cycling 300 miles in October for Diabetes UK. (diary/log

[WallisOnline]

So I can keep a log throughout October I have decided to put my cycling diary into a post so I have a record of what I have achieved. I hope to update this every Sunday or Monday with my previous weeks progress of cycling 300 miles during the month of October for UK Wide Cycle Ride for diabetes UK.

Sunday 1st October !

So Sunday marked the start of October which is also the start of the UK wide cycle ride for diabetes UK where I plan to cover 300 miles on the bike over the month of October ( minimum 10miles each day!) whilst raising money for diabetes UK (not that I have many donations yet!)

Today was also the first time I have ridden out and about on my own since my diabetes diagnosis so using the advice above of testing whilst riding I was feeling confident and comfortable with the plan. I stocked up with some body fuel sugar free electrolyte tablets for my water and stuffed some jelly babies and sugar free body fuel gels in my pocket just in case my blood sugars dropped.

Normally I take 40mg of gliclazide with my breakfast but as I wasn't eating before my ride I hadn't taken my tablet hoping my blood wouldn't go too high!

So I started my morning with my first finger prick test and a reading of 5.5 just before I set off at 6:30am.

After 30 minutes I found a suitable place to stop for a break and a finger prick test... with a reading of 6.4. I had heard that when exercising your bs goes up so it was just a matter of how much, luckily it wasn't too high of a rise!

30 mins later again another good place to stop, outside the old pumping station, which worked out perfect for me as it felt like I had been on a steady incline for most of the ride! This time the test was 6.7 so again all is good so far! No need for the emergency food I brought along and just staying topped up on the electrolytes!

Not long after leaving this stop I started to get the hunger setting in so decided to head home. Normally at this point I would have one of the gels in my pocket but I wanted this first ride to be with as little as possible that could affect my BS levels. Next time will be the test with the gels I think!

In total I ended up just doing 17.91 miles, which for my first time out on the road since before lockdown and having limited time this morning due to an impending trip to the local farm park I didn't think was too bad. I also got an idea into how my body reacts to the sugar levels when riding so a win win as far as I'm concerned!

Oh I also did a finger prick test about 1 hour after the ride and before taking my gliclazide for the morning and it came back with a reading of 5.7, so almost back to pre-ride levels already!

Now to spend the working week riding the bike in the gym until next Sunday when I can get out on the road again getting in as many miles as I can for October!

 

[rebrascora]

Just wanting to wish you lots of luck with the challenge. I have no idea what the low sugar fuel gels are but they sound like a total waste of money and probably a bit of an oxymoron since glucose sugar and it is the body's fuel so whatever is in these gels is either high in finely processed starches in which case you are just as well with the full sugar ones or just providing you with salts which your body is quite capable of getting from food. I would be very surprised if you actually need them at all, which it doesn't look like from the readings you got on your first ride. Sounds like you had a great plan. exercising with out breakfast or gliclazide in your system.

You were also very wise to stop and test regularly and I wonder if you had considered applying for the Freestyle Libre2 14 day free trial. Basically it is a sensor which is attacked to your arm and sends your readings to your phone. It is sampling your glucose levels every minute and stores the data as well as sending alarms to your phone if you are going high or low.
The only criteria for the free trial is that you haven't used the system before, you are diabetic and you have a compaticle phone to download and operate the LibreLink app. I am sure the sensor will give you a lot more peace of mind when exercising on your own as well as providing you with a huge amount of data about how certain foods affect you etc. It really is an amazing bit of kit. If you do a search for Freestyle Libre Free Trial I am sure you will find it on the Abbott Laboratories website.

Do you have a "Just Giving" or similar page for your fund raising. If so, I don't think it is out of order to post a link to it here so that people can contribute if they want to.

 

[WallisOnline]

Just wanting to wish you lots of luck with the challenge. I have no idea what the low sugar fuel gels are but they sound like a total waste of money and probably a bit of an oxymoron since glucose sugar and it is the body's fuel so whatever is in these gels is either high in finely processed starches in which case you are just as well with the full sugar ones or just providing you with salts which your body is quite capable of getting from food. I would be very surprised if you actually need them at all, which it doesn't look like from the readings you got on your first ride. Sounds like you had a great plan. exercising with out breakfast or gliclazide in your system.

