Riding in the Tour de Cure

First I want to thank everyone for their support, so many people contributed their time and money, without this support I would have never done this ride. I met all my goals, I raised $2840, I earned my Diabetes Victory Jacket, I rode the Tour de Cure in a Red Rider Jersey, I improved my time, I made new friends including other Type 1 Diabetics and I rode the Tour with really great friends, (ah Priceless). Talk about a successful event.

All good things are not without some challenges and this ride had a few. First, it was not the best of conditions but it could have been much worse. We had a lot of wind and the morning chill felt like winter all over again. I followed my morning ride routine and ate 3 pancakes, Tbs of almond butter with a special treat, my husband made me coffee. Ahh heaven! Took 3.5 units of Humalog and set my alarm for 7 am to remind me to take my Levamir while on the road to the Tour. My support friends and I met around 6:15 am then headed to the ride location about 45 min away in Rancho Sahuarita.

Arrived at the site, took 4 units of levimir, which was less than planned, but it was all that was left in my pen. (Note to self: make sure you have enough supply of insulin when leaving the house). As we were unloading the bikes, we quickly realized how cold the day was going to be. Glad I wore my riding pants, arm warmers, jersey, head band, gloves and jacket. I kept most of all this on until about the 40 mile marker. I was at the start when I realized my BS were very high, ~288. I kept thinking I should take a shot. BS stayed high up until the 20 mile mark(first rest stop) when it began to go down, and down and down. It was looking good as my goal was to remain at 152 for the majority of the ride. I stayed above 160 most of the way through.

The 2nd 20 - 30 miles were the most difficult, an 8 mile climb up Mt Hopkins. Ugh! It felt like it would never end. This is where my legs started burning and my back went into small spasms.
Even one of my experienced support riders, Gary, said "This isn't fun!" but we pushed on. I just new if I made it to the top of the hill I would feel great. I did, a little fatigued, but great. Great support at the top of Mt Hopkins with Ibuprofen for the spasms and 2 Girlscout Cookies for the spirit. I also finished my PB&J and my first bottle of perpetuem. We were ready to head down when another Type 1 asked me if I was 'Penny' from the Trek Bikes of Tucson website.
We talked for a few and then it was off to finish what we started, even though I knew one of my support friends had been cussing at me the whole way up, I couldn't hear her but I knew. Soo in all fairness, she is not a big fan of hills in general and I know the main reason she was there was for me. So Colleen, a big shout out to you and your continued support no matter what I put you through. Steve and Richard, awsome job pacing and keeping us moving forward. Mary thank you for your lifetime of friendship, support, perseverance and 'Can do' attitude. My husband, Tabot, and daughter, Sedona, were at the last rest stop to cheer us on. It was great to see them ringing bells and yelling. Wow! I truly am blessed.

Anyway, we headed to the back 25 which was not so bad, a nice downhill ride, hitting high speeds and nice coasting. We kept a nice pace, but I had kept the group a little long at the first two rests, almost 45 min total, too long. When we rolled into the finish the festivities for the most part were over. The good news, I cut off 2 hours from the first time I rode 60 miles :) and BS were not my worry. Very nice to have the Dexcom 7 to manage my BS trends. This along with some alarms I set on my watch, I was able to time my food intake and water.

All in all, it was a great ride, with great wonderful friends and family. I look forward to riding next years Tour de Cure!

A Saturday Ride with a nice Surprise!

The day started with a great blood sugar of 152, I dropped my Levamir 2 units (8 instead of 10), I ate my 4 rice pancakes, a tbsp of almond butter and 1/2 of a banana. Took 4 units of humalog via a pen and headed out. I was to meet the gang at 8:30 am. All was in place and I was waiting at 8:15, ready to hit the road as soon as I saw the pack come up in traffic. Well, 8:45 went by and I began to call. Unfortunately we had a disconnect in the communication the grp was a mile ahead of me on a hill and a lot faster.

Unfortunately the delay in riding and then heading up a hill climb first thing got my BS rising.
By the time I was halfway up the hill my continuous monitor was shouting at me that my BS was too high to read. Odd thing was I felt fine. I didn't feel like I was in the over 500 range. I stopped took 2 units of humalog and met up with the group at the top of the hill. Wow over 20 people were waiting and I was out of breath. The original plan was to go 50 miles, but given BS were out of control I opted for a shorter ~ 35 mile ride. I felt good riding after the first 40 minutes, but up to that point I wasn't sure if I should ride or go home. Fortunately, I have a few cyclists who support me and ride with me no matter how it is going. I checked my blood sugar at Sabino Canyon and found that my BS was in the low 200s, not the 'High' that my CGM was reading. My readings seem to be so far apart sometimes even though I calibrate my meter 2 - 3 times a day. Wonder if anyone else has theses types of problems? Anyway, I was glad to know it was at 200 and that my insulin on board would eventualy catch up, which it did. So I forged on.

