There's an old adage that says success is "one part inspiration, nine parts perspiration". We tend to see only the first part -- the results, the glitzy façade. Except at the finish line of a race -- whether that be marathon, triathlon, bicycle race, or horse race -- all hints of the perspiration (or let's face it, sweat) are carefully hidden.

One part of the "perspiration" that is often hidden from us is the singleminded determination of the individual to reach that "success", often to the exclusion of a "normal" social or family life. It may mean years of "dead end" jobs to get the time and money for coaching, training, or rehearsal -- or years of competing in the "minor leagues". In many ways, Phil Southerland's Not Dead Yet - My Race Against Disease: From Diagnosis to Dominance (New York: St. Martin's Press, ISBN 978-0-312-61023-4) shows the seamy side of bicycle racing -- years of Dairy Queen dinners and overcrowded hotel rooms, bikes cobbled together after mid-day crashes, and rules that didn't (and still sometimes don't) make sense. Those who stay in the sport do so because they can't perceive of doing anything else, or because they don't have any (other) job skills, or because they have a "day job" that pays for the expensive bicycles, components, and safety equipment that are the glitz, the glamour, and the cutting-edge engineering of competitive bicycling.

Lurking in the background of Southerland's cycling is, of course, type 1 diabetes -- and Phil's mother, Joanna, who proved to be both role model and taskmaster when it came to educating herself about diabetes and making sure her firstborn son didn't merely survive, but thrive. What's more, she did this as a single parent living far from the support her family might have provided. Never in young Phil's life was there a time when tight control (at least, as tight as contemporary technology would allow) was anything else than a top priority in staying alive and well.

The emergence of that which evolved into Team Type 1 parallels Phil's developing maturity as his encounters with another collegiate cyclist with diabetes uncovered an empathy which led to the now-infamous "burrito bet" with Team Type 1 co-founder Joe Eldridge, and -- bolstered by that success -- the original Race Across America (RAAM) team, followed by today's professional, elite, developmental, and women's cycling teams, triathlon and marathon teams, the Team Type 2 RAAM team, and the multinational organization dedicated to bringing insulin, meters, and test strips to all type 1 children in the world.

Without ever feeling sorry for either his medical condition or his finances, in Not Dead Yet, Phil Southerland shows us the perspiration and dedication needed to not just learn, but excel at, everything from bicycle racing to running a multimillion-dollar organization, overcoming personal shyness and corporate objection to create and grow that organization, all while keeping his type 1 diabetes under tight control.

All of this is not to say that this young man does not have natural talent -- if he hadn't, he would not have been able to achieve what he has -- but rather, that even the greatest raw talent requires work and dedication to develop it into a winning performance worthy of the "glamour" it presents. One doesn't need to scratch hard to see that behind the tens of thousands of frequent-flyer miles Southerland travels each year is enough hard work to make a lesser person flinch. For all of us who have diabetes, who compete as athletes, who advocate for diabetes self-care and tight control, or who are passionate about helping children with type 1 diabetes in the developing world, Phil Southerland is an example of what one inspired person can do. Dedicating ourselves to the persipration it takes to make that happen? That's another story.