Sweet Victory

It's amazing to me how quickly things have come together for the July 7th ride. The first thing I've been shocked to learn is how willing the politicians would be to meet with me. Consider this: given the fact that I have a tight schedule to keep, I didn't give them any choice in the matter. I told them the day I want to come and the time I want to come. The results? All 10 offices are welcoming me. In 5 cases, I'll be meeting with the politicians, themselves and in the other 5 cases, I'll be meeting with staff members. That says a lot about the political process, and I'm quite impressed What needs to happen, yet? Well, a few things. 1) Iron out the maps. While I've done 1 set of maps, coming out to 83.3 miles, I'm going to revisit them again. It's not about going 83.3 miles, after all - but about getting to all 10 offices. If I can find an 80 mile route, we'll take it. 2) Nail down my elevator pitch. If I average 16 mph (a reasonable assumptio

8 hours. 480 minutes. 28,800 seconds. What can you accomplish? On July 7th, 2011, I'm going to find out. Here's what I'm hoping to do: 1.) Visit all 10 of the State Representatives in Lancaster and Lebanon County at their offices. If they won't meet w/ me, at least meet with their staff. 2.) Introduce them to a healthy Type 1 diabetic athlete. 3.) Obtain their support for HB 1338, a bill designed to give school children more options for controlling diabetes in the classroom. Full text here . 4.) Travel from office to office to office by bike. 83.3 miles. You can see the map here . There's so much that could go wrong. I could have a bad blood sugar day, and leave the legislators with the idea that diabetes is impossible to control. I could flat out or ride too slowly and throw the entire itinerary hopelessly out of whack. I could speak inarticulately and be unable to convey the importance of the bill or why I'm doing something so radical to get their support.

Disclaimer: I'm going to write about a subject I have little business writing about - being the parent of a diabetic child. I avoid this subject, for the most part, because though I know the disease intimately, I don't know what it's like to have a child w/ the disease. So, humor me, ok? So my wife's a school teacher, 6th grade to be exact. Not surprisingly, she's got a soft spot for the handful of diabetic kids and shares many of their stories with me. As you can imagine, they run the gamut from the kids who are already managing it with military-like precision to the kids that don't give a rip and everywhere in between. Though she's periodically asked for my advice, this was the first year she suggested I meet one of the diabetic students. Her and the nurse both felt that said kid was entirely motivated to manage the disease better but wasn't getting the support he needed at home, for many reasons that extend beyond motivation: education, language, etc.