Sunday, April 11, 2010

Its All About The Bottom Line

Riding for the Cure is all about the bottom line, raising funds to support research to find a cure for diabetes! Training for the Ride to Cure Diabetes is something that can be tough from time to time. However, before I get into the thick of training for 2010, I wanted to be sure I was up on the latest diabetes statistics.

Upon completion of very scientific research (compliments of Google, sorry bing), I learned about a few interesting stats that I'd like to share briefly.

- The US is currently #3 in the world for diabetes prevalence with an estimate 26.8. million. India and China are #1 and #2 with 50.8 and 43.2 million cases, respectively.

- If a cure is not found by 2030, diabetes cases will increase to at least 36 million in the US alone.

- Well over 200,000 people die annually in the US due to diabetes and its complications. The CDC reports that in 2000 diabetes was the 6th leading cause of death in US.

There are also a few misconceptions about diabetes that I wanted to dispel.

- Type 1 diabetes is caused by a complete ceasing of insulin production in ones pancreas. In a type 1 diabetic (like myself), the pancreas completely quits working and therefore it is necessary to take insulin from another source (shots, insulin pump, etc.). Type 1 diabetes is not preventable.

- Type 2 diabetes is when someones pancreas is still producing some insulin but their body is simply not able to process the insulin correctly any longer. The #1 cause of type 2 diabetes is obesity and type 2 is the most common type of diabetes in the world today. Type 2 is sometimes, but not always, preventable.

- In some cases, both Type 1 and Type 2 diabetes is linked to genetics. However, in many cases, there is not any genetic link (for instance, there is not any known diabetes in any of my immediate family).

* Most stats noted are per the IDF, International Diabetes Federation. The misconceptions noted above are from a number of sources.

Sunday, April 4, 2010

JDRF 2010 Ride Video

Learn more about the Ride to Cure Diabetes and the 2010 effort by watching the short video below!

Saturday, April 3, 2010

The First Ride

Welcome to the 2010 edition of the The Shafer Ten Year Team blog!

Last year was the first time that we participated in JDRF's Ride to Cure Diabetes event. It was a great experience and with your support, we raised almost $9,000 for diabetes research to help find a cure for the devastating disease as well as its complications. When we set out to train and fundraise for the 2009 event, we did not know how great the experience would truly be. Throughout the training we learned about the physical demands caused by cycling. Throughout the fundraising we learned about the generosity of our family, friends, neighbors, co-workers, and the community. Finally, throughout the "Ride Weekend" in Sonoma, we were reminded that we are not alone in our fight for a cure. The whole experience was certainly life changing in several ways and now we are poised to do it all over again in 2010.

I will be riding in Death Valley, CA on October 16th in what is JDRF's most popular ride destination. Death Valley was also the first location to ever host a Ride to Cure Diabetes event over a decade ago. Jessica and I will be training and fundraising together and this year's goal is $3,000. At the event this year, Jessica will be volunteering and I will be shooting to finish the 105 mile route in the hot California desert!

Please, join us again on the journey as we continue to fight for a cure for diabetes and its complications through the support of research. If you are not familiar with our ride experience from 2009, you can visit last year's blog at
http://10yearcure.blogspot.com/. Of course, you will be able to find out the latest with our progress for this year by visiting this site often and by following us on twitter at http://twitter.com/aashafer.

Stay tuned for more information and thank you in advance for your support!


- Andrew