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London Paris Cycle Ride

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Haggis8716

Haggis8716

Active Member
Relationship to Diabetes
Type 2
I am hoping to take part in an organised London To Paris Cycle Ride next July. Partly as an effort to get fit, to raise money for charity and as a chalange for myself at 50. I have never done anything like this before and I will need to train alot.

Healthwise I am T2 my last HBA1c was 44. I also have mild Peripheral Aterial Disease. I am managing my T2 on a low sugar diet wth the help of Metformin.

Any advise from you guys out there would be greatfully recieved.
 
Good for you Haggis, chapeau. I'm 50 next year as well and thinking of some cycling challenges. What distances will you be covering each day and how many days? If it's around 60-80 miles a day although it sounds a lot and I suppose it is but you have a year to get ready for it and it is easily doable. What standard are you at at the moment? If starting from scratch then the best thing is to build slowly increasing distances over time. Try and get out every week or more if possible but don't overdo it in the beginning. If you can't get out one week then no problem just carry on the week after.

Over the Winter carry on getting out or maybe invest in a turbo trainer if the weather's really bad to keep your training up. By the time the ride comes around you should be capable of doing (and have done) the daily distances required but don't go mad in the week or two prior to the ride. I've no experience of metformin but I personally require a reasonable amount of carbs to sustain me over longer distances. They soon get burned off. :D Good luck with it.
 
Hi Matt, Total distance is about 280mls, starting with about 90mls on the first day and slowly decreasing over the next 4 days. at the moment I am "learning" to ride a road bike again as a lot has changed since I last rode a road bike.

Last week I did 14mls on a trip to the Lake District which was a bit more hilly than my local area of Cambridgeshire (and I hadn't even had breakfast). I was also getting use to using clipless pedals and SIS gears (and these things are ment to make it easier).

Last time I did a serious amount of cycling I could do about 70mls in a day, but in those days the gears were on the riser bar and you gently eased them into position and cycling helmets hadn't even been invented other than the leather foam filled type. so a bit of work to do.

And I have already invested in a Turbo trainer. Picked it up on ebay to help with setting up my clippless pedals.
 
90 miles to begin with so it's get the worst bit over first. 😉 Clipless pedals are great and as you've probably found although a bit weird at first with your feet being attached to the pedals they soon become second nature. I had several bikes with downtube shifters in my youth but the SIS shifters again in my opinion are so much better. Depending on the terrain you'll be riding next July it's good to try and train on a mixture of hills and flat if possible.

I don't know if you're on Strava or Garmin Connect but I've found them very useful just for maintaining an accurate record of distances/routes/speeds etc. They would prove extremely useful for training purposes.

The longer the distances you start to do the more you will learn about fuelling. I always start the day with porridge but use a combination of gels/banana/malt loaf/energy drink on the way round on a ride - often to avoid hypos in my case rather than simply replacing glycogen. 🙄 I also need to top up with carbs after a ride (and adjust my insulin) as my bg can carry on falling through the night. I regularly keep checking my bg's on a ride and this is where the Libre comes into its own as you don't have to stop to swipe.
 
Comfy saddle, plus padded shorts. In addition to fitness. Enjoy the journey, including training rides.
 
I have invested in some proper cycling kit, although at the cheap end of the market. as it is all I can afford. as for the saddle I am using the one which came with the bike, a Boardman Road Sport. the 2015/2016 model I belive.

With regards to the Strava, I have it installed on my phone but haven't used it yet as I am a bit worried as to how fast it will drain the battery. Hoping to get out on the bike in the next few days. have a new route planed localy of about 18/20mls. Thanks for the advise about regular testing. but I will have to do it the old way as I can't afford a libre but I do have the compact nexus so it is easy to carry.
 
Haggis8716 said:
Has anyone else in this forum done the London Paris Cycle Ride?
Click to expand...

I've not done it but sounds great - I'll have to do it some day. 🙂 Due to work and family commitments I normally only get out once or twice a week but try and make it a decent ride. I post my rides in this thread:

https://forum.diabetes.org.uk/boards/threads/cycling.55014/

There's quite a bit in there now so you'll need to skim through if you have a look. :D It has a bit about where I've been, what I've eaten, stats, a few photos and other bits of nonsense. :D

It's good you've invested in some proper kit as I agree with Copepod about decent well fitting bibshorts. There is nothing worse than not being able to concentrate on riding because your backside hurts from poor shorts. I haven't got money to burn either so go for the DHB classics from Wiggle - these have seen me do rides over 100 miles without any issues.

Team BG has some useful info for diabetics of all types regarding sports and exercise.

http://www.teambloodglucose.com/TeamBG/Home.html

Runsweet is aimed at T1's but you may find some of it useful.

http://www.runsweet.com/
 
Just been out for a cycle this morning. Did 17.3mls in 1h 38m with an elv rise of 537ft. did a few bg tests on route . started with a high reading of 12.4 (don't know where that came from, only had a couple of weetabix with milk and sweetner on them about an hour beforehand) then 6.7,6.5 finishing on a 6. Ate one fruit bake bar on route.
 
Haggis8716 said:
Just been out for a cycle this morning. Did 17.3mls in 1h 38m with an elv rise of 537ft. did a few bg tests on route . started with a high reading of 12.4 (don't know where that came from, only had a couple of weetabix with milk and sweetner on them about an hour beforehand) then 6.7,6.5 finishing on a 6. Ate one fruit bake bar on route.
Click to expand...

Well done Haggis. 🙂 The 12.4 is likely to be from the weetabix and milk (around 30g CHO) although it will depend on what your levels were before you had it. Your levels on the ride are fine. Pancreas working reasonably well. With more exercise you should find insulin sensitivity improves and your levels remain steadier even when not exercising.
 
Haggis8716 said:
Just been out for a cycle this morning. Did 17.3mls in 1h 38m with an elv rise of 537ft. did a few bg tests on route . started with a high reading of 12.4 (don't know where that came from, only had a couple of weetabix with milk and sweetner on them about an hour beforehand) then 6.7,6.5 finishing on a 6. Ate one fruit bake bar on route.
Click to expand...
Just shows how getting out & being active is good, well done Haggis 🙂
 
After doing that I was krakerd for the rest of the day. So I think I will concentrate on a few shorter distance rides for a while to build up my staminer. I have worked out a route of about 13mls but I give it a couple of weeks before I do that one. will stick to my 8.4mls route forthe next couple of weeks. was pleased yesterday when I did the 8.4mls route with no stops in 35mins which includes a good mile of uphill.

I know I have a good way to go until I am ready for the London to Paris, but I have until next Sept.
 
No advice I'm afraid. I could only ride a bike if it had an armchair for a saddle :D but I have to say, all power to your elbow or knees or butt (delete as applicable). Keep us updated with your progress.

Which charity are you doing it for?
 
Planning to do it for a combination of Diabetes UK and The Autistic Society. I have the Diabetes and my son has Asperger's Syndrome, we have made use of both charities which promote awareness and education of the two conditions and I would like to give something back.

Once I get officially registered for the event in sept this year I will be setting up 2 justgiving pages so people can make their choice as to which they want to donate to.
 
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