"Life was forever changed when I was diagnosed with latent autoimmune diabetes"
HISTORY
My cycling career had already taken me from Reading, Pennsylvania to around the world before I was twenty-five years old. I started racing mountain bikes professionally across the United States in the late 1990s. In 2002, I jumped over to road racing and onto the international circuit with the U.S. National Team, racing all over Europe.
In 2003, I gained a contract with Sportsbook.com’s professional cycling team and competed with some of the best riders in the most difficult bicycle races in the world. I rode the wave of professional cycling to the top ranked teams in America, including Rite Aid and Battley Harley-Davidson Presented by Cisco Systems.
Since the start of my career in 1994, I have won over a hundred races at the elite level: numerous PA state championships and regional championships in mountain biking, cyclocross, and road racing. Primarily a road racer with a mountain bike background, I quickly became a cyclocross champion and found my bike handling skills helped me survive amongst the hardest races in North America.
As my career has progressed, American street track racing or Criterium racing has become most
popular. Now I compete in fifty to seventy criteriums per year. I finished seventh overall in the national criterium calendar (NCC) series in 2014 and third in 2015, despite being diagnosed with type 1 diabetes in April 2014. I am currently the PA state criterium champion in the pro/elite category, and the 35+ age category.
At the end of the 2013, after founding Team Skyline and racing a long season as a one-man team, I started to fatigue. My life was forever changed when I was diagnosed with latent autoimmune diabetes in adults (LADA), also known as late onset type 1 diabetes. I was racing, undiagnosed, from the end of the 2013 season to the beginning of the 2014 season, lacking my usual power. I went on a winning spree once I introduced insulin into my body and started to get healthy again.
One week after being released from the hospital, I was on the podium with an Olympian. I inspire my rivals and upcoming professional cyclists with my ability to compete and win races with type 1 diabetes, as well as those with any disability. Through my success as a cyclist and diabetic, we will continue Winning the Race with Diabetes.
The number of people with diabetes has risen to over 420 million
Starting this foundation allows us to make a difference through these objectives:
- Promote Winning the Race with Diabetes, while racing in high-visibility race around the world
- Host events and speaking engagements in universities, schools, YMCA’s, and Boys’ & Girls’ Clubs
- Work directly with local chambers of commerce, diabetic support groups, and interscholastic/collegiate cycling teams in each race city
- Host group rides starting out of bicycle shops that are official dealers of sponsoring brands
- Discuss general diabetes awareness – differences between type 1 and type 2 diabetes, links to obesity, and weight management
- Describe effective diabetic management before, during, and after exercise
- Discuss training methods, nutrition, riding/racing tactics, and provide motivation for people with diabetes
- Describe the latest diabetic technology used to stay healthy and competitive at the highest level, as well as bikes and other equipmen