Please join us in welcoming John Kramarz to the Ride to Cure Diabetes coaching team.  John will be working with Team Mid Jersey riders to reach their training goals throughout the 2013 ride season and accompanying part of the team to Lake Tahoe, California in September.  He is riding/coaching in honor of his daughter Kellie who has T1D and Celiac Disease.  Team Mid Jersey also has riders attending Burlington, VT; La Crosse, WI; Nashville, TN; and Death Valley, CA.

Read John’s story (in his own words) below:

I’m 48 and live in Ewing, NJ with my wonderful wife and 2 great daughters, and a Chihuahua.  I was asked to coach the Mid Jersey Breakthrough T1D cycling program and hope to meet everyone soon, on the road. Until then, I’ll say a little about how I got here. I think it was “Breaking Away”, back in the late 70s that drew me into cycling. I didn’t get
a bike until sometime in high school, a Raleigh Reliant. I remember my dad asking if I really wanted a bicycle in the 10th grade “since I would be driving soon?”. I moved on to a Lotus Classique and kept that through college. Shortly after college, I was a bit out of shape, and got back into riding. A new Lotus Legend and membership in the Princeton Freewheelers got me in great riding condition. I even did some racing and moved to a Serotta, which I ride today.

I married Karen, and when we had children, there just wasn’t time to ride, it seemed, and so I didn’t. Our second child, Kellie, was born 03/30/03. Three is usually thought of as a “lucky number”, right? It’s debatable. When Kellie was 3, she was diagnosed Type 1.  While trying to learn about what this would mean for her, I looked online for information and within a few days of diagnosis, I was reading about Team Type 1 and how they won the RAAM. I had read about Lon Haldeman and others in this epic endurance race back when I was in high school, and

if people with Type 1 could enter, and WIN the event, then I KNEW my daughter could have a great life ahead of her.

At the time, some relatives were treating the diagnosis as meaning Kellie would live the life of a china doll, protected in a curio cabinet, delicate and protected from sudden breezes. They would have killed the person she is today at 10. Full of life and energy, on competition dance teams, riding our tandem recently, and an excellent student as well, I have to give a lot of thanks to Phil Southerland, for his dream of Team Type 1.

Kellie was also diagnosed with Celiac, and at the time, it was not as easy as it is today to find “Gluten Free” food. We baked a lot of bread, and made a lot of friends among those who live with Type 1 AND Celiac. Most of those friends seemed to be in the South Jersey area, where an energetic lady ran a support group and hosted pool parties. Everyone brought Gluten Free dishes and the kids could eat everything there, test their
blood sugar, pump or shoot Insulin all day long.  It was almost cool to have Diabetes, or at least redefine “normal”, for a day. The support group organizer’s husband told me about how he was getting into bike riding, and how much better he felt. This was a year before I jumped back into riding, but he was probably the one that planted the seed a year earlier.

In early 2012 my mother passed away, and I was feeling like an out of shape zombie. The last year of her life was very stressful for our family, and I was about 235 lb and miserable. On top of that, a friend and business associate, maybe 8 years older than I, had just gone in for a triple bypass. “It’s now or never” the old song says. I turned back to my old friend, the bike! I didn’t focus on numbers and speeds, but instead to fall in love again with riding. I used Endomondo on my phone to track my rides, and log them.  It was some slow progress, and I had to have wheels rebuilt for the “235 lb John” who kept breaking the spokes on wheels the “145 lb John” had bought in the early 90s! It worked.

I loved the feeling of releasing stress from everyday life.

I’m self employed and the only one working in our family, so stress is abundant. The weight was slowly going down, but I could feel the muscle and strength going up, so one number didn’t tell the whole picture.

Last year, some of my South Jersey friends were involved with “Hope on 2 Wheels”, where they rode from NYC to DC in one long day for Diabetes Awareness. I went to a cheering section in Yardville, where I grew up, to take pictures when Hope passed through, and the relay teams changed. They did the ride as a relay, so every person rode about 120 miles or so. I took a few pictures and talked to the riders that just finished riding. Inside, I was only thinking “I should be ON this ride!”. I was getting intodecent shape at the time, and now I felt like the train was leaving the station, leaving me behind. They asked me if I “was riding Vermont?”.“I don’t know…I’m thinking about it..” I did think about it, but I was worried it was too late. I was worried I’d never be able to collect enough money. Worry, worry, worry. One of the riders stuck in my head, a larger than life character, named Mike Chadwick. I forget exactly what he said, but the “don’t worry” message stuck! I signed up for the Burlington Breakthrough T1D ride about June 30th! A nice lady from Breakthrough T1D contacted me a few days later, and at one point asked “you know you have like 10 days before the ride, right?”.  I guess I work well under pressure. On ride day, I was $100 or so over my goal. What a weekend though! It really was life changing.We drove up to Vermont. I brought two bikes, extra parts, my wife and kids, and even our dog ! During the ride, I rode with a group of 6 folks. I only knew Rick, who’s wife started the Celiac/Type 1 support group, but the other five were very strong riders. Three of the group were actually Type 1.

When we went home, all I could think was “well…now I know what I’m doing every Summer!”.