Winning The Race With Diabetes

08/17/2026

12 YEARS AGO — LEARNING TO RACE WITH TYPE 1 DIABETES 🏁💙

This photo is from 12 years ago — racing in Grant Park just months after being diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes.

My life had been completely flipped upside down.

I was a small bike shop owner suddenly trying to navigate health insurance, medical coverage, and how to afford simply staying alive. Insulin, pumps, CGMs, supplies — everything came with a cost I wasn’t prepared for. Insulin alone was about $400 a month.

I rationed supplies. I stressed constantly. And even the one thing I knew best — racing a bike — suddenly felt uncertain.

But I raced anyway.

What I learned quickly is something no one really tells you at diagnosis: you never fully figure out Type 1 diabetes. It shifts, it challenges you, and just when you think you’ve adapted, it changes the rules again.

Over time, this became bigger than me.

It became a mission to make the path easier for those coming behind me.

I’ve taken this fight to Washington, D.C., organized awareness rides, and spoken about access to insulin, technology, and healthcare wherever I can. And I’ve kept racing — to lead by example.

There are still days when this disease breaks me down. On those days, I think about the kids fighting this same battle and the parents doing everything they can to keep them safe. I think about how unpredictable this condition is, and how hard it still is for so many to access the care they need.

At diagnosis, you’re essentially told: this is forever, and insulin is your lifeline.

That’s a heavy truth to give anyone — especially a child.

So 12 years later, I’m still here.

Still racing.

Still fighting.

Still speaking up.

And still trying to show every kid with Type 1 diabetes that while it may change your path — it will never decide your finish line.

💙 Winning The Race With Diabetes
NeverStopRacing

08/06/2026

Can an automated insulin delivery system keep up with endurance cycling? Let’s find out.

This Saturday, August 8, we’re rolling out at 8:00 AM from under the Champlain Bridge (Seaway) for a 108 km Diabetes Awareness Ride.

I’ll be putting my Omnipod® 5 and Dexcom G7 to the test in fully automated mode. The system will automatically increase insulin delivery when my glucose rises and reduce or suspend insulin delivery when my glucose begins to fall.

To fuel the ride, I’ll be using Hammer Nutrition products, targeting 60–80 grams of carbohydrate per hour while burning approximately 2,500 calories over three hours. That’s the real experiment—can an automated insulin delivery system keep blood glucose in range while balancing that level of energy expenditure and carbohydrate intake?

The ride will be casual and social until we’re south of Saint-Martin. Once we turn around onto the open roads, we’ll settle into a fast, smooth, organized pace—no attacks, no surging, just a good rotating group working together. The only competition is the traditional sprint to the top of the bridge at the finish.

Whether you’re living with diabetes, supporting someone who is, or just looking for a great South Shore ride, come join us.

📍 Meet: Under the Champlain Bridge (Seaway)
🗓 Saturday, August 8
🕗 8:00 AM
🚴 108 km

After the ride, we’ll head to El Gordo Taco Bar in Saint-Lambert for brunch.

Winning The Race With Diabetes 💙
Ride Fast. Don’t Die.

07/30/2026

🏆 Granby Criterium – Winning the Race With Diabetes

M2 Winner 🥇 | 3rd Overall

This race wasn’t won by accident. It was the result of preparation, experience, and carefully balancing insulin, nutrition, and race intensity.

I started the race at approximately 200 mg/dL with 2.5 units of active insulin on board and fueled with 30 grams of Hammer Nutrition HEED during the race.

The goal was simple: use the insulin to offset the adrenaline-induced rise in blood glucose while replacing the carbohydrates my muscles were burning.

Mission accomplished.

I stayed in my target range throughout the race and didn’t experience hypoglycemia until after crossing the finish line—exactly when my muscles began aggressively pulling glucose back into storage.

📊 Race Metrics

🥇 1st Place – Masters 2 (45–54)
🥉 3rd Overall – Combined M1/M2 Field

🚴 Distance: 35.9 km (22.3 mi)
⏱ Race Time: 50:25
⚡ Average Speed: 42.8 km/h (26.6 mph)
💨 Max Speed: 54.9 km/h (34.1 mph)

⚙️ Average Power: 259 W
🔥 Normalized Power: 333 W
💥 Peak Power: 1,269 W

❤️ Average Heart Rate: 156 bpm
❤️ Max Heart Rate: 183 bpm

🔄 Average Cadence: 84 rpm
🚵 Elevation Gain: 184 m (604 ft)

⚡ Total Work: 783 kJ
🔥 Estimated Energy Expenditure: ~783 kcal

🩸 Diabetes Metrics

📈 Starting Glucose: ~200 mg/dL
📉 Finish Glucose: ~175–180 mg/dL
💉 Active Insulin: 2.5 units
🥤 Carbohydrates During Race: 30 g Hammer Nutrition HEED
✅ Stayed in range throughout the race
✅ No hypoglycemia during competition
✅ Low blood sugar occurred after the finish as muscles replenished glycogen

A huge thank you to my Martin Swiss teammate David Giorsetto, who raced the 55+ event before jumping into my race to help keep me protected and in position when it mattered most. That’s the definition of a great teammate.

