diabetes, Stage 1 and cell phones....

Howdy,
More photos here.
So toady was stage 1 of the Tour de Taiwan, which was also my first race as a pro, and also my first race with this rock star team... So here is an approximation of how the day went. Woke up at 6am with a blood sugar of 320... Not a great way to start the day. Why? Well, my metabolism was flying last night so I backed of my lantus by a bit too much. I might even venture to say that I was mildly ketonic upon waking as I had to do a lot of Apidra to finally get down. I ate enough food and espresso so I was good to go. 1.5hrs before race 132, 1 hr 155... I had been eating a good bit to make sure I did not go hypo.

Then 45 minutes before start 232, 30 minutes to go, and I am 254. Do .5 units. 15 minutes to go 297, so I did 1 unit more of Apidra, and ate some food. Started race and was feeling good. Ate 1/2 a cliff bar, and some other goods. Now the race is on...

Early on there was a flury of attacks. We had a guy in just about every move. Chris Jones was SUPER active early on. Then Emile and I covered some moves, and Shawn and Valeri were rocking it out at the front. First sprint, and we went to set the Trinidadian Torpedo Emile up. It was us battling Health Net. I screwed up and did not go early enough, and could only manage to get Emile up to 2nd wheel. He held it for the sprint. Then some recovery, and then covering attacks. We went to set him up for the 2nd, and I did not do a great job, but he still managed 2nd. After this my gas was going out. I could cover moves, but not stick them too long.

Juice was going. I had 2 cliff shots, 1 bottle gatorade, and then 1 Dex 4 liquid blast. Lights were going out. Last 10 laps I could get close to front, and then would fade. Then I was hurting to hold wheels, and even the easy gears were hard. I knew I was bonking. 10 minutes post stage, Blood sugar was 68, which is way too low to race properly. Valeri and Chris busted there humps, and road like supermen to bring back a 17 second gap down to 7, and then Shawn launched a leadout which nearly closed it. Sprint got tricky, and we did not do so hot.

With the sprint seconds Emile is now in 5th, with a 120km stage tomorrow. Cell phone story to come tomorrow, as I am ready for bed at 7pm.
Thanks for reading.
Philpott
www.teamtype1.org

Taiwan Baby!!!

Howdy from Kaosiung

So we have arrived in Taiwan, and it is an interesting place. First of all, there are more scooters than any where else in the entire world (that I have visited.) Reminds me of the days in college going around on one in Athens, GA. Now add a Nascar/F1 feel to it, and that is Taiwan. The people have all been extremely friendly, and have been very helpful. I think it is a lot of fun communicating when you have no clue what the other is saying. It is a challenge that I think that makes you feel all warm and fuzzy when you achieve the goal. Check out the picture there. That is how coffee is done... Tasted ok, but looked super cool.

So I am over here with defending champ, Shawn Milne, Chris Jones, Emile Abraham, and Valeri Gobzerenko to race with. We have big goals for this one, and will take it day by day. For staff, we have El Director Ed Beamon, Super Mechanic Doug Berner, and The "I make your legs feel real good via food, drink, and massage man" Jeremy Fliss. All in all after a 3 hour trip to LA from camp, a 14 hour flight, 5 hrs in the airport, and then a 4.5 hour bus ride, everyone seems to be in a pretty good mood. Racing starts tomorrow, and I will try to update with y side of it.
Camp was awesome and low and behold we got accepted to the Tour fo Georgia. If I make the roster for the team, which I plan on busting my arse to do, then I would personally like to invite you to come to the finish of Brasstown Bald to push me up the mountain...ha

Real quick on camp: The team is great. All the pros and devo team got some riding in together, and the pro team w/o diabetes all made a huge effort to learn about diabetes, and what foods do to the body. The guys were all using their own FreeStyle Lite meters to check appx 10-15 times per day to live a day, or a week in the life. Great fun, and with the guys we have, I think it is going to be an awesome year. Big congrats to Tom Schuler, Ed Beamon, and Bob Shrank for Roster selections, as we have an AWESOME team!

So please wish us luck, not only in the race, but with the getting around and not getting hit by a scooter. One last pic of the boyz and I getting in after our ride last night!
Thanks for reading. Have a great night.

Philpott

Camp Time!!!

