# Mountain Biking w/Diabetes



## wytemike21 (Jul 10, 2015)

Any other type one diabetics out there? I've been riding for years and been a diabetic for even longer...looking to bounce some nutrition ideas off some people for some challenges during multi hour rides...

Takes a lot of energy and carb burning to climb around Pisgah!

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## stripes (Sep 6, 2016)

wytemike21 said:


> Any other type one diabetics out there? I've been riding for years and been a diabetic for even longer...looking to bounce some nutrition ideas off some people for some challenges during multi hour rides...
> 
> Takes a lot of energy and carb burning to climb around Pisgah!
> 
> Sent from my XT1585 using Tapatalk


Not diabetic but reactive hypoglycemic here.

It's definitely trial and error for what works for you, but I'd love to share ideas.


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## wytemike21 (Jul 10, 2015)

My insulin sensitivity and carb needs may be a but higher than yours but I'm having trouble putting enough gels/food down to keep up with my output...wondering if other people are hitting the same wall and long high output tides

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## stripes (Sep 6, 2016)

wytemike21 said:


> My insulin sensitivity and carb needs may be a but higher than yours but I'm having trouble putting enough gels/food down to keep up with my output...wondering if other people are hitting the same wall and long high output tides
> 
> Sent from my XT1585 using Tapatalk


I have to have a really high carb intake on rides longer than 1 hour.

At minimum, I have to have skratch in my water, even in my camelback. And that's a lot of skratch.

I also find that larabars are an easy to digest sugar and have to eat those every 1-2 hours. If I'm really amping it up, I have to have a pure fruit juice every 3-4 hours.

If I do this, I'm in really good shape and can ride. But keeping my fiber up too is a BIG help in keeping my blood sugar level.

What about you?


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## 127.0.0.1 (Nov 19, 2013)

stripes said:


> Not diabetic but reactive hypoglycemic here.
> 
> It's definitely trial and error for what works for you, but I'd love to share ideas.


do you take insulin to live ?


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## McKenzie (Sep 1, 2015)

wytemike21 said:


> Any other type one diabetics out there? I've been riding for years and been a diabetic for even longer...looking to bounce some nutrition ideas off some people for some challenges during multi hour rides...
> 
> Takes a lot of energy and carb burning to climb around Pisgah!
> 
> Sent from my XT1585 using Tapatalk


I'm Type I and used to always disconnect my pump on rides and would have to spike my BG up to around 200 or so just prior to starting to ride in order to avoid constant lows. If you go low on a ride it can be really hard to keep up with using gels etc. I usually carry honey stingers with me because they are a bit more substantial than gels. I also usually like to have something to eat with some protein about an hour before starting.

I recently (February) switched to the Medtronic 670G system and it has totally changed things. I use a temp target of 150 now and very rarely go low on rides. Sometimes on a longer ride I will go low once and it will always come back up with minimal effort. This pump has been a total life changer for me as I ride 5 days most weeks and the constant battle with lows took a lot out of me.


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## kilo19 (May 23, 2018)

Type 1 for 20 yrs here, using 630g pump. My ritual is about 30 mins before a ride I'll down a Blue/white monster (suger/cal free), or a monster/coffee thing, and either a cliff bar or couple snack packs of peanuts. Then on the trail i'll just bring a couple cliff bars. In my camelbak i'll have 50/50 water and yellow/white (light colored powerade) and that keeps up my blood sugar as well as give me a light pep. I'll pack a extra syringe of insulin incase the pump fails or infusion set comes off, as well as a glucagon kit. I tell who ever i ride with where they are, and how to use them, what signs to look for. By now 5yrs later riding with the same group, they know when i'm low or high. "BREAK TIME, JUSTIN NEEDS A MIN'...lol oh well, good to have friends that sometimes know you better then yourself sometimes. Only one time has my infusion set came off and didn't have extra insulin...gwwwaad it sucked, made for the worst ride in my history.


