Cycling competitively but can't stop hypos

I can only think of @ElyDave who may be able to help as he is a keen cyclist. I am sure there are other members too so will bump your post up in the hope of some replies.

Sounds like you're doing the obvious things. Are you reducing both long acting and short acting insulins before a long ride?
Have you looked at www.runsweet.com which covers principles of exercise with type 1 diabetes, plus case studies for most sports, including cycling. Also team blood glucose website is strong on cycling.

andrewkerr91 said:

Yes completely stop taking quick and fast Insulin altogether but still can't seem
To keep my levels up, it's quite frustrating as you can imagine and is holding me back now which I've never had an issue like I said before with any other sport, it just drops and there is no control over it. I have used run sweet for lots of advice previous but none of the advice seems to work personally for myself with cycling.

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You said quick and fast insulin. Do you reduce your background (such as Lantus) as well?

andrewkerr91 said:

Novo rapid and levemir I stop taking all together on the day of cycling

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That is really weird. Sorry I cant help but I hope someone more experienced will come to advice you. Do you take split levemir? Maybe try reducing the night before as well?

andrewkerr91 said:

I've had tried everything you can imagine. Yes I take a split but my levemir runs out in the morning at around 8 and I won't cycle till the evening so I'm baffled the whole situation is just frustrating

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I can imagine how frustrating it is. I didn't know you can go low with no active insulin. There must be some way to avoid though. There are diabetic Olympians out there!

Hey buddy - I can't advise but interested to find out more about your routines for cycling/general exercise as I'm a keen runner and cyclist. I know everyone is different but interesting to see how you deal with diabetes and exercise.

Andy

andrewkerr91 said:

I've had tried everything you can imagine. Yes I take a split but my levemir runs out in the morning at around 8 and I won't cycle till the evening so I'm baffled the whole situation is just frustrating

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how long have you been diagnosed Andrew?

I'll try adn lay out my routine over the next day or two, but you can work through the exercise thread and find some of what I've posted on the subject, or take a look at my blog.

I read an article by Olympian rower Steve Redgrave which, in short, said that he had basically no insulin in the day despite eating masses, and then made up for it at night with a higher dosage, to boost his energy levels back up again. However he is on a pump so I'm not sure if that's of any help. (It helped me coz I was getting big highs at night but also lots of hypos in the day, as I am pretty active, so I could work out I needed a very variable dosage.)

According to the Levemir website, and my consultant (when I was on it), Levemir can last up to 24 hours, so stopping it the night before might be too late. My understanding is that missing your morning split dose will leave you with half your levemir dose still going (from the night before). I guess this is why your levels don't sky-rocket by the time you go for your ride. (I'm assuming, here!) What sort of BG are you getting before setting out? Also, in our pump induction group most of us were on very small doses until our long-acting insulin had completely gone out of our system, and this took around 2 days for most of us. So clearly there is some insulin going through for a while.

Personally what I do is let my levels rise to about 12/13 before exercise, have a meal with reduced bolus, then take off my pump, and STILL have juice every 20-30 mins as well...

I'll be interested in how you get on as I do quite a bit of cycling - not competitively (unless you count strava segments) as I'm usually out on my own. I tend to do 40, 50, 60 mile rides without adjusting my insulin doses too much (NovoRapid and Levemir). I take plenty of carbs with me on the bike if my levels drop. Hypo on the bike is bad news but on the other hand high levels are not good as they make me sluggish with heavy legs.

It's not every time but after a longer ride it can carry on affecting my blood sugar levels as they can still be dropping during the night. After almost 30 years I'm still trying to work it out!

Have you got Sheri Colber's book, Diabetic Athlete's Handbook? She gives lots of examples of the daily routines of athletes and how they manage their routine. She also explains the background science to it. I recommend it if you haven't got it.

Matt J said:

I'll be interested in how you get on as I do quite a bit of cycling - not competitively (unless you count strava segments) as I'm usually out on my own. I tend to do 40, 50, 60 mile rides without adjusting my insulin doses too much (NovoRapid and Levemir). I take plenty of carbs with me on the bike if my levels drop. Hypo on the bike is bad news but on the other hand high levels are not good as they make me sluggish with heavy legs.

It's not every time but after a longer ride it can carry on affecting my blood sugar levels as they can still be dropping during the night. After almost 30 years I'm still trying to work it out!

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I am very similar to you and although it doesn't help Andrew I find that I don't really adjust doses too much for those type of distances, I just eat carbs. However I am a special case and I will actually get increased levels when cycling in the morning and then drop like a stone if I cycle in the afternoon. It's very weird.