Three of us took the shorter route and two of us, Colleen and myself headed for coffee by UofA.
That is where the big surprised happened. Colleen and I were outside having coffee when I realized all the Shootout Cyclist were returning from the Sat ride and who should be at the front... but Phil Southerland, Team Type 1, founder and racer who is training in Tucson after racing in the Tour de California. I have been following his twitter since I saw him ride in the Tour de California. Would love to talk with him and learn how he manages BS through all his travels and rides.

Re-invigorated, I went back up First Ave, to take on the hill one more time before heading home.
It was a great ride and BS evened out. I ended my ride at the Trek store to get some advice on my seat. When I ride over 30 - 40 miles, I start to get a lot of pain. Let's just say, Heather, a female pro rider, was very very helpful! :) Plus she had some ideas on managing my BS and food intake as I have been a little worried about the Tour de Cure 100K ride next Sunday. We discussed how food metabolizes and I will need to plan ahead when to eat, eating when hungry is too late. Ex: Is a hill climb coming up? When was the last time I ate or drank carbs?? Do I have enough resources to finish the ride? Eating halfway into the race is too late to reap the benefits. So it sounds like I should eat up front while maintaining carb intake throughout.

All in all it was a great day for a ride!
(sorry I need to get some more pictures, would have been great to post one with the Team Type 1 riders today, I even had my ADA Jacket on!) More pics to come

Getting Use to my Dexcom Seven

I have officially had my continuous monitor on for a week now and it has been great. The biggest advantage for me is when I am on my bike or rock climbing. I've done both this week and not having to worry about my BS has been great. I still have a lot of work to do for a decent trend line of my BS, but I worry a lot less about lows which gives me a huge sense of relief.

Each day that I ride, I look at my BS trend on the receiver to see which way I am heading. Once I have a sense if I should carb up or hold steady, I head into my activity with a new sense of confidence. Even though I know I am still on the upside of mid life, I love riding and the for the first time, I have been classified as an athlete due to my weight and body composition. Yeah! Now if I just had the road performance to compete at a Masters Level. Well, not sure I am ready for the effort it will take to get there right now. Tooo much coming up. I will take great health as a success to get me through the summer.

First Ride with Dexcom Continuous Monitor

Today's Ride Was Phenomenal! I was excited to do a climb ride today (41 miles round trip), not because I am a strong climber, but for the first time I was riding with a tool that could tell me what was happening with my blood sugars every two minutes. I was able to push to my ability to climb as hard as I could and push myself to see where I needed work.

It was the first time, I kept an avg pace over 15 mph, my first goal for this year. I wanted to at least keep within eye distance of the front of our group. I not only did that, but I actually took the lead a few times, again not because I was the fastest but because for the first time, I could take the headwind while others rested to take us home. It is hard to understand this type of excitement unless you are Diabetic or have a dependency on having the right supplies that could save your life.

I felt great on the ride, even with getting up at 3 am due to low blood sugars and correcting that, I still felt strong and ready to ride. My biggest challenge was getting my Dexom out to check it on a regular basis. I kept my Dexcom in my jacket side pocket because when it was in one of my back pockets it seemed to stop registering the readings. I was a little worried that my sweat kept the Dexcom Receiver a little fogged over, but it all seemed to workout and the receiver doesn't seem worse for the ride.

My blood sugars remained somewhere around 120 - 170 during the ride. I would check my Dexcom before any hill climb to see if I was running low or had enough onboard to make it through the next stretch. I supplemented my ride with 1 water bottle of Perpetuem and a camelback full of water with electrolytes. I drank 1/2 the Perpetuem, and 1/4 of my water. I started the day at a perfect 150 ( that is perfect for a hill ride day), ate rice pancakes and a tbs of peanut butter for breakfast, dosed 4 u for the carbs and maintained my basal rate of Levimir of 10 u. The ride BS were never a problem... It is always afterwards that recovery and maintenance become an issue for me (as evident by the picture above).

I headed home, stopped with a few riders to have some coffee, ate my 1/2 peanut butter and jelly sandwich on gluten free bread. Once home I kept drinking my water, I continued to drink my perpetuem and ate a bannana. I then ate an apple and had rice crackers, some cheese and turkey pepperoni. Every time I ate, my Dexcom would go off of being at 200 then it would come down. I have the perfect roller coaster pattern for my BS readings. Ugh!

Now that I had a great ride, I have to figure out how to have a great recovery. It is 7:30 pm at night and I am still bouncing around...