Newly diagnosed T2 and long distance cycling?

[Ian.H]

Hi, so I’m new to the T2 club, I only officially “joined” yesterday, so still very much in panic mode. My GP has prescribed statin & slow release Metformin.

Ive always considered myself as pretty healthy & active. I regularly walk/cycle and sail race on big and small boats. The diagnosis has shaken me a bit as i didn’t necessarily feel unwell before, aside of the odd energy dip that sport brings and the odd cramps that are pretty common in long distance cycling.

Its my sporting life that’s got me worried though. When I’m in cycle sportive mode particularly I did/do fairly heavily rely on sport gels for long cycles rides for decent energy boost - usually 40+ miles. I‘d also use high carb bars etc topped up with bananas. I do often use an isotonic formula in my water.

I want to continue to ride long distances and push fairly hard (I’m no pro cyclist!), but naturally I’m now panicking about what I take with me to eat now so as to not do harm. My head so it’s no to gels & bars now? but - what should I replace these with? I can’t be the only one wondering this, so are there any avid cyclists out there that offer up a typical long ride diet so I can trial the new world according to T2?

Thanks very much in advance.

 

[Drummer]

Hi, so I’m new to the T2 club, I only officially “joined” yesterday, so still very much in panic mode. My GP has prescribed statin & slow release Metformin.

Ive always considered myself as pretty healthy & active. I regularly walk/cycle and sail race on big and small boats. The diagnosis has shaken me a bit as i didn’t necessarily feel unwell before, aside of the odd energy dip that sport brings and the odd cramps that are pretty common in long distance cycling.

Its my sporting life that’s got me worried though. When I’m in cycle sportive mode particularly I did/do fairly heavily rely on sport gels for long cycles rides for decent energy boost - usually 40+ miles. I‘d also use high carb bars etc topped up with bananas. I do often use an isotonic formula in my water.

I want to continue to ride long distances and push fairly hard (I’m no pro cyclist!), but naturally I’m now panicking about what I take with me to eat now so as to not do harm. My head so it’s no to gels & bars now? but - what should I replace these with? I can’t be the only one wondering this, so are there any avid cyclists out there that offer up a typical long ride diet so I can trial the new world according to T2?

Thanks very much in advance.

I can only advise, stop pushing.
My father was a bike builder and repairer way back and so many of his customers had problems in later life with enlarged hearts or irregular pulse, or being dead.
I don't ride my bike at all now as the traffic is simply manic around here, but in my 50s and 60s, when I was already showing signs of diabetes I learned to slow down and go on, and on, to walk up the steepest slopes, arriving home with a feeling of quiet contentment.
I live in Parkstone, Poole, and used to go over on the Sandbanks ferry, then go through the countryside and back via Upton, around the top of the harbour. All I took with me was water.
Humans are designed for endurance - chasing down game is a long exertion, not a cheetah like sprint. Trust your body to make the energy you need from its own reserves and find your natural speed, the one which can be maintained without undue stress. We all have one, and it gets faster over time as I think we learn to go into ketosis with greater efficiency the more frequently we do it.

 

[JerrySnow]

I would recommend you do it consistently but not to an extreme. You can still do long distance but maybe don't do 20 miles in one direction and the other 20 on the way back. Try going different directions or going in circles, so God forbid in case something happens, you don't want to be 20+ miles away from home.

 

[Ginger_Monkey]

Hi, so I’m new to the T2 club, I only officially “joined” yesterday, so still very much in panic mode. My GP has prescribed statin & slow release Metformin.

Ive always considered myself as pretty healthy & active. I regularly walk/cycle and sail race on big and small boats. The diagnosis has shaken me a bit as i didn’t necessarily feel unwell before, aside of the odd energy dip that sport brings and the odd cramps that are pretty common in long distance cycling.

Its my sporting life that’s got me worried though. When I’m in cycle sportive mode particularly I did/do fairly heavily rely on sport gels for long cycles rides for decent energy boost - usually 40+ miles. I‘d also use high carb bars etc topped up with bananas. I do often use an isotonic formula in my water.

I want to continue to ride long distances and push fairly hard (I’m no pro cyclist!), but naturally I’m now panicking about what I take with me to eat now so as to not do harm. My head so it’s no to gels & bars now? but - what should I replace these with? I can’t be the only one wondering this, so are there any avid cyclists out there that offer up a typical long ride diet so I can trial the new world according to T2?

Thanks very much in advance.

I’ve recently been diagnosed as well and had exactly the same panic about fuelling for cycling. But the more I’ve read and begun to understand about T2, food / fuel and how we store fat, the more I’ve realised that we actually take all the fuel we need with us in our bodies. But plenty of water of course.

