The Ups and Downs of Touring with Type 1
In the middle of our 1,000-mile Alaska bicycle trip, I stop to treat a high blood sugar by injecting myself with insulin, the medication that keeps me alive.
Propped on my handlebar bag is a Clinique bag which used to belong to my mother, who died in 2014 from a rare form of leukemia. I continue her fight with my own fight. I use her flowery pouch to house my own medications that turn food into energy; I call the bag my pancreas.
It's stained with blood on the inside from the everyday reality of living with type 1 diabetes (T1D). Bright on the outside, it has come to represent how invisible this disease is.
Which is why I’m thrilled that along with myself and my bicycle, this flowery pouch has landed on the cover of Adventure Cyclist Magazine. My article tells the story of our bicycle trip around Alaska through the lens of our Dexcom blood sugar graphs and illustrates the ways in which diabetes dictates our days.
Pitching and Writing: Annalisa van den Bergh
Photography: Erik Douds and Annalisa van den Bergh
Design: Ally Mabry
Editing: Alex Strickland
Spring 2019
Propped on my handlebar bag is a Clinique bag which used to belong to my mother, who died in 2014 from a rare form of leukemia. I continue her fight with my own fight. I use her flowery pouch to house my own medications that turn food into energy; I call the bag my pancreas.
It's stained with blood on the inside from the everyday reality of living with type 1 diabetes (T1D). Bright on the outside, it has come to represent how invisible this disease is.
Which is why I’m thrilled that along with myself and my bicycle, this flowery pouch has landed on the cover of Adventure Cyclist Magazine. My article tells the story of our bicycle trip around Alaska through the lens of our Dexcom blood sugar graphs and illustrates the ways in which diabetes dictates our days.
Pitching and Writing: Annalisa van den Bergh
Photography: Erik Douds and Annalisa van den Bergh
Design: Ally Mabry
Editing: Alex Strickland
Spring 2019
