Blood sugars, etc on March 31 ride
The ride on March 31 was fairly intense. The terrain wasn’t too bad though. There were some rolling hills as I crossed the numerous drainages feeding into the San Juan River, but that was very manageable with the distance I planned to cover. The headwinds, however, made for slow and difficult riding. The first 40 miles were pretty much against the wind. The next 20 was a crosswind (better, but still difficult) and then the final 20 was slightly uphill for the most part, but had a very nice tailwind.
Someone has asked about how my blood sugars were during the ride as well as what I ate and drank during the day. Here they are for your enjoyment:
| Time | Blood sugar (mg/dl) | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| 7:15AM | - | Breakfast. Coffee. Bagel toasted over the MSR Dragonfly stove. Mmmm! |
| 8:31AM | 157 | just before starting to ride. Dropped basal rate to 70% of normal |
| 10:33AM | 49 | About 20 miles into the ride. Oops. I probably should have lowered the basal rate earlier. The winds have kept my attention away from eating and drinking normally. |
| 12:02PM | 68 | At the Colorado border, 33 miles into the ride. Stopped for lunch. Lunch was a banana and one and a half bagels, peanut butter, jelly. Bolus: 3 unit (my normal bolus for this kind of meal would have been about 9 units) |
| 1:32PM | 133 | one hour post-meal |
| 2:53PM | 84 | |
| 4:24PM | 66 | After arriving in Cortez. |
| 6:33PM | - | Dinner. Pasta salad, green salad, cottage cheese. |
| 9:52PM | 82 | About 3 hours after dinner. |
From the wrappers that accumulated in the rear pocket of my jersey, I had 3 and a half energy bars (about 44 grams of carbohydrate each). This was in addition to the lunch listed above.
As far as fluids go, I drank about 4 liters of water during the ride and then about another half liter just after completing the ride. One liter was an energy drink containing about 40 grams of carbohydrate.
So how do I feel this morning (April 1)? I’m tired, but feeling ready to ride the 45 miles or so into Durango and then have a day off tomorrow. There’s one noteworthy climb into Durango. It tops out at about 8400 feet (we’re at 6200 feet here in Cortez). It’s raining outside today and it’s one of those all-day kinds of rains. But that’s OK. It’s calm outside and I’d much rather spend the day in raingear than have to fight headwinds again.
April 1st, 2006 at 4:37 pm
Go Pete and Pat!!!
April 2nd, 2006 at 4:46 am
Hi Peter,
Thanks for giving us the information about your eating and blood sugars. One more thing, are you keeping a record of your body weight?
Are you having fun yet? I am trying to follow your ride on a National Geographic Road Atlas that is from 1997 and so far there is enough detail to see all the things that you have been talking about.
Do you ever check out the Diabetic Exercise and Sports Association Web Sitewww.diabetes-exercise.org
April 2nd, 2006 at 8:15 pm
Hi Florian,
I am not tracking my body weight. We only have so much space in the minivan and the scale seemed like something we could do without. At home, I track my body weight pretty closely — at least during the cycling season — and I know I was about 191 when I left Salt Lake City on March 18. If I get a chance to step onto a scale, I will certainly make note of it on the web site. Pat says she thinks I’ve lost some weight already.
About having fun: Yes, definitely, we’re having fun. I always find cycling fun. Even on days like yesterday when I got snowed out, I find it fun. On days like that, I think it’s the challenge of keeping going that I find appealing. I still have to factor in safety though and that’s why I finally decided not to continue on that day.