Friday, March 27, 2009
Morgan Patton
The best thing about this blog is learning about new upcoming riders - and here's one with a big suitcase of courage: Morgan Patton, the Lanterne Rouge of the prologue of the women's race at the Redlands Bicycle Classic.Team Type 1 Communications Director Sean Weide tells her story:
Morgan was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes at the age of seven. As a teenager, she struggled to effectively manage her diabetes."
But that changed when she rode along as part of Team Type 1's crew for the 2006 Race Across America. That experience marked the first time she had been surrounded by other people with diabetes – all of whom were athletes competing in a rigorous event. This inspired her to start cycling as a means of controlling her diabetes.
At age 17, she began competing in bike races, and, over the years, her A1C has been reduced significantly. Where she might have previously struggled to control her diabetes before, now she is a trained athlete, managing her diabetes through healthy diet and exercise, along with using the latest technology for monitoring her glucose levels.
She was last of the 138 starters today in a field that included the world time trial champion (Amber Neben) and U.S. time trial champion (Alison Powers). She is also first to admit that uphill time trials are not her thing. Criteriums are much more her style. In fact, she finished second and Team Type 1 teammate Monique Hanley was third at the Kelly Cup Criterium last June. This year, she has already won three races in Georgia and finished second in a fourth.
Update: Unfortunately, Morgan was a DNF the following day at Redlands when the average speed of the winner was 23.01 MPH. Taking the Lanterne Rouge slot is Beatriz Rodriguez of Kahala LaGrange.
She stayed in the game and ultimately after the third stage finished as the overall Lanterne Rouge of the women's division at Redlands:
80 372 Rodriguez, Beatriz USA Kahala LaGrange 8:42:14 at 1:32:33
Labels: Hanley, Neben, Patton, Powers, Rodriguez, Weide
Sunday, September 16, 2007
England is Lanterne Rouge
Justin England, that is. The handsome 29-year-old rider on the Toyota-United Pro Cycling Team has retained the spot in which he started the Tour of Missouri and outlasted 16 riders who failed to finish the Tour. The Asheville, NC resident finishes the 2007 Tour of Missouri in the Lanterne Rouge position. His nearest neighbor in the General Classification was Brian Dziewa of Jelly Belly, 44 seconds ahead.According to Toyota-United Communications Director Sean Weide:
"Justin relished his role as Lanterne Rouge, particular for the Stage 3 time trial. He clowned for the crowd, mugged for the camera and enjoyed all the attention that goes with being the first guy down the start ramp."
"I will also put in that he worked his tail off on the final stage. I was looking at photographs from the final two laps of the circuit (final 20 miles) and he's on the front leading the chase of a breakaway - with several Saunier-Duval and Symmetrics and Health Net racers lined up behind him. With only four riders left in the race, Justin had to do some of the work to ensure a sprint finish. In fact, after the break was caught, he dropped back and found teammates Chris Wherry, Heath Blackgrove and Ivan Dominguez and towed them halfway up the field where Blackgrove took over to get them up to the front with one kilometer to go."
"England said, "I sat up at the finish, just to make sure today. I was glad that the team could get stage wins to bookend the race. Ending up in the Lanterne Rouge was just a bonus.""It's great to see a rider who clearly enjoys his job! Bravo, Justin, well done! Enjoy your off season!
Photos courtesy of Kathleen Poulos.
Update: Some more great photos of Justin and further accolades at spare cycles! He's got lots of fans out there!
Labels: Blackgrove, Dominguez, Dziewa, England, Weide, Wherry