You were also very wise to stop and test regularly and I wonder if you had considered applying for the Freestyle Libre2 14 day free trial. Basically it is a sensor which is attacked to your arm and sends your readings to your phone. It is sampling your glucose levels every minute and stores the data as well as sending alarms to your phone if you are going high or low.
The only criteria for the free trial is that you haven't used the system before, you are diabetic and you have a compaticle phone to download and operate the LibreLink app. I am sure the sensor will give you a lot more peace of mind when exercising on your own as well as providing you with a huge amount of data about how certain foods affect you etc. It really is an amazing bit of kit. If you do a search for Freestyle Libre Free Trial I am sure you will find it on the Abbott Laboratories website.

Do you have a "Just Giving" or similar page for your fund raising. If so, I don't think it is out of order to post a link to it here so that people can contribute if they want to.

Many thanks for your reply.

I have looked at the Libra system and have considered it but I'm trying to find the right time to order the trail so I can get the most from it as I'm not sure I could afford to self fund one going forward! I could do with a whole week off work so I can spend time on the bike monitoring with the Libra so I can see what happens in different situations... but don't have the holidays left for the rest of this year or the time to spend most of it cycling (6 kids make sure I don't have the time haha!)
Maybe it's something I will consider doing when I plan a slight longer ride length.

The link to my page where you can donate and also track how many miles I have covered is:

Pedal for Progress

Make every mile count this October, as you pedal for progress for everyone with diabetes.

cycle.diabetes.org.uk

 

[rebrascora]

I would order the free Libre trial now, because there is no guarantee it will always be available and would be a real shame to miss out on it. There is another company offering a free trial of their system but it isn't currently approved for use in the UK as a medical device, so that might be an option for another time if you want to do more intensive testing during a holiday period.

 

[helli]

Just because you order it now does not mean you have to use it this month.
Or even this year.

 

[WallisOnline]

Thanks for the advice and info on the Libra. I will get on and order the trial and see how we go. Like you say I don't have to use it now.

@rebrascora thankyou so much for the donation! It means so much to have the support! Every little helps!

 

[Jodee]

Hi Wallis best wishes with your efforts.

Is it advisable to go so long without food when you are exercising to such an extent?

I find I feel very light headed if I dont eat enough before exercise and tend to get that way even when exercise is lengthy and its been 3 + hours since last meal.

 

[WallisOnline]

Hi Wallis best wishes with your efforts.

Is it advisable to go so long without food when you are exercising to such an extent?

I find I feel very light headed if I dont eat enough before exercise and tend to get that way even when exercise is lengthy and its been 3 + hours since last meal.

HI Jodee,

Don't know if its advisable to go so long without food when exercising but I was doing it for my own knowledge on how my body would react / cope with the sugar levels with nothing in my system when cycling (as I said I was testing regular and did have some food items on me just in case of any problems). I often go the gym first thing in the morning and don't eat breakfast until afterwards so I'm used to exercising on an empty stomach and never had any issue (touch wood), although granted it is usually only for about 1 hour with short breaks in-between as I move between machines at the gym.

Going forward I plan to have something to eat before leaving, although not sure what yet, thinking along the lines of something that has slow release carbs. So I've got some research to do in that area and trialling a few different foods to see what works best for me.

Also Thank you SO much for the donation, I really do appreciate every bit of help and encouragement from everyone!

 

[Jodee]

HI Jodee,

--------------------------

Going forward I plan to have something to eat before leaving, although not sure what yet, thinking along the lines of something that has slow release carbs. So I've got some research to do in that area and trialling a few different foods to see what works best for me.

Also Thank you SO much for the donation, I really do appreciate every bit of help and encouragement from everyone!

