What do you think about "While spending hours cycling?"

This is a question I have been asked often over the last year or so since I started spending upwards of two to three hours a day, a few times a week, riding my bicycle either on the road or around one of the trails which I recently discovered in the Halifax area.

It can be a hard question, there being so many possible answers. Some days it would be easy, sorting through work issues, planning what needs to be done at home etc, any number of everyday thoughts that being out on the road, for an extended period of time (alone) gives you the chance to ponder and assimilate. The sound of the wind in your ears, the various sounds that your bike makes as you roll across different surfaces, seems to allow me to focus on only those things that matter while clearing out those thoughts that just get in the way.

Some days just seem to click and you feel like you fly and some days are a constant struggle, to get comfortable on the bike, constantly worrying about the traffic, breathing hard, legs feel like lead, not feeling up to another ride or, worse than anything, getting some goofy song or ad jingle stuck in my head, having to listen to it play over and over for a couple of hour - the whole time watching the clock on my bike computer mover by so slow that I am sure I am riding through some time warp that will never end, just wanting to quite and walk it home.

It was on one of these days when every turn of the pedals seemed to be an effort and I was sure that one of the kids had changed my seat position on the bike it was that uncomfortable - one complaint in my head after another - that it came to me. This must be a little bit like what my daughter (and other diabetics) go through every day; an ongoing cycle of blood testing, counting every carbohydrate in everything she eats, administering insulin, changing insulin infusion sites, having to eat or drink even when you may not want to (3:00am low) having blood glucose highs and lows...but unlike me on the bike, she can't just jump off and walk it home. Diabetes does not take a break.

My incentive - that goes without saying - Megan! The proverbial "carrot" - that a cure is attainable through research! Research is expensive and can I really raise enough funds to make a difference? The answer is YES, baby steps.

$1,000.00 = analysis of 50 diabetic blood samples,

$3,000.00 = thorough molecular characterization of the cells,

$5,000.00 = optimization of the protocol for the expansion of human cells in culture,

$10,000.00 = allows a preclinical study in mice, the necessary step prior to establishing a

phase 1 study,

$15,000.00 = testing safety of the protocol in mice before attempting it in humans.

So, I will keep pedaling, one hill at a time, if you can help please use the following link to make a donation that will allow this type of research to continue. http://bit.ly/gjpaDQ