Dehydration

Nate and I have had many conversations after a ride about how amazed we are that the heat and humidity doesn't bother us once we start riding.  Heading home from work I have the A/C on to cut down on the humidity at the same time knowing that once I get home, I'm changing my clothes and going for a ride in this weather!  We both get lots of people telling us that they can't believe that we are going to go out and ride after working all day AND in this heat!

Truth be told, it's not bad once we get out there!  With the exception of when we're on a Rails to Trails path that will run through woods, we ride on the open road and there is usually always some kind of a breeze to help cool you down!  I have read that you are suppose to drink 4-6 oz every 15 mins, even if you aren't thirsty, to prevent dehydration.  I am *horrible* about drinking water!  Knowing this, I try to hydrate if I know that I'm going to skate or bike after work.  This was not the case on Sunday!

We went to a Relay for Life Cornhole Tournament in the afternoon and sweated our butts off, but we took 3rd place!  Because I had gotten a new seat for my bike and wasn't sure about it yet, I wanted to go for a short ride.  The more we got out, the more we decided to ride further.  After about 15 miles of what ended up being a 40 mile ride, I was feeling it.  My tell-tale sign that I'm dehydrated is a headache, and I had one that just wouldn't go away!  Even though we made it a point to get a drink at every stop sign we came to, both of us were wiped out! 

Being out of water and Gatorade, we stopped to refill the bottles at the bike path.  We had it planned out so that we way we went home would put us right at 50 miles, but I started feeling sick to my stomach when I got off the bike, so we agreed that we'd take the short, direct route instead.  I *hate* riding on 235 any more than I have to, but at this point I didn't care!

I've learned my lesson!  I am really enjoying being out on the bike and I don't want to do anything to ruin that feeling, I definitely don't want to feel like that on another ride again!

My Hopes

Not only is it physically demanding to ride 100 miles, but it requires a lot of fundraising - between $2,000 and $4,000!  The amount alone has put it off because I wasn't sure if I could raise that much money.  But I'm at the point now where I look at it as "Yes, it's a lot of money to raise, but that is $4k that will do a lot of research!" There are two areas that I would like to see them apply that money towards the research, development, and FDA approval of.

My hopes for the future of Type 1 Diabetes:
1). Prevention. If T1D is not triggered by genetics then it is caused by a virus that triggers the immune system to attack the beta cells.  It's hard to figure out what virus causes it because by the time T1D is diagnosed, the virus is long out of the system.  The best way to cure something is to prevent it.

2). Islet Cell Transplants.  There are many reasons why I am all for this transplant and to me, this is the greatest hope of a cure for current T1Ds.

First reason is because of promising successes that they've had so far such as this one! The cells can come from a variety of sources.  It use to be that they had to have two donated pancreases for one transplant, but now they are doing it as long as they can get enough viable cells from one!  They are working on the feasability of using cells from pigs!  Read more about the Spring Point Project here.

Second is that it seems like it wouldn't have such drastic consequences if there is rejection.  The body could easily dispel the cells, rather than having to have surgery to remove a whole organ.

At any rate, any progress is better than none!  And having heard of the progress that they have made with treatments over the past 50 years, I'm optimistic.  Above anything else, I hope that Ellee sees some kind of relief in her lifetime!