I wonder if you are ok on jumbo organic oats, you could add some bluberries or half banana with, might be a good food to give long lasting fuel 🙂 Also my local Reeves do this wonderful whole grain sour dough bread with seeds, that will be really slow to metabolise too, that would go with egg on or half a banana Any way I am sure you will work it out.

My pleasure re your thanks and appreciation. Hopefully more coming you way real soon. Did you post on FB maybe? or your local Nextdoor site?

Thank you for keeping us all up to date. Great pictures and fab places to stop for a rest 🙂

 

[Mumpie_olgran]

Good luck with it @WallisOnline !

Keep us posted

 

[WallisOnline]

Good luck with it @WallisOnline !

Keep us posted

Thankyou so much for the encouragement and donation! You are all wonderful people on this forum with great generosity!

 

[WallisOnline]

Monday 2nd October - Saturday 7th October

So during the week days my cycling time is pretty much all done in the local gym due to work and family commitments (6 kids keep ya busy!). This isn't a bad thing as it allows me to introduce a couple of days of structured training like hill climbs, sprints, endurance etc.

Since the 1st I have managed to cover the below distances:

Monday - 13.47 miles gym bike
Tuesday - 16.06 miles gym bike
Wednesday - 4.3 miles cycling to and from the office
Thursday - no cycling (kickboxing for younglings)
Friday - 17.5 miles gym bike
Saturday 14.85 miles gym bike

Including my first ride on the previous Sunday this gave me a grand total of 84.09 miles for the first 7 days of October... this is well ahead of my planned 10 miles per day average so it felt good to bank the extra miles to my target!

Sunday 8th October

Today I had planned to try and go just a few miles further than last Sunday on a slightly different route that would take me more along national cycle route 6 rather than going along the roads. This also meant I was able to swing by Newsread Abbey!

My day started at 6am again, but today I decided to have a very small portion of porridge before I left to try and stop me getting hungry whilst out riding like last time. I decided again to not take my gliclazide tablet with this breakfast and would save it for when I had some toast when I got home! Took a quick finger prick and the results were 5.7mmol/L so we were good to go.

My route took me along National cycle route 6 and about 2 miles in my front light decided to stop working, it seems in my preparation I forgot to charge my lights and the battery had died, so I had to make the decision to carry on or go home, at 6:30 in the morning the sun was just rising and most of the start of the route is off the roads so I continued on.

The first place I came across was Mill Lakes, there was a little fog in the distance but no people around.

Because I was following route 6 this took me along a long gravel path with no roads around, and no people! I took a quick stop for a drink and decided I wasn't going to test my blood levels whilst out today as I was confident enough from the previous week that I was going to be OK

A bit further round the paths was my next stop for a drink and photo, stopping here was the reason I chose this route for this week. Newstead Abbey with no people around is certainly an eerie place but looking so nice, no photo can do it justice, and it seems someone left a bike in the way!

Because there are no places open at the time of morning that I am out on a Sunday I took a picture of one of the many country pubs and I decided to stop at and have a seat for 5 minutes. I can say it's a very good pub for food having been there earlier in the year and would recommend it to anyone near blidworth bottoms!

Finally, within the last 2 miles of home I passed Alexandra lodge, which is a grade 2 listed building I believe dating from early 1860's now used as a base for the park rangers of the country park it's next to.

Got home having covered 22.29 miles, blood sugars were measured and read 5.4 mmol/L so again looking good for the start of the day and made it back in time to take Child 4 to kickboxing for his double grading class!

Another good bump in my miles for Diabetes UK and takes me over 100 miles so far so very pleased with my progress!

Pedal for Progress

Make every mile count this October, as you pedal for progress for everyone with diabetes.

cycle.diabetes.org.uk

 

[rebrascora]

Well done! Loving the descriptions of the routes and the photos of places of interest along the way!
Looking forward to next week's report already!

 

[rebrascora]

PS. Also sounds like you are managing your diabetes really well with the exercise, so a huge well done for that too!

 

[WallisOnline]

PS. Also sounds like you are managing your diabetes really well with the exercise, so a huge well done for that too!