Type 1 diabetes doesn’t hand out victories—but with the right preparation, technology, nutrition, and discipline, it doesn’t have to stand in the way either.

Ride Fast. Don’t Die. 🩸🚴‍♂️🏁. 📸 Jeremie Justin Fontanaud daughter. 🙏🏼

CritRacing Cycling DiabetesAthlete RideFastDontDie MastersCycling InRange PoweredByInsulin

07/14/2026

Last Saturday, on my 47th birthday, I set out to ride 100 km around Circuit Gilles Villeneuve as fast as I possibly could—not just to chase a record, but to show what’s possible living with Type 1 Diabetes.

People often ask how you race with diabetes.

The truth is…it’s not easy.

Before the ride even started, the race had already begun.

My strategy was to intentionally start around 200 mg/dL, take 2 units of insulin just five minutes before getting on the bike, and time the insulin so that as it began pulling my blood sugar down, I could continuously feed my body carbohydrates while burning thousands of calories.

Over the next 2 hours and 20 minutes I consumed nearly 200 grams of carbohydrate, including Hammer Gels, Clif Bloks, Hammer Perpetuem, and three bottles of Hammer Fizz electrolytes.

The result?

✅ 100.9 km

✅ 43.1 km/h average

✅ 260 W average power

✅ 278 W normalized power

✅ 2,186 calories burned

✅ Blood glucose stayed in range the entire ride

Here’s the part most people don’t see…

I probably get this wrong 80% of the time.

Sometimes I go low.
Sometimes I spike to 300.
Sometimes everything falls apart.

That’s diabetes.

Every ride is an experiment.

Every workout teaches me something new.

But every once in a while…

Everything comes together.

This ride wasn’t about proving I’m perfect.

It was about proving that impossible goals are still worth chasing—even when your pancreas retired years ago.

If you’re living with Type 1 Diabetes, don’t let anyone tell you what your limits are.

You may have to plan more.
Think harder.
Carry more food.
Wear more technology.

But you can still dream big.

You can still race.

You can still break records.

Huge thanks to everyone who came out, pulled turns into the wind, celebrated afterwards, and continues supporting Winning The Race With Diabetes.

This one was for every person who has ever been told, “You can’t.”

Today we answered…

Watch me. 💙🚴

Specialized RideFastDontDie Cycling T1D DiabetesAwareness BornToRide 100K CircuitGillesVilleneuve NoLimits DiabetesWarrior

07/10/2026

Tomorrow is my 47th birthday. 🎉🚴‍♂️

There are a lot of ways to celebrate getting older. I’ve decided to celebrate by trying to break the 100K record on Circuit Gilles Villeneuve (CGV) in Montreal.

This ride is about more than speed.

It’s about showing what’s possible while living with Type 1 diabetes.

Tomorrow I’ll be riding with my Omnipod® 5 insulin pump and Dexcom G7 continuous glucose monitor, sharing exactly how I manage my blood sugar during a 100 km effort that burns roughly 2,500 calories. We’ll dive into the data, nutrition, insulin strategy, and ride analytics afterward to show what’s really involved in racing and training with diabetes.

Getting older doesn’t mean slowing down—it means getting smarter.

If you’re in Montreal, I’d love your help.

📍 Circuit Gilles Villeneuve (CGV)
🗓️ Saturday, July 11
🕘 9:00 AM

Jump into the paceline, take a pull, cheer from the sidelines, or just come say hello. I’ll need every wheel I can get if we’re going to keep the speed high enough to make this happen.

Let’s see what happens when Type A meets Type 1.

After the ride, everyone is welcome to join me at El Gordo Taco Bar in Saint-Lambert for post-ride breakfast burritos, great conversation, and maybe a few well-earned adult beverages. 🍳🌯🍻

Whether you ride one lap or the entire 100K, I’d love to celebrate my birthday with you.

Ride fast. Don’t die. Safety second.

💙 CGV MontrealCycling RideFastDontDie 100KChallenge MastersCycling BirthdayRide TypeAMeetsType1 LiveInHighDefinition

06/11/2026

Fun is the first objective. Safety is the second. Ride IQ is the mission. Ride fast. Don’t die.

Clip in at 9:00 AM sharp. We roll under the Champlain Bridge onto the Seaway no later than 9:15.

This ride is about two things:
🧠 Building Ride IQ.
💙 Raising awareness for people living with diabetes.

On the Seaway we’ll ride two-up, taking 90-second pulls at the front before rotating off. We’ll regroup at the water fountain in Sainte-Catherine for bottles, bathrooms, and a quick head count. After that, it’s roughly 90 minutes without a stop until we’re back there.

