Support Me in Tour de Cure!


I'm at it again. This year I will be cycling in the American Diabetes Association's Tour de Cure fund-raising event. Some explanation of this newest level of insanity is below.

Help Support Me on This Ride

As some of you know, I have gone on bike rides for charity before. I find them a great way to not only stay active, but to do something useful while I am (let's be honest here) having a good time riding around on my bike.
But the rides themselves can be challenging. This Tour de Cure will be seven days, covering 550 miles of terrain in Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and Vermont. And there's nothing better to help keep me going during a ride like that than the support of family and friends.
So please donate what you can to enable my crazy hobby, and, moreover, to support this worthy cause.


      Proof that I have a bike. And fans.


Why Ride for Diabetes?

This is a fairly good question. Fortunately, there is no one in my family who has diabetes, so this is not immediately personal for me. (CORRECTION! After reading this page, my Aunt Phyllis informed me that my "great grandmother on your mother's side died of diabetes. Also. [she] had a cousin in that gene line, [her] father's nephew, who died of the very same disease." I can't figure out the relationship of her cousin to me, but anyway the point is that there ARE people in my family who have had diabetes.)
But it is personal for a lot of people. The ADA reports that there are 20.8 million children and adults in the United States, or 7% of the population, who have diabetes. And one of these people (that would be 0.00000034% of the population for those of you who insist on doing the math) is my daughter Tatiana's friend Eleanor, shown in this picture. (Yes, as if diabetes weren't enough, she also lives in a tree. It's very sad.) It's amazing to me that Eleanor's body has trouble generating energy, because she has, pound-for-pound, more energy than anything I have ever seen. And I used to do nuclear physics. Much of this energy seems to be used to power her mouth, but that's another story.
                     Eleanor. In a tree.

Also, let's think about what diabetes is for a second. According to the ADA, "Diabetes is a disease in which the body does not produce or properly use insulin. Insulin is a hormone that is needed to convert sugar, starches and other food into energy needed for daily life." What better disease to fight by riding a ridiculous distance than one that prevents people from converting food into energy? (And, thus, may prevent them from riding ridiculous distances.) Makes sense to me!
This year's ride will be for Eleanor, and others like her dealing with diabetes. (Although I highly doubt there is anyone else quite like Eleanor.) Each mile I ride, each dollar I raise will be used in the fight to prevent and cure diabetes and to improve the lives of all people affected by it.
So, as the boilerplate text on this page says, "No matter how small or large, your generous gift will help improve the lives of more than 20 million Americans who suffer from diabetes, in the hope that future generations can live in a world without this disease. Together, we can all make a difference!"