I wrote this as a separate piece because not everyone cares about the diabetes details of a 72-mile ride. But then again, this is a blog primarily about diabetes and cycling so I wanted to share my ride day plan. Feel free to ask questions or comment and always remember… what works for one doesn’t work for all. Your diabetes may vary and you can read my medical disclaimer about that here.
Dinner the night before the ride was pasta at the hotel. While I can eat pasta, it’s terribly hard for me to calculate its carb amount. I didn’t want to gamble with a lot of insulin the night before, so I took quinoa with me to dinner. I brought it in my suitcase and cooked it in the hotel microwave. I ate it with vegetables, no sauce, a salad and bread provided by the hotel dinner. No alcohol and no dessert. As I did with the century the week before, I woke up at 3 a.m. and ate a peanut butter sandwich and gave a full bolus before crawling back into bed. At breakfast a few hours later, I only ate eggs and sausage. I drop so quickly riding, I don’t like to have any insulin on board if I can avoid it. Just before the start, I was 121. I had carefully avoided lows all week by switching my correction factor. (What that means is I give insulin to correct blood sugars higher than 130. The insulin-to-blood sugar ratio is set to correct me to 100. The week of the ride, I set my pump to correct me to 120 to help avoid the lows. After the ride, I switched it back.) Low blood sugars deplete your glycogen stores which your body uses for energy. I wanted to start the ride with every possible advantage.
At the ride’s start, I ate a Huma gel with 22 carbs. (Huma is one of my favorite things on the bike. It’s not gooey, it has chia seeds in it and it’s produced in Nashville!) I didn’t bolus and within 10 minutes, we were riding. The first 10 were easy miles without much work, then came the switchbacks. After those climbs, I was 272, and I flipped out. There was no logical reason to be that high. I couldn’t figure out what happened. I figured adrenaline played a small role because adrenaline will spike you but it won’t usually keep you high. There’s always a danger of exercising when you’re above 240. You can develop ketones, get dehydrated and end up very sick. Plus, it’s a whole lot harder to ride high. It’s miserable. I realized later something else happened. I have an increased basal rate between the hours of 6-10 a.m. because my blood sugar naturally rises during that time. When I arrived in Tahoe, there was a two hour time difference, but I forgot to change the time in my pump. When my insulin pump should’ve been giving me extra insulin (while riding during the spiked time) it wasn’t. Oops, my bad. By the next rest stop at Emerald Bay, I was sitting at 304. I was angry, but waited until I was 256 before continuing. The next stop found me at 218. Still higher than I’d prefer, but manageable for a ride. After an hour or so of hanging out between 200-230, I finally found a 132 at lunchtime. I ate a sandwich and a bag of chips and bolused 50 percent of what I’d normally give because we were waiting about another 15 minutes before leaving the stop as a team. The rest of the day was beautiful. I snacked every 30-45 minutes as usual and never dropped below 83 and never higher than 178. It’s what I had hoped for the entire ride, but the second half was close to perfect, so I’ll take it!
My blood sugars for the 5.5-hour ride were 103, 121, 272, 304, 280, 256, 218, 201, 221, 132, 149, 147, 133, 83 and 178. I finished the ride at 97. I never test this many times during a ride, but with crazy numbers, I tested more. If I’m running a consistent 110-140, I don’t test as frequently unless I feel symptoms of a low or a high blood sugar.
I’m still calling this ride a success even though it wasn’t great at the start. That’s the thing with diabetes. We can do all the right things and still have a random high or low. Sometimes, it doesn’t add up. In this case, I figured out the missing pieces but not until after the ride. (Mental note: pay attention to time zones.) 🙂 When I don’t have great numbers on the bike, it only fuels me to work harder, to ride faster and to raise more money for research. It’s time for type one to be type none.
On the ride, I ate two Clif Shot Bloks, with 48 grams of carbs each (I like these riding because each individual shot blok is only eight grams of carbs–there are six in a package), five Huma gels (22 grams of carbs each), one Larabar (26 grams of carbs) and one Level gel (15 grams of carbs). I also enjoyed the turkey sandwich and chips at the lunch stop. Not counting lunch, that was 247 grams of carbs to fuel me for 72 miles. Ridiculous, isn’t it? I suppose it’s worth repeating… it’s time for type one to be type none. 🙂
Thanks for following my journey and sharing your own. This has been another amazing Ride season, and it’s not over yet. I can’t wait to see my friends in Nashville at the end of October! It’s not too late to sign up or to donate!
You are awesome, Victoria!