Meet Your Coach
I have Type 1 diabetes. So does my daughter, Luca. Between the two of us, T1D is not an abstraction in our house -- it's infusion set changes and insulin calculations and middle-of-the-night blood sugar checks. It's the constant mental load that never fully clocks out. Luca handles it with more grace and strength than any kid should have to. But, she shouldn't have to.
That's why I ride. That's why I coach. And that's why, after 50-plus rides over more than two decades, I still line up every year because it still matters.
"I ride every mile with you -- with the same hope, and the same reason to keep going."
None of this happens without my wife Lindsay. She has completed 15-plus rides herself, which means she's not just supporting this mission from the sidelines -- she's lived it, mile after mile, year after year. She is the backbone of this family's commitment to Breakthrough T1D, and whatever success we've had as a fundraising team has her fingerprints all over it.
I clipped in for the first time as a Breakthrough T1D rider in 2003. By 2006 I was coaching. I've ridden in Death Valley heat, Vermont hills, and New Mexico altitude. Last year my son Marlon rode Santa Fe alongside me and came home as Young Rider Champion. That finish line meant everything.
In August 2026, Marlon and I are heading to the Pacific Northwest for the inaugural Breakthrough T1D Ride in the Cascades (where I'll be riding in the dark blue kit). A new course, a new chapter -- same mission. And then, I'll be in the pink coach kit for Cape Cod!
-- Coach Jon