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## wytemike21 (Jul 10, 2015)

Cool, I just got the 670g pump also and it is good to have to have the temp exercise targets. I have found that when blood sugar is moving up and down it tends to lose some of its accuracy. I have had the same issue of eating gels and chews is not keeping my blood sugar up even with little/no insulin delivery. I am thinking lowering my basal before exercising and not bolusing any right before the ride will help because my insulin is about 3x power when exercising. I am thinking about moving towards a more Clif bars/Lara bar approach because the gels seem to burn super quick. Thanks for letting me know your approaches, it's getting especially difficult to keep the BS up on hour number 3 or 4 of riding.

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## wytemike21 (Jul 10, 2015)

One other question have either of you run into cramping when you've seen blood sugars hitting the low range on long rides?

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## kilo19 (May 23, 2018)

Cramps when my BS is lower, never really effected me. I do set a temp Basel and have it run for about an hr after I’m done and will do about 110/130. Course if I start to crash or go low I don’t worry cuz after a ride is usually beer and pizza or nachos etc...


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## McKenzie (Sep 1, 2015)

wytemike21 said:


> Cool, I just got the 670g pump also and it is good to have to have the temp exercise targets. I have found that when blood sugar is moving up and down it tends to lose some of its accuracy. I have had the same issue of eating gels and chews is not keeping my blood sugar up even with little/no insulin delivery. I am thinking lowering my basal before exercising and not bolusing any right before the ride will help because my insulin is about 3x power when exercising. I am thinking about moving towards a more Clif bars/Lara bar approach because the gels seem to burn super quick. Thanks for letting me know your approaches, it's getting especially difficult to keep the BS up on hour number 3 or 4 of riding.
> 
> Sent from my XT1585 using Tapatalk


Good to be on the 670 for sure. MY exact routine is to set the temp target around 45mins-1 hour beore I start my ride and also take in a little bit of carbs. Has been working amazingly.

When your BG is swinging up and down it will be less accurate because the sensor has around a 15min lag time behind what a BG meter would read and when you are going quickly up or down it's always a bit behind. I find that if I stop for a quick break and the pump is reading 130-150 I should eat just a little bit (half a honey stinger or so) and that will keep me level.

Are you using manual mode or auto mode when riding?


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## stripes (Sep 6, 2016)

wytemike21 said:


> One other question have either of you run into cramping when you've seen blood sugars hitting the low range on long rides?
> 
> Sent from my XT1585 using Tapatalk


Yep. Managed to prevent that by using the skratch in my water.


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## stripes (Sep 6, 2016)

127.0.0.1 said:


> do you take insulin to live ?


No. Reactive hypoglycemia is maintained through diet but I have to be really careful not to overdose on sugar or it can flip to diabetes if I'm not careful.

Not all diabetics need insulin injections to live either. Type 1 definitely buy some type 2s can control it through diet.


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## richj8990 (Apr 4, 2017)

If you are not on insulin yet, type II diabetes is basically 100% curable. You dramatically cut carbs down to 0-300 calories/day, fill it in with protein and mono/polyunsaturated fats, and take chromium (glucose tolerance factor), b-complex, C, E, etc. I guess you can call it Ketogenic but it doesn't have to be that extreme. Should take a few months to get your insulin levels down to normal. Type II diabetes was rare 40 years ago.


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## wytemike21 (Jul 10, 2015)

I'm riding in auto mode with the temp 150 target, I think the tip of cutting back basal 45min to an hr before is a good one, any residual bolus or elevated basal in the system coming into exercise leads to a diving blood sugar. I may try the skratch, I have tried elimination of cramps by every means necessary and now that I have a CGM I am finding that I have historically been riding with low blood sugars which I now believe is the driver.

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## McKenzie (Sep 1, 2015)

wytemike21 said:


> I'm riding in auto mode with the temp 150 target, I think the tip of cutting back basal 45min to an hr before is a good one, any residual bolus or elevated basal in the system coming into exercise leads to a diving blood sugar. I may try the skratch, I have tried elimination of cramps by every means necessary and now that I have a CGM I am finding that I have historically been riding with low blood sugars which I now believe is the driver.
> 
> Sent from my XT1585 using Tapatalk


Yeah I found the same when I was still using the normal basal on my pump rather than the auto mode micro bolus stuff, I would constantly be low while riding and it was next to impossible to elevate until after I stopped riding. I carry Skratch every once in a while now and I used to on every ride but I find I don't need it anymore. It took me a while to get auto mode dialed in but it works pretty flawlessly now. My last A1c was a 5.8 and I don't have really any lows anymore so hard for me to complain. As for the cramping I have never experienced that.


