesser degree, any long-and-steep or technical descents. And raising the money. OTOH, this is something I really want to do and am looking forward to doing it.
