Diabetes Sports Project

I wanted to give a shout out to Diabetes Sports Project for featuring me on their Instagram page.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BXTM7nNASKO/?hl=en&taken-by=diabetessportsproject

If you are not familiar with Diabetes Sports Project, this is from their about page:

WHO WE ARE

DSP is comprised of the world’s elite diabetic athlete ambassadors who inspire and educate the diabetes community to achieve their goals and aspirations. These ambassadors demonstrate how through proper diet, exercise, a positive outlook and effective blood glucose management dreams can be achieved.

WHAT WE DO

The DSP ambassadors are directly engaged in community events within the diabetes and healthcare industry around the world. We participate in diabetes camps, JDRF & ADA events, industry conferences and trade shows, hospital visits, patient support groups, medical professional events and much more. Additionally, our athletes compete at the highest levels of sports to demonstrate that goals can be achieved with diabetes. 

We are dedicated to empowering the nearly 26 million affected by type 1 and type 2 diabetes in the United State. Through inspirational and educational community engagement along with competition in the biggest sporting events in the world, DSP will inspire and educate millions of people affected by diabetes.

Their website:
www.diabetessportsproject.com

Getting Paid for Adventure

'Getting Paid for Adventure'

In a couple days I will embark on another adventure, of sorts.  I will be driving the Media 1 vehicle for the Race Across America (RAAM).  Many consider this the toughest athletic event on the planet.  It is also my next paid employment.  Somehow, someway, I have come into a number of adventurous jobs that seem to fit well on my resume and my lifestyle.  Yes, work can contain a bit of adventure.  Why not?

In the 90's I assisted Franz Spilauer (RAAM winner in 1988) on 2 different bicycle tours over 2 summers.  Each tour was about 3 weeks long and hit major tourist points in California, Utah, Arizona and Nevada.  We covered about 5,000 miles each trip.  The riders would cover about 50 or so miles each day and the rest of the miles was driven.  It was an amazing opportunity to spend time in most of the major parks in the 4 states that we zipped through.  

I would move out of  the desert and to Boise, Idaho for a job.  Not just a job, but an opportunity to get paid to ride my bicycle as a bicycle messenger.  Not quite a New York City messenger at heart but still a cool job.

I would then get paid for running.   Lacking talent (to officially get paid to run, as an athlete), but I would be part of the creation of 'Boise Backcountry Adventure', a trail book for the Boise, Idaho area.  We were of the frame of mind to run all the trails (except the canyoneering sections).  Over 1,000 miles was run to obtain information for the publication.  It was another exceptional job opportunity.

No running or pedaling involved, but I consider my move to Sitka, Alaska to be linked to adventure.  Just getting to my island setting, with a vehicle was interesting, to say the least.  I would enjoy time and a unique lifestyle in the Last Frontier and am glad to once again combine adventure with employment. 

My latest job revolved around adventure.  At least other people's adventures.  I was employed at Perimeter Bicycling Association of America with a slate of events, such as El Tour de Tucson and Viva Bike Vegas.

The adventure job list could roll into my volunteer opportunities.  Maybe another blog hangs in the balance.  

If you are up for adventure, and even jobs with a dash of adventure, keep your eyes open.  You never know what adventure you will find, or what adventure will find you.

Finding Adventure at Work?

Finding Adventure at Work?
What do you get when you mix adventure with work? As a rule of thumb, I usually escape work to get out of town to locate the needed realm of adventure. In my long list of occupations I have managed to track down one job where I was paid for adventure. After a long duration in Tucson, Arizona, I was seeking a change in routine and life for me and the family as I jumped online to find what opportunity had in store for us. I came across a job listing that caused me to laugh. Bicycle Messenger? No, not a listing for Chicago, New York, or some other huge cement jungle. Shaking my head, I found myself heading north to Boise, Idaho with the prospect of my new career(?) being the driving force. Ok, maybe a short lived career. Does someone in their mid 30’s, married with a child, with diabetes make a major move to be a Bicycle Messenger? Haha guess at least one of us does. The manager, Tealdo, even held the job till I could arrive.

I would find myself as the only bicycle messenger in town. I worked for Fleet Street Couriers, a courier company that made deliveries via the automobile with one lone dude on a bike. This was a September arrival so fall and winter were looming for this unprepared desert rat. I will note that it does help one’s transition into a new climate when you are in the elements most of the day. I can largely credit this occupation as being a key step toward my transition into becoming a spastic gear junkie. One confession out of the way. The transition had taken me from my desert attire to a world of microfleece, gore tex , synthetic layering, booties, lined gloves and a thermos to carry the necessary caffeine and a very large courier bag that I soon found could carry a granormous amount of "stuff".

I am looking over a small, tidy pile of notes I had taken during the courier season as I waited for urgent calls to to send me in 4 directions at the same time. Seems to be that most of notes them were taken during the memorable winter zone. Imagine that? As I scan a page of the courier lifestyle, it is 9:03am on an overcast day in January and snow is forecasted for the evening. Weather had been a real fascination of mine, especially since I had spent many years in the lightening zapped, monsoon skies of the Southwest. I soon adapted morning sessions with the weather radio predicting whether Dave would get seriously cold, frostbitten, drenched, hit by lightening, blown off the road by raging winds, or wilt in 100+ degree heat. Mother Nature...will you be my friend today? Further down the notes, I read that it is 1:30pm and the snow had unleashed, and my day had become way more interesting, and slippery, but I am so very glad to be out pushing the pedals and being removed from 4 walls, lousy lighting and emails messages screaming my name.

The jumbled notes and my memory bank would reveal a time in life that was new, unique and exciting. What a cool job? Dang that was awesome, but there were some really tough, weary and drag down demanding days.
The toughest days were the days that I was sick or feeling the dome of sickness crowding my little world. Rugged times for a sick and weak courier on 2 wheels. Especially when your work day on the bike would cover 25-50 miles. Much of the mileage was delivering "Rush" deliveries.
Point A to Point B as fast as I could pedal with there often being a pick-up and delivery to Points C,D,E,F already lined up. The other grinding days were when the blood sugars were difficult, or impossible. Glancing through my notes I had described an unusual day with strange weather. My next line referenced that my blood sugar was on a parallel line with the weather. Ugly, non-sympathetic and out of season. The challenges of diabetes.

I would see all of the glory of Boise’s four seasons as my days as a bicycle messenger ended one year after I had arrived on the scene for a job that would challenge me and reward a person with diabetes who wanted adventure, found it, got paid for it, and brought diabetes along for the ride.