Team Novo Nordisk documentary Ride for Your L1fe released

A year in the making. A lifetime to realize. A whole world to change.

Team Novo Nordisk, the world’s first all diabetes professional cycling team spent a year with Danish film maker Peter Alsted following their every pedal stroke, breathing every breath, riding each high and climbing up, out and away from every low. The result is Ride for your L1fe. A film about a group of people who fight every day not only to finish a bike race, but to survive with type 1 diabetes.

In collaboration with our sponsors, Novo Nordisk and the streaming platform of multi-media and outdoor community lifestyle company Outside INC in the USA, Ride for your L1fe is now available to view on the Outside INC fast network and linear channels.

“There are over 500 million people around the world living with diabetes and that number is rising everyday,” said Phil Southerland, CEO and Co-founder of Team Novo Nordisk and CEO of Supersapiens. “18 of those 500 million compete at the highest level of professional cycling week in week out, month after month and year on year.”

 “We race against the best in the world whilst managing diabetes so that we live to race another day. Sometimes things go wrong. Often things go right. Throughout it all our athletes are supported by a team of dedicated professionals and together we are Team Novo Nordisk and this is a story of a year in our lives.”

“It can’t be underestimated what goes into making and keeping Team Novo Nordisk a reality day in day out. We are a unique team, and we have a unique message to carry, the work that every member of this team puts in is what sustains us, and this film is also for them. A lasting testament to the importance of what we do and a small insight into our work so that everyone can see its significance.”

Ride for your L1fe tells only a part of the whole story. The stories of the Team Novo Nordisk riders are unfolding organically every-day and the one constant, never changing fact is that type 1 diabetes is for life and there are good days and bad days.

“When it comes to type 1, I believe it’s key to talk/show the ups as well as the downs,” says the film director Peter Alsted. “They complement each other, they are part of what living with type 1 implies, they make the characters much more relatable, and real.”

“I think it’s also important to remember that pro cycling is a lot of hard work and dedication. These riders are heroes because of the hardship that comes with their quest, but they are humans too, and their humanity is shown in those moments of vulnerability portrayed in the film. Filmmaking is about capturing those moments where you feel both the ups and the downs. Life itself is not a 24hr joy-ride.”

Ride for your L1fe is out now on Outside Channel. Watch full movie here.