We’ll keep things controlled on the bike path to Saint-Martin. Once we turn left, we’ll go single file. Pulls can be anywhere from 60–90 seconds at whatever pace suits you. Feeling spicy? Turn the screws. Need an easier day? That’s fine too. If you don’t want to pull, don’t. The goal is simple: keep the group together while moving as fast and efficiently as possible.

This ride also shines a spotlight on something personal. I’ve been managing Type 1 diabetes for over a decade and, despite having a prescription from a Quebec doctor, regulations prevent me from accessing the insulin pump that has given me the best quality of life. After a year and a half on the Omnipod® 5, I’m back to relying on older technology—not because of medical advice, but because of policy.

People living with Type 1 diabetes deserve access to the tools that help them stay healthy, active, and alive. We need to keep talking about it.

If I can line up, manage blood sugars, troubleshoot diabetes on the fly, and still ride hard, so can you.

When we’re done, everyone’s welcome to join me at El Gordo Taco Bar for my standard Saturday recovery meal. We’ll talk fueling, recovery, blood sugar management, insulin sensitivity, and how understanding your body at a cellular level can help athletes perform better—and help prevent insulin resistance and Type 2 diabetes.

Come for the ride.
Stay for the tacos.
Learn something.
Meet good people.

Ride fast. Don’t die.

05/28/2026

Downtown Montreal was pure chaos with Formula One weekend in full swing. Exotic cars everywhere, tourists dodging bike racers, engines screaming through the city. I rolled into the race on a calm 45-minute ride trying to keep both my legs and blood sugar under control.

Showed up around 200 mg/dL (11.1 mmol/L), took two units of insulin before the start, and chased it with a 60g carb bottle like a mad scientist on wheels. By the bell lap I was sitting around 170 mg/dL (9.4 mmol/L) — perfect “send it” range.

Technical course. Tight 180s. Potholes. Barely enough time to celebrate after the finish before smashing the brakes for the next corner.

They called me to the line last… somehow I still came around for the win.

Full gas. Full chaos. Full diabetes science experiment. Montreal never disappoints.

05/23/2026

This clip is me changing an insulin pump moments before the start of a bike race last Sunday.

One of the hardest things about living with Type 1 diabetes is that nothing is ever exactly the same. You can eat the same food, take the same amount of insulin, train the same way, and follow the exact same routine—yet your body may react completely differently.

Add the stress of competition, adrenaline, cortisol, fatigue, recovery, weather, hydration, and race intensity, and blood glucose becomes a moving target.

Last Saturday, I was fresh and motivated to race hard against a field full of athletes half my age. Every time I accelerated out of a corner or sprinted, my blood sugar climbed. I suspect my liver was releasing stored glucose into my bloodstream as my body responded to the effort and stress. By the end of the race, my glucose had skyrocketed to nearly 400 mg/dL and it took hours to bring it back under control.

By Sunday morning, my Omnipod had run out of insulin before the start, forcing me to do a pump change in the parking lot. Another challenge. Another variable.

But that’s diabetes.

Somehow, after struggling the day before, everything clicked on Sunday. I stayed in range nearly all day and finished in the top 10.

The craziest part? There were five young riders in that race whose fathers I used to race against—or still race against. At 47 years old, I’m still lining up, still competing, and still pushing myself to improve.

Diabetes doesn’t get to decide what I’m capable of.

Every day is a new challenge. Every ride is an experiment. Every race is another opportunity to learn.

And every chance I get, I try to beat diabetes into submission.

CyclingLife Omnipod Dexcom NeverGiveUp

05/22/2026

05/22/2026

Winning The Race With Diabetes

Riding and racing season is officially underway, and I want to give a huge thank you to everyone who supports the Winning The Race With Diabetes Foundation by purchasing and proudly wearing our premium cycling kits produced by the talented team at Mill Cycling here in Quebec.

Winning The Race With Diabetes isn’t just about winning bicycle races while living with diabetes. It’s about a much bigger race—one that affects all of us. Today, approximately one in three North Americans is impacted by diabetes or prediabetes. This is a challenge we must face and overcome together.

Many of us are on a personal health and wellness journey. Whether you’re riding a bike, running, hiking, swimming, or simply choosing a more active lifestyle, every step forward matters. Every mile ridden, every heartbeat elevated, and every deep breath taken helps improve insulin sensitivity and builds a healthier future.

When you wear the Winning The Race With Diabetes kit, you’re representing more than a cycling team. You’re helping spread awareness, inspiring others to move, and supporting a mission focused on education, prevention, and living healthier lives through exercise and active lifestyles.

Together, let’s ride for a healthier tomorrow.

Prediabetes CyclingForACause RideBikes LiveActive HealthyTomorrow MillCycling CyclingCommunity EnduranceSports ExerciseIsMedicine 📸