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cycling with type 1

gypsy123

gypsy123

Member
Messages
5
Location
Nottingham, United Kingdom
Type of diabetes
Type 1
Treatment type
Other
Hi can anyone help me out here. I have type one and a half diabetes. I cycle everywhere i needto go
The diabetes nurse has told mei haveto lower my carbohydrates. I need to find out what i can take on my rides in
my drinks bottle as most cycling drinks contain carbs.
Please can anyone advise me thank you
 
I take good old plain water on my rides and for a emergency hypo situation I carry dextro energy tabs. I take it you do not low carb then ?
 
Late response but I tend to take water and a pack of jelly babies...assuming my blood level is ok to start with I try to scoff a jelly baby every 10 minutes, I've found that tends to keep my blood levels 'stable' whilst biking. I also drop my basal significantly and that tends to keep any aftershock hypos at bay...saying that it doesn't always work.
 
DickBarton said:
Late response but I tend to take water and a pack of jelly babies...assuming my blood level is ok to start with I try to scoff a jelly baby every 10 minutes, I've found that tends to keep my blood levels 'stable' whilst biking. I also drop my basal significantly and that tends to keep any aftershock hypos at bay...saying that it doesn't always work.
Click to expand...
Thanks for the advise mate will try this on sunday will let you know the outcome
and once again thanks
 
Seems I am later here as well, but I am an avid cyclist.

If i am going for a ride, with a set distance, i try to leave with my sugars higher then normal because they will fall as you ride, and with me i bring Gatorade so that when i sip on it it will help keep my sugars up, and i also bring something with 30-45g of carbs like a Cliff bar, or sports gel.

I find i can cycle for about 15-20km before needing a 15g pick-up, so i use that as a guide for how much to bring with me. Usually its just candies that are easy to carry along with the one sports bar incase i really get into a situation (i haven't had to actually eat it yet, but it makes me feel better knowing i have it)
 
In my opinion, you can discount any carbs you are taking in during exercise. That doesn't make it a free for all though.

Essentials are
1) appropriate basal rate on pump, or reduce basal dose on MDI
2) if cycling within 2-3 hours of eating reduce bolus (when on MDI I could do a 4 hour club ride on 0.5U levemir that morning and no bolus)
3) test regularly and eat to the meter. Again, my experiment of 1 had me testing every 45mins on the bike and earing approx 30-40 g carbs per hour. The guide books would say significnatly more, but I've spent several years working on fat utilisation.

There is no one size fits all strategy and my approach would be different if I didn't have time to dose adjust or if I'm doing a shorter ride of say one hour.

I'm going to try and put it into practice on the pump on Sunday, temporary basal of 30% of normal starting 1 hour before the ride.
 
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