Thanks for the kind words. My readings average about 5.3mmol/L so fingers crossed I can maintain that going forward, even with increasing my cycling over time!
Learnt so much from reading the many posts on here and just taking some of the advice / info that's given and adapting it to work for me and my diabetes journey!

 

[SimonP]

Is it advisable to go so long without food when you are exercising to such an extent?

I'd not worry too much about that, I've accidentally (as I reduced my basal insulin too much) done a ~6h ride without any food/other sustenance other than water. I was quite tired (and hungry) at the end but the legs kept turning.

Keep up the good work @WallisOnline 🙂

 

[everydayupsanddowns]

Thanks for all the updates @WallisOnline

Keep going!

 

[Jodee]

Your doing a great job Wallis and love all the pictures 🙂

 

[WallisOnline]

Monday 9th - Saturday 14th

So this week I had to have 2 days off the bike on Wednesday and Thursday due to illness but it can be good to have rest days so it wasn't too bad.

Still over the 4 days I did ride I managed to cover 60.33 miles in the gym so it wasn't a complete loss!

Sunday 15th Oct

On Saturday I had decided that because I had missed a few rides this week I would do my first 50km ride since well before covid. So I quickly put together a route which actually totalled 56km and saved it to an app that would guide me around my route. (Personally I always work in miles but it seems a lot of cycling use KM and 50km is often a first big target!)

I ended up leaving home at 6:45am this morning after having my porridge for breakfast and checking my bloods which were showing 5.6. I made the mistake of not checking the weather conditions previously, it was showing as 3 degrees when I left and it turns out that once your feet get cold on a ride they are very difficult to warm up again!

My route first took me through a small town before I could get to the country roads which normally isn't too bad, but this one took me up a massive hill within the first few miles which felt like a wall! Hopefully this isn't a sign of things to come!

After making it through the town my first point of interest was a war memorial which I didn't stop at due to the cold and wanting to carry on and stay as warm as possible but I have "borrowed" a picture.


I think at this point I had the wind behind me and some fairly flat roads as it felt like I was flying along at a decent pace passing pubs, churches and crossing train tracks as I rode. I did consider getting a picture of the various pubs and churches I passed as some are really old buildings but figured if I did that it would take twice as long to get around and it was cold! (Not sure I mentioned how cold it was!?)
Finally I had to stop for a quick rest and drink in a parking spot right beside the great river trent, surprisingly a few people were out fishing already and even a few runners!


After setting off again my route would take me north a bit and west a bit which seemed to be into the wind, or at least it felt like it! I also discovered that my route took me up what felt like a mahoosive hill! As I was riding it I remembered that I had actually done Bonner hill in reverse a few years ago and was so glad I was heading the direction I was as the other way was much worse! I did manage to get about 40mph going downhill though!

Finally I went alongside a massive carboot which in the past has had inflatables, kids rides and all sorts as well as the many carbooters! After that I was going in reverse of where I cycled last week which meant another trip past Newstead Abbey and along National cycle route 6 to get me home again finishing off with 35.05 miles added to my total mileage for October which now stands at 201.81miles, getting ever closer to my 300 mile target!
Blood levels when I returned home were 5.9 so very happy with both the ride and my blood levels so far today!



One thing I did notice as I went round was quite a few people were up cooking bacon and it smelled lovely as I cycled along! And my feet were absolutely freezing pretty much all the way around because it was a collllddddd morning!

Pedal for Progress

Make every mile count this October, as you pedal for progress for everyone with diabetes.

cycle.diabetes.org.uk

 

[SimonP]

Well done and great commentary 🙂

I managed to get out for a ride yesterday (Saturday) late afternoon and goodness me the weather has certainly changed - I ended up suffering from cold hands and chilly feet too (and it rained on me too, which didn't help). I think I'll have to dig out the winter (cycling) boots for my next ride!

I also notice the nice smells of cooking food while riding, probably because I'm getting hungry! BBQs in the summer and bacon at lunchtime and sometimes curry when I'm back late!