I’m curious if there are any type 1 diabetics in here and if you want to share your nutrition strategy for rides over an hour.
I use a Dexcom and am on multi-daily injections. I didn’t like using the pump for various reasons. I like to try and keep my blood sugar between 110 mg/dl (6.1 mmol) and 150 mg/dl (8.3 mmol). If I go much higher than that, I just don’t feel that good.
All of my nutrition on the bike is based on eating enough gels, or not eating and maybe giving myself some insulin to stay in that range. I found that for most rides less than an hour I can keep it steady without any gels. If it’s much longer, I start using up gel packs. If I am doing some really hard climbs or sprints my blood sugar levels will go up and I will need a little insulin to shuttle that glucose into the muscles and out of my blood stream.
I know a lot of “normal” riders will “carb up” so they have plenty of fuel. I’m wondering if other Type 1’s do that and how you make that work without spiking your blood sugar levels.
I would love to connect with some other type 1 riders and see how they handle it. I would REALLY love it if the TrainerRoad podcast was able to get some of the riders from Team Novo Nordisc on the podcast to talk frankly about blood sugar levels and how they manage it for such long periods of time on the bike.