cycling 300 miles in October for Diabetes UK. (diary/log)

[WallisOnline]

As suggested and also so I can keep a log throughout October I have decided to put my cycling diary into a new post so I have a record of what I have achieved. I hope to update this every Sunday or Monday with my previous weeks progress of cycling 300 miles during the month of October for UK Wide Cycle Ride for diabetes UK.

Sunday 1st October !

So Sunday marked the start of October which is also the start of the UK wide cycle ride for diabetes UK where I plan to cover 300 miles on the bike over the month of October ( minimum 10miles each day!) whilst raising money for diabetes UK (not that I have many donations yet!)

Today was also the first time I have ridden out and about on my own since my diabetes diagnosis so using the advice above of testing whilst riding I was feeling confident and comfortable with the plan. I stocked up with some body fuel sugar free electrolyte tablets for my water and stuffed some jelly babies and sugar free body fuel gels in my pocket just in case my blood sugars dropped.

Normally I take 40mg of gliclazide with my breakfast but as I wasn't eating before my ride I hadn't taken my tablet hoping my blood wouldn't go too high!

So I started my morning with my first finger prick test and a reading of 5.5 just before I set off at 6:30am.

After 30 minutes I found a suitable place to stop for a break and a finger prick test... with a reading of 6.4. I had heard that when exercising your bs goes up so it was just a matter of how much, luckily it wasn't too high of a rise!

30 mins later again another good place to stop, outside the old pumping station, which worked out perfect for me as it felt like I had been on a steady incline for most of the ride! This time the test was 6.7 so again all is good so far! No need for the emergency food I brought along and just staying topped up on the electrolytes!

Not long after leaving this stop I started to get the hunger setting in so decided to head home. Normally at this point I would have one of the gels in my pocket but I wanted this first ride to be with as little as possible that could affect my BS levels. Next time will be the test with the gels I think!

In total I ended up just doing 17.91 miles, which for my first time out on the road since before lockdown and having limited time this morning due to an impending trip to the local farm park I didn't think was too bad. I also got an idea into how my body reacts to the sugar levels when riding so a win win as far as I'm concerned!

Oh I also did a finger prick test about 1 hour after the ride and before taking my gliclazide for the morning and it came back with a reading of 5.7, so almost back to pre-ride levels already!

Now to spend the working week riding the bike in the gym until next Sunday when I can get out on the road again getting in as many miles as I can for October!

 

[In Response]

What a great idea @WallisOnline
I love to get out on my bike and to have a target like the 300 miles in a month is wonderful.

You mentioned that you have read that exercise can raise BG. This could be true but it is one of those things where we are all different and do different types of exercise. Short and/or stressful exercise can cause our levels to go up. This could be stop start exercise such as weight lifting or it could be really pushing ourselves hard with cardio. However, longer constant exercise is likely to cause our levels to go down. ON top of that we have to consider our general fitness - the idea of "stressful" exercise can vary depending upon how fit we are.
My experience with cycling, hopefully, puts this into context
- if I pootle along a flat canal tow path on a pleasant day, chatty to my friends, I don't see much difference
- if I really go for it by myself along country roads, I will see my levels falling
- if I struggle up a steep hill against teh wind on a rainy day, my levels will rise.

But, no matter what exercise I do and no matter what the effect is at the time, my levels are lower than usual for the next 48 hours.

Good luck with your ongoing cycling throughout October.
You may want to share your story on the Diabetes UK forum (not this one).

 

[WallisOnline]

What a great idea @WallisOnline

Good luck with your ongoing cycling throughout October.
You may want to share your story on the Diabetes UK forum (not this one).

Hey thanks for this suggestion. I wasn't a member of the forum so have signed up and put my story over there also to reach a different audience.

 

[WallisOnline]

Monday 2nd - Saturday 7th October

So during the week days my cycling time is pretty much all done in the local gym due to work and family commitments (6 kids keep ya busy!). This isn't a bad thing as it allows me to introduce a couple of days of structured training like hill climbs, sprints, endurance etc.

Since the 1st I have managed to cover the below distances:

Monday - 13.47 miles gym bike
Tuesday - 16.06 miles gym bike
Wednesday - 4.3 miles cycling to and from the office
Thursday - no cycling (kickboxing for younglings)
Friday - 17.5 miles gym bike
Saturday 14.85 miles gym bike

Including my first ride on the previous Sunday this gave me a grand total of 84.09 miles for the first 7 days of October... this is well ahead of my planned 10 miles per day average so it felt good to bank the extra miles to my target!

Sunday 8th October

Today I had planned to try and go just a few miles further than last Sunday on a slightly different route that would take me more along national cycle route 6 rather than going along the roads. This also meant I was able to swing by Newsread Abbey!

My day started at 6am again, but today I decided to have a very small portion of porridge before I left to try and stop me getting hungry whilst out riding like last time. I decided again to not take my gliclazide tablet with this breakfast and would save it for when I had some toast when I got home! Took a quick finger prick and the results were 5.7mmol/L so we were good to go.

