Today’s post is written by guest blogger Dr. Roger Phelps, a VSP provider in Ojai, California. Dr. Phelps is also a certified diabetes educator.
Diabetes is becoming more and more prevalent, but still many patients either don’t know they have the disease or don’t take the proper preventative steps. Those preventative steps include not only keeping A1C levels as low as possible, but also getting an annual eye exam to check for any signs of trouble with the blood vessels.
As an optometrist and a type 1 diabetic, I am very passionate about controlling diabetes because of the damage it can do to the eyes without proper care. I sat down with Phil Southerland of Team Type 1, who is equally passionate about diabetes, and he shared with me why he takes going to the eye doctor so seriously.
When Phil Southerland was a baby, his parents were told his diabetes would make him blind. They were also told he would likely not live past the age of 25. Phil said he has never let diabetes determine what he could do with his life; he just made the necessary adjustments.
“I get regular eye exams to make sure my diabetes hasn’t affected the blood vessels in my eyes. I know it’s really important, and I want to keep the great vision that I have.”
Now 29, Phil uses exercise, diet and insulin to manage his diabetes and is thriving. He is the founder and CEO of Team Type 1, an organization committed to educating and empowering people with diabetes worldwide.
VSP® Vision Care is proud to be the exclusive eyecare and eyewear provider for Team Type 1. For more information about eyecare for people with diabetes, visit the Diabetes Discovery Center.
Vladimir Efimkin leads teammate Rubens Bertogliati into a breakaway on stage four at the USA Pro Cycling Challenge.
Team Type 1 has been cycling through Colorado competing in the USA Pro Cycling Challenge. While racing hundreds of miles in often extremely sunny conditions, sunwear becomes crucial to protecting the riders’ vision as well as to enabling their top performance. The team wears Nike Vision sunglasses to reduce glare and keep the sun out of their eyes so they can relax their eyes and focus on the race. The team also has extra interchangeable lenses, which they can quickly swap out as the light conditions change, to ensure they always see their best.
In the sunny fourth stage of the race, Vladimir Efimkin paced ahead of the group and took home the Most Courageous jersey. Efimkin is a Tour de France stage winner who retired last year and returned to professional racing in August.
“I’m feeling better and better every day. This race has been a great place to come back to cycling and find my legs,” Efimkin said.
About Team Type 1 and VSP Vision Care
Team Type 1 is a group of athletes affected by diabetes. The team includes professional race teams, a triathlon team and a development team. Team Type 1 strives to instill hope and inspiration for people around the world affected by diabetes. VSP® Vision Care is proud to be their exclusive eyecare and eyewear provider.
To learn more about the importance of routine vision care, particularly related to diabetes, visit VSP’s Diabetes Discovery Center.
To learn more about Nike Vision eyewear, visit nikevision.com.
Our professional cyclist friends at Team Type 1 recently participated and finished a nine-day Tour of Rwanda. This race was special in that they had a greater mission than just racing. They brought 35,000 test strips and 350-plus glucose monitors to help children in Rwanda diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes, donated by sponsors Sanofi Aventis, Abbott Diabetes and of course VSP Vision Care. During their trip, the team also met with the health ministry and set out a plan to assist the Rwanda Diabetes Association for the next three years.
As for the race, the team finished together in Kigali after 1117 kilometers on the road and more than 13,000 meters of climbing.
Congratulations to Team Type 1 for completing the race and a special thank you for helping the diabetes community here in the U.S. and all over the world.
About Team Type 1 and VSP Vision Care
Team Type 1 is a group of athletes living with diabetes. The team includes professional race teams, a triathlon team and a development team. Team Type 1 strives to instill hope and inspiration for people around the world affected by diabetes. VSP® Vision Care is proud to be their exclusive eyecare and eyewear provider.
Team Type 2 officially finished Race Across America (RAAM) in 7 days, 15 hours, and 8 minutes. They began their 3,005-mile journey in Oceanside, California June 12 and crossed the finish line in Annapolis, Maryland June 20, in hopes to inspire others living with diabetes, to achieve their dreams.
All the riders in Team Type 2 participating in RAAM have type 2 diabetes.Team Type 2 rider Rob Coburn said “It’s one thing to control your blood sugar during a day at the office and a daily workout. But it’s really different when it’s 27 degrees at 9,000 feet above sea level three days into a race. It’s hard to explain…I thought the riding would be harder, but the logistics were so much a part of the success.” Team Type 2 is living proof to all patients with diabetes that their disease can be controlled through healthy eating, regular exercise and appropriate medication.
About Team Type 1 and VSP Vision Care
Team Type 1 is a group of athletes living with diabetes. The team includes professional race teams, a triathlon team and a development team. Team Type 1 strives to instill hope and inspiration for people around the world affected by diabetes. VSP® Vision Care is proud to be their exclusive eyecare and eyewear provider.
The win did not come without some bumps along the way. Rider Jeff Banninck was struck by a car, but was not severely injured and was back on his bike in no time. Another challenge came when rider Adam Driscoll lost a cleat when he tried to pull it out going 23 mph. He not only kept riding, but he increased his speed to around 30 mph – all this with only one cleat intact. The team came to the race to win and nothing else; they accomplished their goal and proved to the world that people with diabetes can do anything with a little hard work and determination.
Here are some words from a few of the riders in Team Type 1 about why they chose this team and what it means to them.
