you know what they say about assume
Long training bicycle ride for the upcoming Tour de Cure. I managed to do 44.5 miles today; I'm planning on riding the 80 mile course at the ride, so still a ways to go.
I started off fine, but by about 4 miles my legs were feeling rubbery. That's not good on such a long ride. At first, I didn't believe that it could be my blood sugar. About 45 minutes before the ride, I checked my level and it was at 80. So I had a Z-Bar energy bar; that should have been enough to raise my blood sugar to 140-150, which is where I like it before exercise. I continued on and did not feel any better, so I stopped to check my sugar level around mile 5.5 or so. 53. That's not good. I always carry sugar sources with me, so I had a power gel that had around 30 grams of carbs. That should pretty quickly raise me back up to around 150.
Back on the bike, things are going fine. I got down to the Kemah-Seabrook bridge; I haven't ridden across that in some time. Boy, that's pretty steep. I was definitely huffin' and puffin' by the top. It's nice to get that speed up on the way back down, though. Not long after that I was feeling wobbly again so I had a couple of jolly ranchers to see if the feeling would go away. Those are very fast acting, but no dice. So I pedaled through a little more of League City and found a Valero convenience store where I could stop again. This time the sugar was at 61, not much better. What the $#!@%? I even took less basal insulin today than normal so I don't know why my body is burning so many carbs. Anyway, I get a bottle of water and a 32 oz gatorade, which should be plenty of carbs for the rest of the ride. I'm just over half way at this point. While I'm there I see a Ford Think! electric car, which is sort of a neighborhood electric vehicle It has two elderly guys smoking cigars in it...
I head back across the big bridge and get the bike all the way up to top gear on the way down; I definitely hadn't done that in a while. Then through Seabrook along Todville road. Lots of construction and places for sale down there, not sure what is up with that, right along the waterfront, but elsewhere in Seabrook too.
I hit the head for home point and decide to have some more sugar so I have another couple of Jolly Ranchers. I've also been drinking more of the Glacier Frost drink I bought. I get to Taylor Lake Village at about 33 miles into the ride and I can tell I'm tiring out and my legs are feeling wobbly again. Dang, and I thought it just couldn't happen that fast...so one more stop at a Chevron on Red Bluff Rd where I got a banana and had some more of the blue stuff in my bottle. Then the final 9 miles or so home. Had the rest of the Gatorade on the final leg and got home feeling a bit bottom sore and tired. Blood sugar level: 105. Thank goodness.
Still a good ride overall. No assuming that my blood sugar levels will react normally when I exercise hard, that's the lesson here. Fortunately, I'm pretty diligent about watching it even though it's a pain.
Oh, yeah, and I even had a new meter today...my old one went on the fritz yesterday when I went out to boardgaming. I ended up next door at the Walgreens where they were having some sort of sale on blood sugar meters, so got a new one for $20, normally $75.
And just in case anyone still wants to donate for the upcoming ride:
http://main.diabetes.org/goto/martang
I started off fine, but by about 4 miles my legs were feeling rubbery. That's not good on such a long ride. At first, I didn't believe that it could be my blood sugar. About 45 minutes before the ride, I checked my level and it was at 80. So I had a Z-Bar energy bar; that should have been enough to raise my blood sugar to 140-150, which is where I like it before exercise. I continued on and did not feel any better, so I stopped to check my sugar level around mile 5.5 or so. 53. That's not good. I always carry sugar sources with me, so I had a power gel that had around 30 grams of carbs. That should pretty quickly raise me back up to around 150.
Back on the bike, things are going fine. I got down to the Kemah-Seabrook bridge; I haven't ridden across that in some time. Boy, that's pretty steep. I was definitely huffin' and puffin' by the top. It's nice to get that speed up on the way back down, though. Not long after that I was feeling wobbly again so I had a couple of jolly ranchers to see if the feeling would go away. Those are very fast acting, but no dice. So I pedaled through a little more of League City and found a Valero convenience store where I could stop again. This time the sugar was at 61, not much better. What the $#!@%? I even took less basal insulin today than normal so I don't know why my body is burning so many carbs. Anyway, I get a bottle of water and a 32 oz gatorade, which should be plenty of carbs for the rest of the ride. I'm just over half way at this point. While I'm there I see a Ford Think! electric car, which is sort of a neighborhood electric vehicle It has two elderly guys smoking cigars in it...
I head back across the big bridge and get the bike all the way up to top gear on the way down; I definitely hadn't done that in a while. Then through Seabrook along Todville road. Lots of construction and places for sale down there, not sure what is up with that, right along the waterfront, but elsewhere in Seabrook too.
I hit the head for home point and decide to have some more sugar so I have another couple of Jolly Ranchers. I've also been drinking more of the Glacier Frost drink I bought. I get to Taylor Lake Village at about 33 miles into the ride and I can tell I'm tiring out and my legs are feeling wobbly again. Dang, and I thought it just couldn't happen that fast...so one more stop at a Chevron on Red Bluff Rd where I got a banana and had some more of the blue stuff in my bottle. Then the final 9 miles or so home. Had the rest of the Gatorade on the final leg and got home feeling a bit bottom sore and tired. Blood sugar level: 105. Thank goodness.
Still a good ride overall. No assuming that my blood sugar levels will react normally when I exercise hard, that's the lesson here. Fortunately, I'm pretty diligent about watching it even though it's a pain.
Oh, yeah, and I even had a new meter today...my old one went on the fritz yesterday when I went out to boardgaming. I ended up next door at the Walgreens where they were having some sort of sale on blood sugar meters, so got a new one for $20, normally $75.
And just in case anyone still wants to donate for the upcoming ride:
http://main.diabetes.org/goto/martang