The DiaBadass Tour, which launched on Wednesday, January 10 in San Clemente, visited 2 of us long-time T1’s for lunch on Monday, January 15, 2018! You are probably just shaking your heads and asking, WHAT?
A DiaBadass: A Person who has diabetes and is a diaBadass. And the DiaBadass Tour is the brainchild of two Type 1 diabetics who will be touring the United States from January 10th to June 20th, to meet other diabetics, collecting stories of people who change the way others look at diabetes.www.DiaBadass.com
Erik Douds is a New York City based global traveler and endurance athlete who proves that people living with type 1 diabetes can achieve anything. He is a speaker and champion to a wide audience in the diabetic community through the Juvenile Diabetes Research Fund, Diabetes Sports Project, Connected in Motion, Diabetes Daily, and his own blog DiabetesAbroad.com. In the summer of 2017, Erik spent 5 months with two other Type 1 diabetics cycling across America.
Cassidy Robinson is an outdoor enthusiast from Southern California. She was a rider and Logistics Coordinator on Team Bike Beyond, made up of 18 T1 riders, traveling by bicycle across America for 70 days last summer. She appeared in the Bike Beyond documentary narrated by Victor Garber chronicling the team’s epic ten-week ride across the United States. If she ever decides to grow up, she wants to be a professional friend. You can find her on Instagram and Twitter @cassidyjaye_.
On their pitstop in Orange County, CA, they visited with me and my dear friend, Sharon, both of us long-timers who are definitely Diabadasses in the diabetes world. We lunched on salad, chips and guacamole … and talked and talked, as DiaBadass diabetics will do, for over 3 hours. We talked about coping with diabetes. We talked about what we eat (3 of us live a vegetarian lifestyle). We talked about reaching out in the diabetes community. We discussed the “loneliness” we can feel as diabetics. And we laughed, A LOT! We only stopped talking and laughing because it was getting close to dusk and Erik and Cassidy were traveling to their next stop by bicycle.
You can follow the The DiaBadass Tour and even influence where they go, help them set up groups to attend, and folks to interview. According to their website:
The community will decide where we go next. We’re making pitstops to speak with children, teenagers, adults, and health practitioners on how to charge into the unknown. Teams can invite us to join in Tough Mudders, regattas, or any competition across America. Hikers can come with us into the outdoors to roast s’mores. Maybe we will even hop in the cockpit of a jet to see if the g-force impacts blood sugar levels (hint: Erik really wants to fly in a jet.). If life is an open book, we invite you to add a chapter by sharing your story.
Want to help the DiaBadass Tour?
We all have a dream that seems a little out of reach. Sometimes, it only takes a small push to get there. We’re taking our diabadass selves out on the road for 6 months and we want you to join us!
- Nominate a diabadass
- Share your [challenge, obstacle, what you want to do, story]
- Put a pitstop on our map
- Teach us why people call you a diabadass
- Plan a diabadass event
- Get a diabadass tattoo
Go to www.DiaBadass.com to learn more and find out how you can be their next stop!