About Team Type 1 and VSP Vision Care
Team Type 1 is a group of athletes living with diabetes. The team includes professional race teams, a triathlon team and a development team. Team Type 1 strives to instill hope and inspiration for people around the world affected by diabetes. VSP® Vision Care is proud to be their exclusive eyecare and eyewear provider.
Team Type 1's Tom Kingery and Lonny Knabe switch leads on a flood plain outside of Alton, Illinois during Race Across America
Team Type 1′s Race Across America Update: Team Type 1 has been averaging 23.5 mph during the Race Across America and crew members suggest the team is, in fact, traveling faster, and may have a chance at beating its own 3,000+ mile record of 5 days, 9 hours and 3 minutes. Team captain Bob Schrank said Kansas was beautiful and they were lucky to have missed a massive storm that hit the night before which caused major flooding. Power was out and lines were down all over western Kansas.
The hills immediately started when they hit Missouri, and they just didn’t stop. The hills were difficult but the guys were thrilled to push each other to ride harder and faster. The team is hungry to break a record this year and plan on making the second half even faster than their first.
Personal update from Team Type 2 rider Rob Coburn: We are moving through Kansas. Now at Yates Center waiting for the transition to the other squad. One of our guys got sick last night so three of us went out about midnight local time and rode about 150 miles. It was a great night. We raced back and forth all night with another team and averaged 20.87 mph for about 35 miles.
We are just over half way through the course. The routine is working itself out and we are all adapting in ways you wouldn’t believe. Our crew is top-notch and essential to making all of this work. A huge thunder storm just went through, glad to still be in the RV. Chances are pretty good we’ll get wet at some point.
About Team Type 1 and VSP Vision Care
Team Type 1 is a group of athletes living with diabetes. The team includes professional race teams, a triathlon team and a development team. Team Type 1 strives to instill hope and inspiration for people around the world affected by diabetes. VSP® Vision Care is proud to be their exclusive eyecare and eyewear provider.
Over a quarter of the race down, and I’m somewhere in Colorado. The Milky Way is an incredible sight at night, and the Monument Valley just after sun up is truly breathtaking.
It’s 4 p.m. mountain time and I’m off to “bed”. We’re on the road for the next 3-plus hours in an RV to meet the squad that’s riding now. Sleep is hard to come by in shifts of approximately three hours in the RV. I’ll be back on the bike around 1:00 am, and there will be more climbing tonight.
We’ve logged 321 miles from Flagstaff, Arizona to Durango, Colorado in the past 24 hours at an average speed of 17.5 miles per hour. This puts a total of 857 miles behind Team Type 2, and we have 2,147 miles still to complete. Fortunately, the climbs and elevation of the Rocky Mountains will be complete soon, which will bring us to the rolling hills of Kansas and Missouri.
The team is really making good use of our Nike sunglasses which have replaceable lenses. I looked up as I was swapping out the dark lenses to the clear lenses for night riding and saw that two of my teammates were doing the same thing.
If you’re anywhere near our route, come out and cheer us on. We’d love to see you!
About Team Type 1 and VSP Vision Care
Team Type 1 is a group of athletes living with diabetes. The team includes professional race teams, a triathlon team and a development team. Team Type 1 strives to instill hope and inspiration for people around the world affected by diabetes. VSP® Vision Care is proud to be their exclusive eyecare and eyewear provider.
Jerry Willis is a member of Team Type 1′s Elite Team and is competing in the Race Across America. He’ll be providing exclusive updates for VSP throughout the race. Here’s a video Jerry recorded before the race started. He shares about his dream to compete in this race and why he got involved with Team Type 1.
Good luck this week, Jerry!
About Team Type 1 and VSP Vision Care
Team Type 1 is a group of athletes living with diabetes. The team includes professional race teams, a triathlon team and a development team. Team Type 1 strives to instill hope and inspiration for people around the world affected by diabetes. VSP® Vision Care is proud to be their exclusive eyecare and eyewear provider.
Guest blog from Rob Coburn. Rob is a rider with Team Type 2and writes about his journey and team goal for the upcoming race, Race Across America.
I’m Rob Coburn, a rider on Team Type 2, and a member of this year’s team set to take on Race Across America (RAAM). On Thursday, June 10th, 8 of us and a fantastic support crew met up in Oceanside, California to get ready to take off on a week-long, 24 hours-a-day adventure. We will be racing against other teams from around the world on a 3,000 mile route that ends in Annapolis, Maryland. The race starts on Saturday, June 12 at 2 p.m. PST. Our goal this year is to finish in less than 7 days.
Our team wears Nike cycling sunglasses throughout the race and I leave them in my helmet every time I get off the bike to make sure that they’re there for the next ride.
A bit of background on me: I’m 46 and on a mission to manage my diabetes and raise awareness of what people with Type 2 diabetes can achieve. Everyone on our team has type 2 diabetes and we all are acutely aware of the importance of regular eye exams and eye protection. I’m fairly new to cycling at this level and have been training for about a year. I found out I was on the race team in February and have been training just for RAAM since then.
I’ll be providing updates before and during the race to let everyone know how we are doing. I’ll try to include some action shots, but it may be difficult depending on where we are.
If you want, shoot questions back to the blog site and I’ll work with the administrator to try and capture a few to answer during the race. So stay tuned for a wild ride!
About Team Type 2 and VSP Vision Care
Team Type 2 is a group of athletes living with diabetes. Team Type 2 strives to instill hope and inspiration for people around the world affected by diabetes. VSP® Vision Care is proud to be their exclusive eyecare and eyewear provider.
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