Racing!

[shiftzor]

Just wondering how people cope with racing and the D. This is the first time I have raced on my mountain bike with a pump. Its a 4 man 12 hour off road mountain biking event that takes place at night (don't ask why). Day time racing is for wimps like me :D so this is going to be interesting. Current technique involves:

Plan:
High carb meal the night before
Reduction of basal by 30%

Per 50mins-2hours laps
Mixing lucazade with water in a camel back
one-two Powerbar gel pre lap (each containing 27g of carbs) and one during if necessary.

[A_Darling]

I did a 12 hr race on a 3 man team a few months ago. Lap times were just under an hour for me, but just over for my teammates (they were both fairly new to riding).

I cut my usual dose of 24 units of lantus at morning in half and didn't end up taking my night shot of 14 units. I like to come into races and events a little on the high side so that I don't have to worry about foods on the first lap. For the rest of the day I was testing a lot and eating when necessary. The most helpful thing was an endurance energy drink mix that I would use before laps to give me a nice energy boost and some complex carbs. Also used Gu energy gels half way thru laps if I felt like I needed it.

My approach to a team event like this is to make it an all out sprint. I ride as hard as possible at all times so I stay at that breaking point because I'm gonna a few hours of rest before I gotta do it again.

Good Luck!

[kstreeter513]

I raced in a marathon (different modality but same idea) just over month ago with a pump. I followed the same pattern I used while training on long runs. I usually have a basal rate of 0.5U/h in the morning. (I always ran in the morning)

Three hours before my run, I ate a high carb meal bolusing as usual. Then I would set a temp rate to 0.15U/h through the ended of the run. Then, by three hours after the meal, I figured most of the meal time bolus was out of my system and my BG would mostly be reliant on basal insulin. 0.15u/h is what I learned (through much trial and error) that I needed in times of endurance exercise.

At times I ate an energy gel (I used GU, 25 CHO, didn't like powergel) I bolused .3U. With this regiment, I rarely experienced low BG while training (never during a race) and almost always ended a run with a good blood sugar. My blood sugar for that last marathon, after three hours and twelve minutes was 104!

My suggestion for this race since it is coming up so soon and you don't really have time to experiment with something different, is to do what you have done during training. The last thing you want to happen during a race is end up with a wacky BG.

Good Luck!!!:D

[shiftzor]

I ended up with 3 laps, I mixed lucazade with water with increasing % of lucazade each lap. One gel before i started each lap and I realised that I needed a big gulp of water with each gel. My lap times where 54mins,59mins(in the dark) and 57mins.

It was good fun although I did get a stitch in each lap despite eating several hours before the race and immediately after the first lap had finished with a 3 hour gap. I didn't eat for the final lap to avoid the stitches but somehow I still get a minor one. None of the stitches stop me :D and neither did the hills although I did fall off once or twice on the down hills. My team came 27th out of 31 which was good, at least we didn't come last :D.

I didn't use a camel back in the end, instead I opted for bottles on the frame of my bike as it kept the weight off my back.

[kstreeter513]

CONGRATULATIONS

Sounds like fun. I would love to participate in a road race around here sometime. You've inspired me to see if there are any bicycling races anytime soon.

[shiftzor]

CONGRATULATIONS

Sounds like fun. I would love to participate in a road race around here sometime. You've inspired me to see if there are any bicycling races anytime soon.

I haven't done much road biking mostly off road stuff, although I have done some training on road with me moutain bike to up my stamina. I can definitely recommend it, night time off road racing is surprisingly good fun :D.