Ride season is upon us once again! Registration is open and we already have over 160 riders on Team Wisconsin! Help us reach our goal of reaching 300 participants for the season by joining us today! To inspire you, we spoke with Briana Kuta about her experience with JDRF over the last two years and how her & her husband are looking forward to their first in-person Ride!

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Can you introduce yourself & your T1D connection?

My name is Briana and am someone who loves all types of exercise including road biking, hiking, water skiing, down hill skiing, and weight lifting! I was an avid exerciser the minute I could walk on my two feet! Also, I love being around people who share the same passions as me including faith, coffee, exercise, laughing, baking, gardening, volunteering and eating whole foods! I actually met many of my closest friends through my wonderful church community and funny enough, where I met my husband! He is also an avid adventurer and we found we had so much in common when we met. His strong faith and patience has helped me to take on many challenges and never give up! We are better together than we are apart! We make a good team.

I love taking care of others and find it hard sometimes to take care of my own needs. It’s just in my blood. But, after being diagnosed with diabetes 16 years ago, I truly had no choice but to take care of myself and find a whole new way of living without feeling consumed by my diagnosis. It was very scary, to say the least, but life changing to the point where I feel thankful for diabetes, 16 years later, because it has brought me to a great community of other diabetics who showed me how to always talk about the highs and lows (literally) and not be ashamed about it being part of my life! I chose to pursue health coaching to eventually help other Type 1 Diabetics to learn to live life to the fullest and not feel defeated by their diagnosis!

Why did you first decide to participate in Ride?

Back in 2020, I chose to fight for others who are going through the same thing as me by signing up for my first (virtual) 100 mile JDRF ride that my husband and I chose to take on together. I found this community through some of my mom’s friends who had kids with diabetes and they asked if I had ever considered riding with JDRF. Knowing my husband and I loved cycling, we decided to train for the entire summer for it. I can’t say it was easy with all of the blood, sweat, thunderstorms, and tears to accomplish this. It actually became a tradition to do it once a year with my husband. We are so eager to finally do our first in person JDRF ride in Grand Rapids to support thousands of others! We are most looking forward to being around a large community and taking on this together to really realize how many people are impacted by diabetes and how we need community to make a change! I know my husband and I get that “runner’s high” when we are around large crowds of athletes and we feel a bigger push to work hard and keep going!

What was it like participating in 2021 at a JDRF Fan Favorite Ride? What were some of the highlights?

We decided to take on our first group ride in Door County in 2021 and rode with the JDRF team. This was our favorite ride (honeymoon ride too!) because it inspired us to see that many others are struggling and share similar stories of triumphs and celebrations that should be shared with such a supportive community! I remember seeing coaches help everyone to give that extra push. We loved seeing how much fun everyone was having, hearing constant laughter and cracking of jokes the whole time, and the constant cheerleading that happened and made me, a long-living diabetic, realize I am never alone!

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As we return to in-person JDRF Ride events, we invite you to join Team Wisconsin and experience the amazing Ride community. If you have questions or would like to learn more, please contact Erin at evella@jdrf.org or 414.861.2646. Register today!