Arssa Blanca

(Image courtesy Marco Quezada )

In between throwing up, continual nauseousness, three courses of antibiotics and a recurring kidney infection, I recently attended four days of Team Type 1s training camp for 2009.

There are new faces this year. A truckload of new faces.

Thats because the team has expanded to now consist of:
a pro womens team;
a pro mens team;
a development and elite racing squad (including a type one team to race RAAM);
a triathlon squad; and
a Team Type 2, consisting of riders with type two diabetes. This team will compete in the eight person RAAM division in June.

Development/Elite Squad - everyone here has type one diabetes. My bike - featured in the photo - is also deformed.

Team Type 2 (and my bike)

Other confirmed news is that I will not be racing RAAM this year. Oh, the relief!!!

Instead, I will be part of the pro womens team which is extremely exciting and has a fantastic lineup of experience and emerging talent. Wow. Thanks to Marco Quezada for his photography:

Jen McRae, Jackie Crowell, Sam Schneider, Kori Seehafer, Morgan Patton, Me, Veronica Leal Balderas and Alison Powers.

The team will be directed by Jack Seehafer.

Morgan and myself have type one diabetes. The remaining women are just kick arse on the bike. And great company.

Other news to emerge from the TT1 factory is the increasing sponsorship of insulin manufacturer, Sanofi Aventis. Lantus, the long acting insulin, has come on board as a sponsor. As I use a pump 100% of the time, I don't use this product. This is not new though, as in 2007 the team was sponsored by Symlin, a product which I also never used. I do however have a ton of experience with Apidra, the short acting insulin, and feature on their website as part of their intro videos.

My commitment for Team Type 1 at this stage is to take a leave of absence from my work and spend five months racing the pro womens circuit in the US. I somehow need to prepare for this phase by combining training with current work commitments. Being sick at the moment is not assisting, but I am anxious to sort this out asap to clear the path for preparation. Speaking of which, I have a doctors appoint in 45 mins..

But the biggest news of all is that in 2009, the lycra will be white. On the arse.

White arses.

Thats right.

And true to form, they don't stay clean. Even if its dry, they get black marks from the saddle on them. Teammates helpfully suggest soaking in various bleaches, and all sorts of pre wash treatments. My question is: how the hell can you arrange all of this while living out of a suitcase on the road, in and out of hotels/motels?? Time will tell..

It could be worse though. We could have had the triathlon teams uniforms: