My first 90 mile bike ride

[sololite]

Certainly @sololite.
I did a quick search and could not instantly find the article I read some 3 years ago; I know I gave it a bookmark, but that is temporarily hidden somewhere in my phone and not obvious. I'll look again tomorrow. Meanwhile I'm attaching an 11 minute video from an ABCD training seminar about using CGM to assist with exercise and there are, I think, some useful elements in there for anyone. I like his emphasis on using CGM to give "alerts" (I still think Abbott Freestyle overstate the use of alarms at the expense of drawing attention to getting timely alerts and that leads Newcomers into setting Alarm thresholds close to 4, by which time any alert is coming way too late to stop that drop into hypo territory; sorry that's one of my repeat rants!).

CGM and exercise | The Association of British Clinical Diabetologists

abcd.care

He also points out some peculiarities about the outcomes of aerobic exercise preceding anaerobic. This has got to be useful for non Tour de France riders, where a warm down on the last bit of a long cycle ride can be of interest for BG management as well as muscle care. But none of this gives you the source for protein bars rather than simple carb bars.

I have never cycled anything like 90 miles. But yesterday I came to a temporary halt from 3 x 8+ hr days heavy gardening; trimming 20 ft tall hedges (= constant up and down the Henchman ladder), reaching to the back of an 8ft thick hedge with full stretch of the hedge cutter and each position needing a Henchman configuration change because of very constrained access postions along fhe hedgeline; bagging all arisings as I went and hauling those bags some 50m uphill to a collection point. All in all a thorough workout! Net outcome = lots of "Alerts", plenty of protein bars, plenty of water, night time cramps (magnesium gel) and night low alerts! Recovery day today in anticipation of the rain and so far a 40% reduction for my breakfast bolus, which I'm happily monitoring on my Dexcom G7. Woke to 8.0, been up to 8.9, down to 5.4, now 3hrs on at 6.3 and feeling a bit smug (sorry!).

Hope this helps in the interim. I agree with SimonP that there would be merit in you asking the moderators to break your question into its own thread. Exercise and Activity is so fundamental to understanding how much our BG changes as we routinely have bursts of activity.

For @Busdriver60 we spoke only yesterday about how physical activity such as loading carpets into vans before delivering them could increase your vulnerability to unexpected hypos or near hypos while driving. @Ronnie5cakes this 11 minute video might help you at least understand why your BG can fluctuate so much from one day to the next depending on what you are doing on any one day and it has some suggestions for carbs to take depending on not just where your BG is but also note the emphasis on your CGM trends (direction of travel) in making a carb topping up decision.

Thank you very much for all of this detailed information. Sounds like you did lots of exercise on all that gardening! I crash down very easily after gardening too, the temptation is to keep going to finish a job and end up with me staggering around because I missed the alert. Interesting you say setting the alarm at 4 can be a mistake. That's exactly my setting. I set it to that because the alerts kept going off during the night when I came out of hospital and it was keeping me awake. I will set it a bit higher to see if I can catch my drops which often happen in the afternoon now. I'm learning all the time. Please can you tell me which protene bars you recommend? Thanks once again for helping me understand what's going on with this wonderful puzzle called diabetes🙂

 

[SimonP]

Thanks Simon. I had a quick skim of the link and there is a lot to consume so will take me some time but will give it a go. I am not a fan of gels or Hi5 style drinks as they make me feel a bit sick on the ride so gave them up a few years ago although I do keep a couple in my seat bag just incase everything else has run out. Interestingly yesterday my BS was fine when I bonked. There are a lot of variables for me to fine tune before I can work out my optimum regime for longer rides. I would say one thing to anyone thinking of taking up cycling to help manage their diabetes, give it a go, it really improves my control and may do for you too.

There is lots in there, but I think if you already exercise then it's likely stuff you already do or have a feel for.

I don't think I've ever "bonked" without also being hypo - I mean I've felt knackered and not been able to push the pedals around very hard (e.g. at the end of a long hilly ride, or when I messed up basal dose and couldn't eat at all during a 100km ride) but have never needed to stop. But perhaps I misunderstand what a "bonk" feels like for a non-diabetic (as I was diagnosed at 7, I did ride a bike beforehand but not far enough to risk any sort of problems!)

To avoid the general feeling of being knackered I do need/want to eat something fairly regularly (every half hour perhaps), which can be troublesome as these days I tend to go high when I set out (FotF). I am reluctant to take too much bolus and risk going low trying to cover this which means I often can't eat for the first 3h and also need to forgo breakfast or eat very little (e.g. a half a bowl of cereal - 20g CHO). Rides that start after my FotF has worn off and which allow me to eat and dose for breakfast are generally more pleasant, but the day is only so long.

I eat things like brunch bars (generally a bit too sweet for my liking, but pack well), and am especially fond of Nice biscuits (though both of which are quite dry so hard to eat if you're going up hill and need to breathe). In the past I've tried things like raisins (too sweet), peanut protein bars (bit hard to eat as dry), Mars Bars (far too sweet), Kitkats, Twixes (both too sweet if you need to eat more than one). I try to avoid cookies as they can be greasy, same for other biscuits that are butter based (shortbread, etc.) I tried plain granola on a long ride, I quite liked that but it was a major faff to eat and I probably ended up spreading half of it along the ride behind me, also difficult to judge how much you've had if, like me, you try to keep track of how much you've eaten to work out whether a slow decline in BG will turn around (as I find digestion is delayed while riding.)

