Carbs For Cycling

Down the gym I found the smallest pack of peanuts kept me good. Depends speed, duration for cycling..

Hi @rainbowchild. Don't know what your insulin regime is but assume your bike rides are planned. Maybe looking towards adjusting your insulin uptake prior to your ride may help.
Never really been big on road cycling but have done stamina/ endurance training in the past, always found malt loaf good, you only need a small amount.

May be if bike rides are planned that you need to reduce basal or any bolus?

I commute 30km each way on my bike in hilly Wales with 250meters of elevation. Best snack I have is home made flap jacks as these have all the correct carbs with oats (long acting), honey(medium acting) & sugar(fast acting).

hi rainbowchild
here's the regime i use when training :
I'm on Novarapid and humulin I. If cycling to work, 10 miles each way I won't have any carbs or insulin for the morning commute. Usually blood glucose about 6.0 in the morning and i can manage the 10miles ok. I will take 12units humulin I after getting to work. If my lunchtime workout is cardio I'll use 85g CHO per hour with no novarapid. This usually leaves me in range mid-afternoon following a lunch snack where I use a ratio of 1:25g for novarapid to CHO's. Cycle home needs about 60g CHO. (This comes from requiring 85g per hour CHO as I'm 85kg, so about 60 for a 40min cycle). Usually ok prior to dinner meal but always wary of post exercise hypos. Next humulin I at 7pm and generally about 5-7m/mol before bed. I use the same ratios etc for track cycling and can usually manage a 60min early morning track session with no carbos....wake up hormones/dawn phenomenon etc?? There are always so many components to good control, individual and environment and for me it's been about collecting the best information then trial and error. I'm male, 56 yrs old and been type 1 since Jan 2007. Happy to share info if its helps.

For commuting ~ 14 km each way I've never bothered with snacks in almost 4 years and not had a problem. When I go for longer duration rides ~ 70 km I always go in the morning and DP normally prevents any lows. (I always take some dextrose tablets but have never had cause to use them yet.)

rainbowchild said:

To all the cyclists out there, I was wondering if you had any tips for pre cycling snacks? I've found that cycling is the only sport I can guarantee will drop my blood sugar every time, even an easy bike ride (although though not so much). Have any of you found any super long lasting carb snacks, or even ones that you've found are best every 30 minutes? I'm still struggling to keep my levels stable throughout my cycles! Thanks

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forgot to say I use banana loaf and SIS Go Electrolyte for training.

Thank you for these responses, I have a bit to learn as I have tried a couple of different routes to work now and see that the one route with a mile long 11% constant climb is causing the issues, as I know if my heart rate goes above 145bpm I'm burning carbs and not fat.
The top of this climb is also spot on halfway 15km. I've carried out BG tests at the top of this climb and have always nearly hypo at this point, scared me this Friday as my BG Was 1.9 and felt fit as a fiddle.
Took energy gel and flapjack, then ensured my heart rate was no higher than 125-135 BPM for the remainder.
Got to work (30.4km) with BG of 5.3 that rose to 6.8 throughout the morning.
Need to work out the ratios for carb and energy exerted allot more.

I always reducing basal rate on pump by 50%. Usually taking some chocolate before and during the ride (doesnt matter if on MTB or road bike) eating something - 50 g of carbohydrates every hour. For me its very important to eat proparly after comming back home - can easily happen that hypo will come some hours later.

dried bananas work well, as do oat/nut/seed based bars

on a longer ride,with correct basal and bolus manageent I may also use a gel or two. Longer rides being 50km plus, up to 200km so far