Monday, August 30, 2010

29er tested...

I ended up battling traffic and made the trek to the Specialized demo ride. Glad I made it! I did two laps (they had short test ride lap setup, maybe 2-3 miles) on the carbon hardtail with Sram XX. The bike fit pretty well, but would need some proper fitting. Well, after my two laps I was sold! Not necessarily on the Specialized, but on the 29er platform. It felt fast and I was amazed we how well it went over the rocky and rooty sections. I did seem to hit my pedals in a couple corners that I don't think would have on my 26", but I did not analyze crank length or bb clearance.

Blood sugar still a little on the low side, may run a slight temp basal tonight. Good night and sweet (29er) dreams!
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Another rest day, sort of!

Blood sugar has been running on the low side for the last couple days. Not sure why. I'm on a new statin medication, but I don't think that is one of the side effects. Went on an easy 2 hour hike with the dogs (no temp nasal, but I never do for dog hikes), and was planning on hitting up the Specialized demo day at Willowdale State Forest. We'll see if I feel like plugging through traffic to get there, also need to get the sugar up! If I go test a new 29er you'll be the first to know!
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Saturday, August 28, 2010

3 hour review...


Not a bad 3 hours...
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Rest day today!

Maggie had to work, and I had a rest day planned for the most part. I took the dogs on hike at the park, but that was short and they spent most of the time swimming (didn't set a temp basal). I also moved a bunch of stuff to our new storage unit down the hall, and that took more effort than I planned. I got low a few times throughout the day (never less than 80) and probably could have avoided that with a temp basal while hiking/moving storage units. Here is my daily log. Much better day today!

Kingdom Trails 08-27-2010

So Kingdom Trails lived up to the hype! Really nice and well maintained single track. It had a few sections that had me thinking I was in Fruita, CO with a Jungle view! I will be back and hopefully sooner than later! We rode 18.9 miles (via wheel magnet) and David said we only hit a portion of the trails. Here is the GPS info:



As for the diabetes control.... I have to say it was a tough day for the blood sugar. It didn't help that Maggie and I went to a last minute BBQ/wine party at our apartment complex and stayed up until 1:30am. Nonetheless, it was an off day, maybe still feeling the effects of the 6hr race from last Saturday.

I set a temp Basal of 65% at 9:45am (ride time ended up being 11:10am) and had a breakfast of 1 peanut crunch cliff bar at 8:15am, and had plenty of water (100oz) on the 3hr drive up. Here is my daily log from the glucose sensor (you can also see it on the Glucose Logs page at 2010-08-27). After begining the ride, I fast approached a low sugar (down to 100 from 161) within the first 45 minutes, and began to mow on Clif-mini bars every 15 minutes for the next hour as the sugar would not come up. Mixed in with a full bottle of Endurox R4 (52 carbs, 2 scoops) and 2 GU gels (25 grams of carb each), I still could not get sugar out of the 90's. This was VERY strange, and was actually more carb intake than I had at the entire 6 hours of the VT race last weekend. We took a good 20 minute break and sure enough it started to come up fast! We continued to ride, but I took an easy pace and by the time we finished my sugar was 150. Secretly, my legs were killing me, still feeling the effects of last weeks race. I did a post ride bolus of 4.5 units (higher than normal because of the food intake) and canceled temp basal for now. Had subway for lunch within an hour and headed home. Set temp basal at approximately 9:45pm for 8 hours.

Thursday, August 26, 2010

Heading to Kingdom Trails Tomorrow

Tomorrow a few of the riders from Racer-X are heading up to Kingdom Trails in Burke, VT. From what I have been hearing, this is a MTB mecca for the Northeast! We are headed out early and plan to get a few hours of riding. Hope the legs are feeling good after the 6 hour race last Saturday at the VT30. Full ride report to follow as well as nutrition and glucose log.