My route took me along National cycle route 6 and about 2 miles in my front light decided to stop working, it seems in my preparation I forgot to charge my lights and the battery had died, so I had to make the decision to carry on or go home, at 6:30 in the morning the sun was just rising and most of the start of the route is off the roads so I continued on.

The first place I came across was Mill Lakes, there was a little fog in the distance but no people around.

Because I was following route 6 this took me along a long gravel path with no roads around, and no people! I took a quick stop for a drink and decided I wasn't going to test my blood levels whilst out today as I was confident enough from the previous week that I was going to be OK

A bit further round the paths was my next stop for a drink and photo, stopping here was the reason I chose this route for this week. Newstead Abbey with no people around is certainly an eerie place but looking so nice, no photo can do it justice, and it seems someone left a bike in the way!

Because there are no places open at the time of morning that I am out on a Sunday I took a picture of one of the many country pubs and I decided to stop at and have a seat for 5 minutes. I can say it's a very good pub for food having been there earlier in the year and would recommend it to anyone near blidworth bottoms!

Finally, within the last 2 miles of home I passed Alexandra lodge, which is a grade 2 listed building I believe dating from early 1860's now used as a base for the park rangers of the country park it's next to.

Got home having covered 22.29 miles, blood sugars were measured and read 5.4 mmol/L so again looking good for the start of the day and made it back in time to take Child 4 to kickboxing for his double grading class!

Another good bump in my miles for Diabetes UK and takes me over 100 miles so far so very pleased with my progress!

Edited by Mod to remove link to fundraising page

 

[SimonP78]

That's great to read and what a lovely Sunday ride that sounds like. Well done on your progress

 

[WallisOnline]

Monday 9th - Saturday 14th

So this week I had to have 2 days off the bike on Wednesday and Thursday due to illness but it can be good to have rest days so it wasn't too bad.

Still over the 4 days I did ride I managed to cover 60.33 miles in the gym so it wasn't a complete loss!

Sunday 15th Oct

On Saturday I had decided that because I had missed a few rides this week I would do my first 50km ride since well before covid. So I quickly put together a route which actually totalled 56km and saved it to an app that would guide me around my route. (Personally I always work in miles but it seems a lot of cycling use KM and 50km is often a first big target!)

I ended up leaving home at 6:45am this morning after having my porridge for breakfast and checking my bloods which were showing 5.6 this morning. I made the mistake of not checking the weather conditions previously, it was showing as 3 degrees when I left and it turns out that once your feet get cold on a ride they are very difficult to warm up again!

My route first took me through a small town before I could get to the country roads which normally isn't too bad, but this one took me up a massive hill within the first few miles which felt like a wall! Hopefully this isn't a sign of things to come!

After making it through the town my first point of interest was a war memorial which I didn't stop at due to the cold and wanting to carry on and stay as warm as possible but I have "borrowed" a picture.

I think at this point I had the wind behind me and some fairly flat roads as it felt like I was flying along at a decent pace passing pubs, churches and crossing train tracks as I rode. I did consider getting a picture of the various pubs and churches I passed as some are really old buildings but figured if I did that it would take twice as long to get around and it was cold! (Not sure I mentioned how cold it was!?)
Finally I had to stop for a quick rest and drink in a parking spot right beside the great river trent, surprisingly a few people were out fishing already and even a few runners!

After setting off again my route would take me north a bit and west a bit which seemed to be into the wind, or at least it felt like it! I also discovered that my route took me up what felt like a mahoosive hill! As I was riding it I remembered that I had actually done Bonner hill in reverse a few years ago and was so glad I was heading the direction I was as the other way was much worse! I did manage to get about 40mph going downhill though!

Finally I went alongside a massive carboot which in the past has had inflatables, kids rides and all sorts as well as the many carbooters! After that I was going in reverse of where I cycled last week which meant another trip past Newstead Abbey and along National cycle route 6 to get me home again finishing off with 35.05 miles added to my total mileage for October which now stands at 201.81miles, getting ever closer to my 300 mile target!
Blood levels when I returned home were 5.9 so very happy with both the ride and my blood levels so far today!

One thing I did notice as I went round was quite a few people were up cooking bacon and it smelled lovely as I cycled along! And my feet were absolutely freezing pretty much all the way around because it was a collllddddd morning!

Edited by mod to remove fundraising link

 

[LittleGreyCat]

Just out of interest, what bike are you riding?
Pictures not quite sharp enough to read the labels.

 

[WallisOnline]

Just out of interest, what bike are you riding?
Pictures not quite sharp enough to read the labels.

I am using a Cannondale CAADX 105 2020 - Cyclocross Bike

CAADX 105

The perfect first cyclocross bike, back-up pit bike, super-commuter or all-road adventurer. No limits.

www.cannondale.com