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## 127.0.0.1 (Nov 19, 2013)

type 1 (type 1.5 really, it happened late in life while the newer insulin's
were available, so if I have to be type 1 I lucked out by starting on
novo and levi)

cannot wear any device I would chew my arm off if I wore something as simple as
a ring on my finger or a watch, so a device is 100% never gonna happen

a1c 6.1
--pens--
novo and levi
start rides anywhere from 90-170
more than 170 I pop 2 u

the longer and harder I ride on plain water my BS either 
stays flat, or climbs. never goes low on a ride unless I hit some novo
for food 5 hours or less before the ride, so I don't really eat or take
a shot 5 hours before a ride and I am just fine. 6.1 could be better but when
I roll in the 5's I tend to get woken up at night sweating low in the 40's or lower and
need to pop some tabs. >>hate that, as you know lows are a nightmare<<

so, endo is fine with me in the low 6's. 


I cannot tell ya what to do for lows on the bike other than sugar of course. I am only chiming in to show every individual has their own custom story about DX, and what works for one person works for that one person. the next person is sure to react differently, so tossing advice around is still 100% up to the individual to break out the BS meter and test all the time and see what works and what doesn't. 

internet advice on 'what to do for XYZ' is an extreme gray area when talking DX

honestly the thing that will raise by BS fastest on bike (yes i still experiment) is gatorade. that or tabs and water. I carry 1 powerbar and 1 tube of 10 tabs on all adventures in case I have to dive into it. 

last ride I did where that occurred was water-only, start at 130bs, ride 37 miles on the mtb, in 80 degree sun. at mile 30 I got gray and hazy (low, and it was a first on bike low in a long time...normally I go higher at this distance..weird) so I stopped, woofed down the powerbar, snapped around almost instantly, got back on and finished the last 7 dragging ass a bit.

If I am on the rivet for an entire ride (which is a lot of the time) adrenaline keeps my BS up it seems, as long as there is zero novo in my system (hence the 5 hour no food no shot period). 

novo has a full cycle/decay of around 5 hours so if u r pumping and going low on bike, perhaps stop drip sooner, like 3 hours ? but I am not so sure about not using a basal and relying on pump all day. I can stop novo 5 hours ahead because I got levi in the background doing a little of the work, and all the work if I eat zero all day

I also have a small percentage of c-peptide still left in me...again, this means my own dx profile is only my own and my results may be far different than the next person

**a1c when first diagnosed as type 1 17 years ago, 15.6 !!!


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## McKenzie (Sep 1, 2015)

127.0.0.1 said:


> type 1 (type 1.5 really, it happened late in life while the newer insulin's
> were available, so if I have to be type 1 I lucked out by starting on
> novo and levi)
> 
> ...


6.1 A1c isn't bad at all. I'd say that's pretty ideal. Much lower than that and you are in territory where it becomes less safe. I used to be in the low 5's/high 4's and my wife who is a physician and my endo both asked me to bring it up a bit.


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## 127.0.0.1 (Nov 19, 2013)

^when I was in the 5's I had some wicked low in the 20's at night and it is just a nightmare trying to lay in bed and snap out of [whatever you are thinking about, but it's maddening] and finally realize the task you really need to do is grab the bottle and chow down a stack of tabs. once that is done 15 minutes later it's like nothng ever happend, but the loss of sleep drags on the whole next day. so, yeah I could be in the 5's or high 4's but would need to stop riding the bike and become sedentary to control it.

endo says cost to benefit is ride the damn bike and 6's are OK


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## wytemike21 (Jul 10, 2015)

Yeah, outside of exercise...where I really need to work to figure out the combination for me to cover the lows, the 670g is great at controlling he lows. I actually can't remember the last time I had a low that wasn't caused by me over bolusing or something.

Good advice everybody, good to get advice from other people having the same experiences. The online searches online don't get as specific as needed.

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