Monday, August 23, 2010

VT 30 (6 Hour) MTB Race

I competed in the VT30 6 hour mountain bike race in Pittsfield, VT near Killington Ski area on August 21st. This was going to be the longest race I have ever done as far as hours in the saddle, and was going to be one of my biggest challenges as far as managing my diabetes.

Here were the rules:
1. Finish 3 laps in order to finish (although I don't think they actually gave out any DNF's)
2. Do as many laps in 6 hours as you can
3. Your last lap must start before the 6 hour limit, this means you could go for a final lap if you crossed the line at 5:59:59.

We arrived at camp on Friday afternoon where we were to meet up with Rob & Renee, Dave & Jean, and Jamie all from the Racer-X team. Maggie and I set up camp, started a shish kabob dinner, made a fire, and had a few beers! Life was good!

Blood sugars were doing well also, got a little low while setting up camp so a few Cliff Mini bars did the trick until dinner. Got to bed around 10pm, and most was well overnight, although I needed about 25g of glucose tablets about 1:20am. Woke up around 6am with blood sugar around 160. I did the usual pre-ride breakfast of a slice Arnold Double Protein toast, and a couple Cliff Mini's. Race start was at 9am and my sugar was hovering around 180, which I was happy with. Temp basal was set at 50% 1.5 hours before race time.

The lap was 10 miles long as measured by my wheel magnet. Here is the profile of a lap, basically straight up, then straight down. Each lap consisted of about 1800ft climbing total. Mostly steady switch back climbing, with a couple sections that kick pretty steep! The promoters had an aid station set up at the top with some drinks, food, and fruit. I had to utilize this on every lap to check sugar, reload and refill. Racer-X also had a tent set up at the start/finish line and Maggie was there with filled water bottles, food, and had all my stuff ready when I came around each lap. I also would check sugar here, and after lap 1 it became apparent the the CGM (continuois glucose monitor) was not as accurate as I had hoped. It said I was 143 but when I checked it, I was at 208. This is not terrible, but I like around 150 during rides, especially since my heart rate was going to average in the 160's most of the day. The harder the effort, the faster the blood sugar will drop, even with a temp basal of 50%.

My goals for the day were to finish the race, ride at least 6 hours, and to have successful glucose management. A good result would have been welcome also! I continued to ride each lap stopping at the top and bottom of the climb to check blood sugar, and refuel. I had to lube my chain on lap 3, but there were plenty of tools and such in the Racer-X pit to fix that. I came down after lap 3 unofficially with 1.5 hours left until the 6 hour cutoff. I was putting in elapsed lap times of 1hr 30min, and this included my stops at both the top and bottom of the climb. I left for my forth lap and never stopped at the top! CGM said my sugar was 140 so I kept on going. I was headed for my fastest lap, but more impressive to me was that my lap times were all within 3 minutes of each other.

For some reason I was actually considering going out for a 5th lap if I crossed the start/finish line with under 6:00 on the clock. I descended as fast as I could and came around the start/finish line at 6:03 and some change. I was not aloud to go for a fifth lap by 3 minutes! This would actually be a good thing as my sugar was now at 80 (checked with the meter at finish), and could not have started that climb without getting some carb intake and a short rest. Maybe next year! I figured I could shave at least 10 minutes per lap off my time if I didn't need to stop, but this was not an option for me this year. I was actually planning my strategy for next year while I was still on the course. Next year I will have a some sort of wooden stake set up in a couple places on the coarse with water bottles of Edurox or Heed. I will also have more experience managing my sugar over a long race and maybe won't need to stop for sugar checks. I am also hoping I can use a new insulin pump and CGM that is a little more accurate. If I can accomplish that i think I can turn 1:10-1:15 lap times which should put me in line for 5 laps.

All in all I accomplished all my goals. I rode 4 laps, 40 miles, in 6:03:XX, climbed 8000+/- feet, had good blood sugars (here is my log for the day), and I finished 14th in Sport Men which was way better than I had anticipated! We were all back at camp enjoying a few beers by the camp fire, eating food and sharing stories about our rides..... that's what biking is all about! Can't wait for next year!!