# Does anyone else take fast acting insulin during a long cycle ride?



## sololite (Jul 10, 2019)

Does anyone inject fast acting insulin during a long cycle ride?


I am riding 100 miles in the Ride London event early August in aid of DUK. I did it two years ago and apart from my regular dose of basal (Levemir) in the morning didn’t take any insulin during the ride. I snacked all the way round and felt good .


Two years later I now take mealtime insulin (novorapid) and wonder if I need to use it during the ride and should I do anything different with my breakfast injection?


With only a few weeks remaining I probably can only get in a couple more  70+ mile rides so don’t have an opportunity to experiment but wondered if anyone had any advice please.


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## Matt Cycle (Jul 11, 2019)

sololite said:


> Does anyone inject fast acting insulin during a long cycle ride?
> 
> 
> I am riding 100 miles in the Ride London event early August in aid of DUK. I did it two years ago and apart from my regular dose of basal (Levemir) in the morning didn’t take any insulin during the ride. I snacked all the way round and felt good .
> ...



No I don't*, not normally.  All carbs on the ride (for me) are free.  The only exceptions would be if things have gone wrong somewhere and I need to correct or I'm stopping to eat something more substantial.  In both those cases I wouldn't take the full dose.  For the breakfast dose I tend to not mess with this too much but some people reduce this as well.  Good luck with the ride. 

(* For any pedants out there,  technically I do take fast acting during a ride as the pump only uses fast acting - NovoRapid in my case.  It allows me to give temporary basal rates which I find easier to manage with than any bolus adjustments).


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## sololite (Jul 12, 2019)

Thanks Matt. I am doing a long one today so will monitor myself as I go round. I am on DAFNE next week so get a chance to talk to them about it too.  
Regards Chris


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## sololite (Jul 13, 2019)

well I made it round the Surrey section of the Ride London route and added a few laps of Richmond Park to make it up to 100 miles yesterday.

I ate massive overnight oat/banana/yoghurt breakfast which pushed my BS above 12 but gradually came down to under 7 which I maintained all the way round without using insulin. I have Libre which is a great way to know when you are starting to go down.

to keep me going I drank 2 water bottles of High5 energy solution, 2 water bottles, 1 banana, 2 jordans energy bars, 1 cheese sandwich, 1 large piece of flapjack.

energy levels were good but I started to fade over last 20 miles so think I will increase my food intake in second 50 miles once effect of breakfast has worn off.


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## Matt Cycle (Jul 14, 2019)

sololite said:


> well I made it round the Surrey section of the Ride London route and added a few laps of Richmond Park to make it up to 100 miles yesterday.
> 
> I ate massive overnight oat/banana/yoghurt breakfast which pushed my BS above 12 but gradually came down to under 7 which I maintained all the way round without using insulin. I have Libre which is a great way to know when you are starting to go down.
> 
> ...



Well done, great riding.  Always special doing 100 miles.  Libre is certainly useful.  You can check without stopping but just have to make sure you don't drop the reader!   That's quite a lot to eat without insulin.  I drop the basal on the pump but even so I'm not sure I would get away with eating that much on no bolus and remain under 7 over 100 miles.  Do you think you're still producing some of your own insulin?


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## SB2015 (Jul 14, 2019)

Well done @sololite 
What a lovely place to be cycling, Richmond Park.

As with so many things to do with D it is trial and improvement, coming up with a plan and then monitoring things along the way, in order to adjust for all those other variables that are beyond our control.

This forum is great place to find at least one person who has done something similar and to give a starting point.  It is amazing to read what everyone does.


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## Rick Ashworth (Jul 16, 2019)

Good work.  I never take insulin during a ride.  I try and make sure I'm around 7mmol+ at the start of the ride and then eat about 30g after 90mins and continue that trend throughout, only changing if my power starts to drop (an immediate sign that sugar's dropping) or if I start getting hungry, which is usually a sign I'm dropping too.  If I'm a bit low at the start then I take a gel or bar - I never take energy drinks because it's very difficult to monitor how much carbohydrate I've taken and if it's hot then I've got to drink and if I got though 500/750ml of energy drink quite quickly then my sugar would be huge.  So water bottles are filed with electrolytes to stave off cramping.  I cycle abroad for a week every couple years with some friends and when we stop for lunch (baguette, apple, crisps, etc...) I don't take any insulin as I always hypo within the first hour afterwards but I estimate I'm taking onboard about 100g carbs!  I'd never normally do that at home but I guess it's the cumulative effect of 8 hours cycling...?  I'm lucky that I always feel a hypo coming on and if I'm cycling with my friends and they start overtaking me then I better be dropping into hypo!!!


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