Hi. I have type 2 and ride Audax - 100km to 200km. My nurse says I should be on meds - like I want to risk a hypo, and my GO says give it up and buy an electric bike to save the need for food on hills. They won't help with getting a CGM. Any advice?
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Cycling
- Thread starter Andy@ark
- Start Date
- Messages
- 4,421
- Location
- Suffolk, UK
- Type of diabetes
- Type 2
- Treatment type
- Tablets (oral)
- Dislikes
- Diet drinks - the artificial sweeteners taste vile.
Having to forswear foods I have loved all my life.
Trying to find low carb meals when eating out.
I think you may be confused about meds.
Most T2 meds do not carry a hypo risk.
Eating on hills - are you on a high carbohydrate diet for energy?
There are alternatives.
I have no idea why avoiding medication would lead you to getting a CGM - perhaps you could explain?
Do you have any suggestion as to why, as a fit cyclist, you have T2?
Information on diet, reasons for diagnosis, weight, HbA1c and all the other boring details would help us to comment more helpfully.
Oh, I have been cycling with T2 for years.
Not attempted Audax distances, though.
Most T2 meds do not carry a hypo risk.
Eating on hills - are you on a high carbohydrate diet for energy?
There are alternatives.
I have no idea why avoiding medication would lead you to getting a CGM - perhaps you could explain?
Do you have any suggestion as to why, as a fit cyclist, you have T2?
Information on diet, reasons for diagnosis, weight, HbA1c and all the other boring details would help us to comment more helpfully.
Oh, I have been cycling with T2 for years.
Not attempted Audax distances, though.
I'm completely confused. Trying to get a straight answer from my local surgery is impossible. Reason for T2 may be genetic - mother, who also had a late life diagnosis. Diet good, no obvious symptoms. Originally went to surgery with an infection and was told there was no sign of that, but I was diabetic.
jonathan183
Well-Known Member
- Messages
- 372
- Type of diabetes
- Type 1
- Treatment type
- Insulin
Maybe the carbs you are consuming exceeds your bodies capacity for dealing with them. You might want to look at some of the videos by Stephen Phinney and Jeff Volek on ketogenic diets and athletic performance. Also some by Tim Noakes and what carb loading did to him. If you do decide to go the keto route then be warned it may take around 3 months to become fat adapted and start to get the initial drop in performance back 
- Messages
- 10,394
- Location
- New Zealand
- Type of diabetes
- Type 1
- Treatment type
- Pump
- Dislikes
- hypos and forum bugs
Do you know what your latest hba1c was? I would expect high blood sugars to impact negatively on your ability to do AUDAX (which sounds impressive) so you may want to consider your options to bring those levels down.
(I'm T1 not T2 but I definitely find high bgs make exercise harder for me.)
My last hba1c was 65 - which I disputed as previous was 52. I find Audax strange, as first 50km are hard. Then something clicks and it starts to get easier. Apart from the LEL when I climbed off after 560km, distance gives very few problems
SimonP78
Well-Known Member
If insulin is the med in question, then this is my experience as an insulin taker.
I've been pushing up my distances since I started riding during lockdown - I regularly ride 100 miles when the weather is half decent and did a pair of ~220km rides at the end of the summer (before children back at school/work/weather cut into my available time/motivation.) I was hoping to do one just before Xmas, but being wet for 10h+ put me off!
Working out how to fuel for this duration put me off for a while, but after having ridden them, I realise that as is often the case it's mainly psychological.
My long rides are not organised Audaxes (I must go one some though) but normally loops via friends/family which means I can stop part way and get some proper food (I'm still slightly reluctant to abandon my bike outside a shop, but I will get over this!)
Organised Audax rides might be easier if some controls have food available (and/or stopping somewhere where there are other riders so I don't feel quite so exposed leaving my bike), so this is something I will have to try. While I take food and snack throughout shorter rides (<140km typically), I find that eating something decent half way for a 100 miler or 200km (and aiming for my BG to start rising appreciably before I start riding again) means I don't need to eat so often in the latter half of the ride. I don't tend to need to eat much for the first ~2h (I eat something uncovered before I leave), but by the 5h mark I need to eat quite a bit, so stopping and pushing BG up with proper food is much nicer than needing to eat portable snacky things while riding (at least not needing to eat them quite as often.)
So basically, it won't stop you, even if it does mean paying a bit more attention to fuelling/making sure you have enough supplies with you to make the next control/petrol station/coffee shop/supermarket/etc.