 

[SimonP]

I'm sorry I missed your initial post otherwise I'd have commented then.

I'm T1 so no direct experience, however, I do think I have at least a vague understanding, and don't think you should stop or indeed slow down if you don't want to!

When you're exercising your muscles are able to absorb glucose from the bloodstream without the presence of insulin (though insulin also increases the uptake ability, and allows it when not exercising of course), see e.g. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4315445/

Therefore while exercising it's likely you'll get a drop in BG level, and will be able to eat to counteract that without adverse impacts on your BG assuming you only eat as much as necessary - see note below re liver glycogen.

While others suggest not eating, and it's perfectly doable (even for a T1 with the appropriate basal settings), you definitely get a drop off in performance after some hours (I assume once you liver has converted all its glycogen to glucose). As far as I understand metformin will not produce hypos, so you should be able to drag yourself back whatever happens, even if it's quite slowly.

The issue you may have as a T2 is that your glucose will go high because your liver is providing more glucose than your muscles require. I think the answer there is generally to back off the pace a bit, which tends to reduce hepatic glucose production (or go really hard until the liver runs out and accept the shorter high, though the whole ride may also shorted as your legs are knackered 😉). There is adaptation with experience I think, so as you've cycled a lot you may find that you don't get very large hepatic glucose generation at the pace you usually ride.

Do you have a CGM? Even if you don't, take a BG meter out and do some experimentation, it's not going kill you running high once in a while, but the positive effects (both physically and mentally) both during and after exercise are rather good for you.

Personally I think I'd stick to things that are slower release than gels though in order to avoid spikes (I use breakfast bars and the like, or biscuits and only fallback to sour jelly sweets and kendal mintcake if I'm actually hypo or on the verge), though with the understanding the digestion is delayed during exercise so you'll probably need (once you work out how much you need) to eat regularly rather than when you feel you're flagging, also note that anything you eat in the last hour or so probably won't be absorbed during the ride, though you will also have enhanced insulin sensitivity post-ride as your muscles replenish their glycogen stores, so this may not cause as large a spike as it might otherwise.

I'm interested to know how you get on 🙂

 

[everydayupsanddowns]

I‘d suggest some experimentation @Ian.H

Rather than just assuming your old techniques are no longer going to be suitable, you could use a BG meter and chuck a bunch of test strips at the problem to gather information on how your body responds.

Really pushing (sprints / climbs / anaerobic exercise) tends to release stored glucose / glycogen so you may find you don’t need gels at all.

Aerobic exercise generally reduces BG and may still need similar or slightly adjusted fuelling strategies to what you used before. But you’ll only really know what you need by gathering some data. Steve Redgrave (T2) used to have to mega-fuel his medal-winning exertions!

You may even be able to get a free trial of Freestyle Libre, which would give you access to continuous glucose data, day and night, for a fortnight - which might give you real insight into what happens during rides, and then subsequently on recovery days.

Be interested to see what you find out!

 

[trophywench]

Steve Redgrave was great even after T2 struck Mike - BUT!!!! - you have to also remember along with his medals he was also treated by the old Sports Injury treatment division attached to Loughborough Uni, which when they were a Polytechnic before gaining University status when I was at senior school in West Bromwich always specialised in Sports. When I was in the 5th year studying for my O Levels, a 6th former asked me out Whey Hey - his dad was the Borough Treasurer for West Bromwich so my parents were very impressed - especially so because he could routinely borrow his dad's Humber Hawk to carry him and his mates in the school basketball club to 'Away' fixtures, so the ones at L Poly could be accessible to the team without the sports teacher (one 6ft 6ins Fred Luke, so ideal for basketball!) who was in charge of them, having to rope in another colleague as taxi driver.

Anyway what I am wanting to say that's relevant is this - Steve R's T2 was treated by insulin NOT tablets AND that by pump, not via jabs. Hence, sorry - but I'm afraid it isn't at all realistic to think any 'normal' T2 sportsmen or women could get that level of expertise or treatment, relatively easily available, to them to achieve their goals. Bit different these days than it was, that long ago - 1965-ish.

In the elite squad, well who knows?

 

[McBride8]

You will be able to do long distances and avoid cramps. For the cramps you need electrolytes and water tablets and banannas are a great source. Some good news here is. When you start your ride with a reasonably high blood glucose, you probably don't need any food for the first 30 miles. Then, as you continue to clock up the miles, you can reward yourself with some relatively normal food that would usually be a bit of a no-no. A sausage roll or some jelly babies or even a sandwich will slowly give you the carbs you need. You can also still have caffeine on a ride. You just need to avoid quick release carbs like gels because they are like cryptonite when you have T2