Day 7: Cedar City to Hurricane, Utah
Today’s ride consisted of a 2600 foot drop in elevation, warmer weather, an early start. So it was supposed to be an easy 45 miles, even with the 15 miles I had to do on I-15. And, it would have been an easy ride except for the 15-20 mph headwind.
The stretch on I-15 was a compromise. There are basically three choices to get yourself from Cedar City to the Hurricane, Utah area. You can head west out of town on highway 56 towards Enterprise and the Dixie National Forest. That route takes you quite a ways up in elevation and it also is about 110-115 miles long. Or you can head east on highway 14. That route rises about 4000 feet (to about 9,700 feet) in about 14 miles. After that, you still have about 95 miles, including a tunnel in Zion’s National Park that you can’t ride a bicycle through, to get yourself to Hurricane. The third alternative is to head south on old highway 91 through a little town called Kannaraville. Just south of that, highway 91 turns to gravel and then eventually to nothing rideable on a road bicycle. So, you have to get onto I-15 for about 15 miles to the exit for Toquerville and Hurricane. Total distance for that route is about 43 miles.
So, that’s what I did. The stretch on I-15 wasn’t that bad, really. I still don’t recommend it unless there are absolutely no alternatives, but the shoulder is wide and in good condition. There are numerous ranch exits along the way that you can take to give yourself a break from the traffic.
Today, I rode with my basal rate dropped to 60% of it’s normal rate of 0.3 units per hour. I had been dropping it to 70% during rides and I was feeling like that was leaving me a bit on on the low side during the ride. Here are blood sugar readings that I took today with my Bayer Breeze meter.
| Time | Blood sugar (mg/dl) | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| 4:15AM | 129 | night-time |
| 6:14AM | 147 | fasting |
| 11:04AM | 84 | During ride. Started riding at 9:05AM |
| 12:34AM | 96 | post-ride |
| 3:33PM | 161 | 2 hours after lunch |
| 5:04PM | 41 | Oops. Time to lower my basal rate. I drank 12 oz of apple juice (30 grams carbohydrate) |
| 5:28PM | 80 | That’s better. |
I had to think long and hard about dropping my basal rate to 0.25 units per hour. My basal rate has never been that low before, so I was venturing into uncharted territory. I dropped my night-time (10pm to 8am) basals from 0.5 units to 0.45 units per hour. We’ll see what the morning brings….