P.S. I realise the distances I'm talking about are short compared to things like LEL
I've been pushing up my distances since I started riding during lockdown - I regularly ride 100 miles when the weather is half decent and did a pair of ~220km rides at the end of the summer (before children back at school/work/weather cut into my available time/motivation.) I was hoping to do one just before Xmas, but being wet for 10h+ put me off!
Working out how to fuel for this duration put me off for a while, but after having ridden them, I realise that as is often the case it's mainly psychological.
My long rides are not organised Audaxes (I must go one some though) but normally loops via friends/family which means I can stop part way and get some proper food (I'm still slightly reluctant to abandon my bike outside a shop, but I will get over this!)
Organised Audax rides might be easier if some controls have food available (and/or stopping somewhere where there are other riders so I don't feel quite so exposed leaving my bike), so this is something I will have to try. While I take food and snack throughout shorter rides (<140km typically), I find that eating something decent half way for a 100 miler or 200km (and aiming for my BG to start rising appreciably before I start riding again) means I don't need to eat so often in the latter half of the ride. I don't tend to need to eat much for the first ~2h (I eat something uncovered before I leave), but by the 5h mark I need to eat quite a bit, so stopping and pushing BG up with proper food is much nicer than needing to eat portable snacky things while riding (at least not needing to eat them quite as often.)
So basically, it won't stop you, even if it does mean paying a bit more attention to fuelling/making sure you have enough supplies with you to make the next control/petrol station/coffee shop/supermarket/etc.
P.S. I realise the distances I'm talking about are short compared to things like LEL
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If your food choices raise your numbers (which raises your hba1c), the food is doing you no good.
Glucose just sitting in the bloodstream is not used for energy, so as long as your levels are high you don't benefit from what you've eaten to fuel your cycling, it doesn't fuel you.
Of course you need to eat. But eating the stuff that sends your blood glucose sky high isn't helping.
Have you considered eating different things with more protein and fats to fuel your bike rides?
Those calories can be used as fuel and don't turn to glucose in your bloodstream.
SimonP78
Well-Known Member
It's a tricky one, if I'm riding I will aim to maintain levels above those I would aim for on a normal day, and above those I'd go for when doing something like playing badminton where I can stop and eat (and indeed give up and go home) as needed.
Part of this is that digestion appears to be delayed, so you need to eat much earlier than expected, especially if it's normal food rather than really quick acting stuff (which is sickly after a while.) I probably need a different set of alarms (and some way to turn them off without juggling a phone out of a bag/pocket) for when riding to remind me that I should eat at a given BG level. Always good to have things to work on
Part of this is that digestion appears to be delayed, so you need to eat much earlier than expected, especially if it's normal food rather than really quick acting stuff (which is sickly after a while.) I probably need a different set of alarms (and some way to turn them off without juggling a phone out of a bag/pocket) for when riding to remind me that I should eat at a given BG level. Always good to have things to work on
gogobroom
Well-Known Member
Diabetes is a strange beast - I've been prediabetic for over 10 years and in the last few months tipped into diabetic range - treatment is currently diet only as I am only just diagnosed with a Hba1c of 52.
I am fit, slim, healthy otherwise no symptoms either - I race Ironman triathlon and regularly do rides of over 100k during training - my diet is good and was previously relatively low carb, i believe I have good fat adaption so the necessity for carbs is less. I am now aiming to hit sub 100 carbs, probably nearer 50gsm a day even with the training - I am still in the testing phase but currently fueling well before I set off on training, i.e. good solid breakfast, mainly fats and protein, then take with me mixed nuts for a mid ride snack when required. Hasten to say currently not riding long rides due to weather but still 1 to 2 hours is easy enough, but will be back on it soon so will report back when the rides get longer.
With regard to readings I am self funding freestyle libre for a few months to get a good picture of what does or doesn't work. So far I have minimal conclusions due to some sessions giving higher than usual numbers and other giving drops, but I am getting a reasonable view of what I need to do. Its a matter of testing and seeing what works as unfortunately there isn't that much information out there for athletic type 2's.
With regard to your GP telling you to get an electric bike I would tell them to go shove it and move to different GP as they obviously don't understand the problem or the fact that its a matter of keeping sane and continuing what you were doing, quality of llife..
Thanks. I'm still experimenting with different foods, but it does take time and unfortunately the medics seem to have a one system fits all approach. As to moving GP, with large practices taking over smaller ones there isn't much choice. Also our local hospital trust keeps making the news for all the wrong reasons, so there is a poor medical culture locally.
