long distance rides more than 1 day with Type 1 Diabetes

[polachoc]

Hello, I will be undertaking a 5 day ride later this year through some Victorian high country, kms approximtely 450-500. Have Type 1 Diabetes, am a health professional and some idea of handling this but is there anyone out there that can share their experiences and perhaps provide some handy tips..............Happy cycling. Polachoc

[bigfriendlyvegan]

There's a racing team where all of the members have diabetes, currently in the Tour of California: Team Type 1

[sogood]

There's a racing team where all of the members have diabetes, currently in the Tour of California: Team Type 1

That's what I thought before but am not sure if it's the case still. Efimkin is certainly no diabetic. And according to their team web site, 6 of their 2011 mens team have type 1 diabetes. Women's have 9 out of 19.
http://www.teamtype1.org/about/default.htm#

[bigfriendlyvegan]

There's a racing team where all of the members have diabetes, currently in the Tour of California: Team Type 1

That's what I thought before but am not sure if it's the case still. Efimkin is certainly no diabetic. And according to their team web site, 6 of their 2011 mens team have type 1 diabetes. Women's have 9 out of 19.
http://www.teamtype1.org/about/default.htm#

So that explains their results. I didn't think there would be that many elite cyclists with Type 1. Still, they're out there promoting a cause that the OP was interested in.

[sogood]

Yes, I understand they provide good information on type I in sport. The OP should definitely check the site.

[bigfriendlyvegan]

Yes, I understand they provide good information on type I in sport. The OP should definitely check the site.

Particularly, info about the Race Across America which is about as hard core as distance riding/racing gets these days. Type 1 have won it several times.

[orphic]

There are plenty of elite athletes out there with Type 1, but not enough to make up a full cycling team hence the reason why the entire TT1 does not necessarily have type 1 diabetes. The founders certainly do and there are a lot of cyclists out there doing very well that do as well.

How much do you cycle now polachoc? Do you do many back to back days? One really important thing is knowing how your body responds to backing up each day. I've done a few stints of a week long tours where I ride 6-8hrs per day and recently did two weeks in NZ where I was doing similar hours. I basically get to the point where at the end of it my insulin requirements are very low as muscles are demanding more glucose from the blood stream to top up glycogen stores and recover. If the days are less than 100km you may not experience this so much.

If you're on a pump this is much easier to manage as you can reduce your basal on the fly. I'm still on manual so it's a bit harder.

If you're worried about it and have or can get your hands on a CGMS for the week then do it! I raced my first solo 24hr mountain bike race on the weekend and borrowed a CGMS from my endo. It was an absolute life saver and let me worry about riding instead of stopping to check my blood sugar all the time.

Hope this helps. Any questions you have let me know. Happy to share my experiences, although I still don't have everything right. Still feel very new to both the diabetes thing and the cycling thing!

[liamb]

Hi

I have been diabetic since 4 (am now almost 35). I have been into cycling for about 7 months so I have not had any chance to do a long distance ride day after day though I have ridden a 60km, 91km and 70km 3 day run over a long weekend. I always have issues with taking blood samples while exercising as adrenalin totally falsifies my results ie 20.1 when my actual is 4.1 (as tested at SASI with endo specialists with specialist testing machines). I have done the Sydney to Hobart in a 6 day trip, not the race but a trial with some extra trials. The most important thing I found was to have someone with you who knows how you react when your sugar is low and can get sugar into you. I had a bad hypo on the boat but did not see it coming as I was on a rush in the big seas but my mate picked it and got a can of coke down my throat in time to prevent any damage.
I would also recommend visiting a sports nutrition expert to make sure the fuel you feed your body is the correct amounts and types to give you the best results while also managing you insulin doses.
I don’t pretend to be any good at managing it while exercising but over time I have got to a point where I know what I can do to my body re pushing limits while still maintaining good long term control. It is with the help of friends, family (who know me and how I react) and medical experts that I can keep doing the thing I love doing. My A1c has never got over 7.7 since 1997 and a lot of it is due to listening to the experts and my body. This may not help but I hope you get what you want to do done!

My Endo is a really keen doctor who is always tring to find new and better ways of managing type 1 in difficult situations, he has 2 AFL footballers on his books but they are different as they have special medical staff within the club but he is always passing on helpful hints to me but as I said above it often comes down to poeple who know you and how you react who help you or remind you when you are competing or challenging yourself.

BIll

[polachoc]

thanks for your replys everyone, yes i agree, having people around you who are familiar with your regime etc is very handy, in particular a bunch of fellow nurses
I am still on manual not the pump. My recent experience on a 24 bike race was still the same testing regime, but much less insulin required, despite increased carb load. Occasionally i was hyperglycaemic, prior to riding, not ketoacidotic, but getting on the bike corrected it, however i always have the nibbles in every pocket, as things can change very quickly. riding and eating is tricky at times. Cheers everyone, encouraging feedback, which reaffirms that you can do stuff like 5 day bike rides, with education/information to help you along the way xx polachoc

[molly]

I have been diagnosed for around 8 years now (wow time flies). Been consistently hitting at least 100kms a week for about six or so months by now. Most of my rides are commuting so around 40mins to 1hr (depending if I go short way or not), longest ride has been 2hrs.

I'm interested in what other "type one-ers" have found in regards to their training/blood sugar levels. I have finally started taking measurements and attempting to be more stringent on my insulin and sugar level control. I have always found my sugar levels to rise during or post exercise (hitting around 15 straight after and usually still 12 an hour later - post exercise).

Diet/food intake is a whole other ball game, my body is strange and does not seem to digest/absorb things it needs from food (I eat way too much for my size, approx 67kgs and 180cm tall). I lost 5kgs the other week after being sick and not eating for two days - this has happened before and it took months for me to put back on some of that weight.

So I usually now take some units of insulin post ride as well as consume a "muesli" type bar to get some carbs back into the body and the insulin to obviously help break those carbs down (as well as reduce my high sugar levels). I guess its hard to find the balance between two low or two high sugar levels and maintaining that level throughout the exercise, I do not know it as a fact, but I am sure I have struggled on rides when sugar levels have been at either end of the spectrums, two low = not enough energy, two high = sluggish feeling.

I need to get a good support group of professionals (like liamb) but that is quite hard. It is difficult to find people with the interesting/knowledge with diabetes. The sports nutritionist sounds like a good option.

After rereading my post, I'm not sure if I have contributed anything, well I hope others come back and put forth some useful info!