Howdy! So life has been good out west here. Training is on, and now our mini house is packed full of teammates. Since last post, I managed to squeeze in a good week of 24 hours, and then a light week here with only 15 hours, and a few cities. I have been having a few issues on the bike lately, so went to see Joe LaCaze out of Lafayette LA, who gave me some exercises, and guidance to straighten myself out. After that, I headed to Tyler TX to see John Cobb, who in my opinion is the bike fit master-mind. After seeing these two, I felt great on the bike again, and am ready to hit the racing circuit for 08!

Tomorrow we begin camp! This is good since I have had 2 bike racers, Dan and Fabio who moved into our house, and my room in Carp. What does this mean? Bike racers can live out of a suitcase for an entire year. We pack too much of everything, and then seem to wear the same stuff every day...Both of these guys brought all of their goods for the year and put it all in my room, which was already too small for me.

So camp means that I get to go to a hotel for the week, and finally have some space. At camp, we are starting the Team Type 1 documentary while the entire team gets together for the 1st time!!! We will also have my author John Hanc out to witness the event, and all of the pieces of the team come together. We will be riding, eating, sleeping TT1 for the next week, and getting ready to rock the racing world this year. A bit too much blah blah blah here, so hopefully I will have some exciting details post camp.

Books read on last trip: The Appeal by John Grisham- good book which passed the time.
Right now on "Into Thin Air" which is interesting to date.
Next; World Without an End, which should get me through the flight to Taiwan...

Ciao!

California riding and nanny's

Howdy... is always the word of the day while on the bike. It has been fun watching the Boston boy, Jesse Anthony adopt the word, and now each and every person we see on the road gets at least one, if not 2 "Howdy's" Entertaining for all, and bringing the south, to SoCal...

Lately, I have been doing a lot of 2-a-day workouts in hopes of speeding the metabolism and losing some lb.s. If I were not racing professionally, I would be happy with weight right now. But I know that if I want to be good, or be my best, then I can lost up to 7-9lb.s to do so. The trick is to do it slow, and time it right, as to not get sick. Riding in the am, then nap, then ride in pm, and then a salad for dinner has made it so my insulin requirements drop drastically. I was able to drop appx 3.5lbs in 1 week, hope to do the same this week, and then another 2-3 at camp so that I go into the Tour of Taiwan at 145lb.s Over 7 days of racing, I should lose another 2-3, and if I can stay there for the year, hills will be my friend again (maybe.)

So what I have learned about the SoCal lifestyle is that just about everyone I meet is a nanny. For the ladies who do this, I think it is great in that they get paid well to raise kids. Most people pay money to raise them. It just strikes me as odd, as back home in Tally, we had the village (so my mom calls it) where we were raised by our parents, and friends parents. You here all the hype about Brad and Angelina, and there 16 children (give or take) but what you don't here is that they also have 6 full time nannies raising the kids. Interesting stuff.

So the team is kicking butt in Malaysia, at tour of Langawi right now!!! Tied for first in team GC. These guys are setting the tone for 2008, and what Team Type 1 is going to stand for!
We have 13 days until camp begins, so should get five to seven, 4-6 hour days in, and form should be good.
That's about it for now. Have a great day!
Phil
www.teamtype1.org

News from Malaysia

Malaysian National News Agency writes on TeamType1 HERE

Training In Carpinteria

Howdy...
I must say, life is good. I have been living out of a small bungalow in Carpinteria, CA with my teammates Shawn Milne, and Jesse Anthony. I have one office in the kitchen, and another on the mountains of the local area. For the most part the weather has been good (sunny-60's) and training has been decent. We have all had a few minor set backs here and there, but it is to be expected when doing 20-27hr weeks at intensity. The riding is great. We can ride flat if need be, and ride hour long climbs as well. When I first got out here, I was super sensitive to my apidra. had to back the basals way off for a week of training, and was eating like a horse. Sense then, things have settled, and I seem to be in a rhythm. Tues was a 5.5 hr day, and tomorrow should be about the same. I am getting stronger, with hopes of being ready to help win some stages at the Tour of Taiwan on march 9-15. I hope all is well, and thanks for following.
More to come on basals and what food I am eating on rides soon. Time for a massage, which has been quite painful as of late, but is helping the legs stay good.
Have a great night.

Phil
www.teamtype1.org

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Am I actually writing a blog? It took me 57 tries, and Joanna holding my hand, but I think is finally complete... stay tune for updates.
Thanks,
Phil