June 24 rides

[Triskeliongirl]

I was leading the club ride today, which was supposed to be 52 miles. I head out with my riding buddy, and he proposes adding an extra loop. He said it would only add ~1 mile but '1 mile' turned out to be 10 miles of incredibly hilly climbing. It was both exhausting and exhilirating, since I hadn't planned to go that long in such hilly terrain. It was also a great ride cuz I finally got a handle on how to eat with impaired glucose tolerance. I thought I needed carbs to keep from bonking, but my endo thought it was reactive hypoglycemia from too much carbs causing the problem (i.e. too rapid a drop in blood sugar from starting the ride with my blood sugar too high from pre-ride carbs), so this weekend I experimented with not eating any carbs, just protein, and monitoring my blood sugars. The idea is that protein is more slowly metabolized to glucose via gluconeogenesis. It worked yesterday, but the ride was shorter. Today I rode with a type I diabetic who I trusted to keep an eye on me, and didn't mind my stopping to monitor my blood sugars. I've also been training myself to utilize a higher percentage of body fat to fuel a ride. I am really happy to know I can ride 100 km with normal blood sugars and feel good!