I do try to have something savoury for lunch (ham roll using part bake rolls which seem to be especially carb-rich considering how small they are - I did make some rice cakes which were nice, but fell to pieces and don't have very much carb-for-volume buck so haven't bothered again) or ideally stop and eat a proper meal (bacon sarnie, fries - I never feel like a fry up when riding, but I would normally. Baked beans on toast would probably work well). If I do eat a proper meal I'll be fine without eating for at least a couple of hours both from a fatigue and BG point of view.

It's quite hard to know what you'll want to eat though, at least I find that - some of the above (and others) were things I thought I'd quite fancy eating but really didn't when out riding and needing to eat them.

 

[sololite]

Thanks Simon. Plenty of food for thought there 🙂 I will pick up some protein bars and replicate my ride again next week to see what effect it has. Like you I like something to have for lunch on a longer ride, cheese sandwich my meal of choice. I really look forward to it and motivates me . I am not racing or looking for PB'S, just the pure enjoyment of being in the countryside and exercising. I went through some dark times after my op when I thought I may never get back on a bike. Thanks to our wonderful NHS I am back in the saddle and loving it. Regards, Chris

 

[sololite]

There is lots in there, but I think if you already exercise then it's likely stuff you already do or have a feel for.

I don't think I've ever "bonked" without also being hypo - I mean I've felt knackered and not been able to push the pedals around very hard (e.g. at the end of a long hilly ride, or when I messed up basal dose and couldn't eat at all during a 100km ride) but have never needed to stop. But perhaps I misunderstand what a "bonk" feels like for a non-diabetic (as I was diagnosed at 7, I did ride a bike beforehand but not far enough to risk any sort of problems!)

To avoid the general feeling of being knackered I do need/want to eat something fairly regularly (every half hour perhaps), which can be troublesome as these days I tend to go high when I set out (FotF). I am reluctant to take too much bolus and risk going low trying to cover this which means I often can't eat for the first 3h and also need to forgo breakfast or eat very little (e.g. a half a bowl of cereal - 20g CHO). Rides that start after my FotF has worn off and which allow me to eat and dose for breakfast are generally more pleasant, but the day is only so long.

I eat things like brunch bars (generally a bit too sweet for my liking, but pack well), and am especially fond of Nice biscuits (though both of which are quite dry so hard to eat if you're going up hill and need to breathe). In the past I've tried things like raisins (too sweet), peanut protein bars (bit hard to eat as dry), Mars Bars (far too sweet), Kitkats, Twixes (both too sweet if you need to eat more than one). I try to avoid cookies as they can be greasy, same for other biscuits that are butter based (shortbread, etc.) I tried plain granola on a long ride, I quite liked that but it was a major faff to eat and I probably ended up spreading half of it along the ride behind me, also difficult to judge how much you've had if, like me, you try to keep track of how much you've eaten to work out whether a slow decline in BG will turn around (as I find digestion is delayed while riding.)

I do try to have something savoury for lunch (ham roll using part bake rolls which seem to be especially carb-rich considering how small they are - I did make some rice cakes which were nice, but fell to pieces and don't have very much carb-for-volume buck so haven't bothered again) or ideally stop and eat a proper meal (bacon sarnie, fries - I never feel like a fry up when riding, but I would normally. Baked beans on toast would probably work well). If I do eat a proper meal I'll be fine without eating for at least a couple of hours both from a fatigue and BG point of view.

It's quite hard to know what you'll want to eat though, at least I find that - some of the above (and others) were things I thought I'd quite fancy eating but really didn't when out riding and needing to eat them.

I looked at protein bars but they are soooo expensive and generally have additives that I try and avoid so I decided to make something myself using peanut butter, museli, a bit of honey and Pea protein. I mash it together and keep in a small tub as I cycle, breaking bits off every half an hour. It's a bit hard to get down but with a gulp of water is fine. So far so good. Will report back later in the year on whether it's having an effect or not.

 

[Oscar]

Ideally you need to start feeding a long while before you feel the need to eat same with fluid as by then your in minus so need more to not only gain but also to where you was on an even plateau.
The "bonk" is actually quite complex as there is a whole chain of events and substances going on with in the body rather than one thing.

For me a day before an event i'd have a decent sized jacket potato and a piece of steak.
And during the event i'd eat things like dates even jelly babies.
But complex carbs are better but need to be eaten far earlier so the body is breaking them down bit like a delayed action.
So need forward planning and best if sitting down a fair while before and workout your needs and Requirements and how your going to plan it out so topped up.

Also bonking as such isn't always totally as can be Lactic acid build up.

I used to do regular 100 mile plus rides training and pleasure rides and also Time trials/Audax/road racing inc 12hr TT which did 216 miles plus off road like the Hell of the north around the Cotswolds.

Not sure what area your in but can try ringing likes of the Centres like Manchester velodrome for someone that can help on Nutrition front as there will be coaches etc.

Plus don't forget to do all your stretches! and set bike up properly!

 

[CliffH]

Very well done Robbie! I've got LADA and I'm a keen cyclist. I use standard SiS drinks, bars and gels and my Libre tells me that using them at 'standard' quantities and frequencies keeps my blood sugar levels fairly flat during a typical three-hour training session. However, after such a session, my need for insulin reduces dramatically (or is even eliminated) for at least the following 24 hours. So, my experience (which may not be the same as yours, of course) is that serious cycling burns so many carbs/calories that the main priority is to avoid hypos. Before I developed LADA, my experience of bonking whilst cycling felt the same as hypos nowadays - although of course at that time I wasn't measuring my blood sugar levels.
I think that, for those of us who aren't at the Geraint Thomas level of needing marginal gains in terms of weight/power ratio, if we're doing lots of cycling we're entitled to reward ourselves afterwards with something sweet!