Team Type 1 and Ethics – a post from James Stout

Further to yesterday’s post below is a blog post written by James Stout.

 

It should be also noted that James is not the first rider to have a difficult time with Team Type 1, Willem Van den Eynde

had an equally torrid time last year

 

This isn’t going to be an easy post to write, not least because I’m on a train best described as “vintage” but perhaps more accurately billed as smelly. Many of you will have noticed that I haven’t been parading about in team type one lycra as of late, nor have I been racing (or indeed dwelling) in the USA. Well I am not the only one who has not been doing things. Team type one, for their side of the bargain have not been paying me (at all, all year), not providing me with insulin, not secured my visa to remain in the USA, not returned my possessions from the team house and not reimbursed my costs for races I entered out of my own pocket.

 

I don’t want to slander anyone and it has taken me a long, long time to say anything at all publically. The issue is this; I am completely tied to the idea of team type one, even if it is a lie it’s a lie that can inspire many, many people and that makes it a useful lie. What isn’t a lie is that you CAN achieve just as much with diabetes as without, you CAN be a great athlete if you take control and you CAN live a healthy life with diet and exercise whether you are type one or type two. What you cannot do is live a healthy life with no insulin, no money, no house, no food and no sleep. Some of my best friends are on the team, indeed when my contract was pulled the first people I called were team type one teammates. Since my father’s breakdown last year I’ve turned to these guys for a lot more than advice on cycling ad diabetes and I still do, they remain some of my closest and most trusted friends.

 

I have spent a lot of nights lying awake wondering how I was going to put food in my stomach and a roof over my head. Many of these nights have been spent on the sofas and in the spare rooms of good friends when I could no longer pay rent. Some of them have been spent in my car when I felt I could no longer ask people to provide for me when the team had so manifestly failed to do so. For a long time I blamed myself for failing to provide for myself, I am pretty independent thanks to my rough n’ tumble upbringing all over the world and the idea that someone had so manifestly taken me for a ride really iot me hard.  On one of these nights I reached out to the guys at the JDF and New Cycling pathways. They got back to me instantly (that’s the nice thing about dealing with the Australians at 3am). I was feeling very, very lonely. At this point tt1 were still suggesting that they would pay me once they sorted out my visa but only if I didn’t “run my mouth” (direct quote) and I didn’t tell anyone what I was going through. Martin, Bruce and Rob have provided me with a support network which kept me in the sport and out of some pretty dark places in my own mind. Without them I wouldn’t be cycling, or writing this. If you have a minute, point it their way and look at Martin’s letter to team type one and support the JDF. I’m not the only cyclist in this position. Garmin didn’t treat Trent nicely and Matt Loyd seems to be battling his own set of demons without the help of a team support structure.

 

I want to make clear I’m not writing this for revenge; the moment I left the USA supposedly to collect my visa from London, Team type one cancelled my visa and contract. Thus I can’t go back to the US and take legal action and I’m not going to get the wages I am owed. Neither am I going to get my possessions; books, notes for my PhD, a Christmas present my little sister gave me, the first painting I ever bought. These things mean nothing to anyone who isn’t me but they are being withheld if they haven’t been thrown away or sold already. I am writing this for a couple of reasons: Firstly I want to allow myself to move on. Secondly I want people to know so this kind of shenanigans can’t be repeated (this isn’t the first time it’s happened) and Thirdly I want to say this before someone in the team PR structure puts words into my mouth.

 

Anyway, it’s probably about as much fun reading this as it is writing it. Long story short. I came back thinking I was home for a week, collecting my visa and going back to (finally) race and get paid. Now I’m home indefinitely trying to get a visa to go back and complete my PhD but that’s hard when you’ve had your previous work visa cancelled…. I’ve asked for some of my inheritance early , that was one of the hardest things I’ve ever had to do but it was marginally easier than sleeping on a bench and starving so I did it. Everything is back in the US, thankfully I had good friends who put it in storage for me but I have nothing, a bike and a bag of clothes. My books and my notes for my PhD are an ocean away, making work difficult, heck I don’t even have a functioning bike pump.

 

There are more details, and a million emails. None are fun to read. The justification for my termination of contract was as follows; Wearing a t-shirt with the word penis on it and retweeeting Al-Jazeera. Yup, on a cycling team you don’t have freedom of speech. It’s laughable that they couldn’t come up with something better. But I suppose it’s also laughable that I believed their stories for so long.
I want to make clear that every cloud has a silver lining. Bernat as put me up in Tarragona, bought me my own bodyweight in coffee and breakfast and connected me here. Without him, I’d be lost. Emily Baker has provided a constant source of support, the occasional meal and movie ticket and generally a fantastic friendship. Mike has just been mike,he has fewer digits and a bigger heart than anyone. Jesse has been a great coach and friend so has Chris  The Now-MS girls gave me their sofa to sleep on, Dan Wulbert let me stay in his home for nearly 3 months at a fraction of real rent and provided me with constant positive support and conversation, Marc Zionts put me up for a month rent free. Without these guys I would have been sleeping in the car for 6 months now. David Cobb and Team Traveller have taken me in, kitted me out in fantastic looking zebra-stripy spandex and given me a nurturing and supportive atmosphere to try and compete in. Gordon @velohangar kept my bike rolling when I lacked the skill and income to do so myself, go there, buy stuff! And the guys up In Norcal comped my race entries. Jeff and Aaron showed concern over twitter and Steve helped me manage my condition when the team’s actions actively harmed my control.

 

To all of you, thank you.