Cycling with Type-1 Diabetes: My Road to Mallorca Begins

I’m going to Mallorca.

This is the first time I’ve announced this to the broader world, and I’m pretty excited.

Almost two months ago I booked my spot in the 2027 Girls Get Strong Cycling Camp. I’d been eyeing this all-women’s camp for about 2 or 3 years now, and I finally hit the button. It’s a seven-day adventure, with five days of cycling, anywhere from 60-100 km per day, all throughout Mallorca, Spain.

I’m excited. I’m nervous.

The distances don’t worry me. But the sometimes unpredictability of my Dear Diabetes does.

Good thing I’ve got more than a year to train both my legs and my T1D.

I’m intending to blog my way through; I hope you’ll join me for the reading journey. And, if you’re navigating cycling with type-1 diabetes yourself, I hope sharing both the victories and challenges along the way will be helpful 🙂

For the Love of Stan

Today’s ride was my first outdoor ride in just over a month. I had a minor surgical procedure that kept me off the bike for a month. Clearly, my legs were missing the chain tattoos they notoriously get every ride I go on 😀

Mario and I decided to head to Vancouver. We weren’t sure exactly where the tires would take us. Maybe UBC, down the hill towards Jericho Beach. Maybe Stanley Park, up the hill to Prospect Point. My legs were a bit fatigued and laticky midway through, but I figured now was as good as any to pull the band-aid off and climb.

Off to Stanley Park we went.

This is one of my favourite Vancouver rides. I love the different streets leading up to the Stan, and the wide range of funky houses. I love riding by the water, although I’m never brave enough to do a selfie on a moving bike in that area – it’s so busy! And I love the greenery.

I used to loathe the climb. It’s not a long climb, but early in my cycling days it felt like hours. My heart felt like it was pounding through my chest. I struggled to manage my breathing, and my legs often felt like they were spinning to nowhere. But, at some point over the years, as my legs transitioned from running legs to cycling legs, this climb didn’t become easy, but it did become manageable, and, dare I say, enjoyable.

I love reaching the tip of Prospect Point knowing that I did it. I thoroughly enjoy keeping Mario in my sightline all the way up, sometimes even cresting the hill before him. And, on the days where I’m feeling a bit of a struggle, I count the entire way up.

Today’s counting got me to 310.

My Perfectly Imperfect T1D

So, how did the diabetes manage? It’s a work in progress.

My insulin pump (Tandem t:slim with Control IQ) is an automated insulin delivery system. For those non-T1D readers, these pumps automatically adjust insulin levels up or down depending on blood glucose levels. In theory, this is meant to reduce frequency of lows and highs. I say, “in theory”, because this is still a piece of technology, and technology is not a pancreas. It’s not perfect – I still have a type-1 diabetes. And I still have to be mindful of my blood sugars, especially during exercise.

Today, oh, I was so close to having a great T1D ride. So close. But, a minor insulin pump snafu had me chasing lows for the remaining 30-40 minutes of the ride, which annoyed the heck out of me.

The snafu: I had only programmed exercise mode (which aims to keep blood sugars between 7.8-8.9 mmol/L) for 4 hours. I started this mode 1-1.5 hours before starting the ride. I was on the bike for more than 3 hours. For most of the ride, my blood sugars were hovering between 5.5-7.0 mmol/L. I was taking in 2-4 Swedish Fish / berries every 20 minutes.

This was working.

But when exercise mode stopped, at some point, my blood sugars blipped up and the pump gave me an auto correction. Cue the low alerts. Bloody hell.

Cycling with Type-1 Diabetes Stats:

1. Breakfast: 7 am — usual high-protein oatmeal (~35g carbs).
   • BG: 6.8 mmol/L
   • Dose: pre-bloused 1.95 units, which is a 33% reduction from my usual
   • Changed to activity profile which has a basal rate of 0.25 units per hour, which is a 65% reduction from my usual, and a much more conservative correction factor.
   • Started activity mode ~20 minutes after breakfast
   • 8 am BG — 7.9 angled arrow up
   • 8:50 am BG — 9.5 — autocorrects 0.14 units
2. Bike Ride: 9 am
   • BG: 10.0 mmol/L
   • Switched activity profile back to usual profile ~15 minutes into the ride, with the basal at 0.7 units per hour, and the correction factor more aggressive (I forgot about this when making the change)
3. Fuel: Started at 10 am; 1 hour into the ride
   • Every 20 minutes, I ate 1-4 Swedish Fish / Berries
4. Blood Sugars:
   • 10 am: 7.0 mmol/L
   • 10:20 am: 6.3 mmol/L
   • 10:40 am 6.6 mmol/L
   • 11:15 am: BG 5.5 mmol/L
   • 12 pm: BG 6.7 mmol/L
   • 12:20 pm: BG 4.4 mmol/L – I paused the ride at this point
   • 12:30 pm: BG 5.7 mmol/L — restarted with activity mode back on
   • 1 pm: BG 5.1 mmol/L
   • 1:15 pm 3.6 mmol/L (angled arrow down)

The ride finished at 1:15 pm. Because of the lows, I did not turn off activity mode, which I would normally do about 15-20 minutes before the end of the ride. I also did not add a top up bolus at the end of the ride, which I would normally do to prevent a post-ride BG spike.

Lesson learned: program a longer exercise mode next time!!!!

Next steps: figure out my Garmin Edge and Dexcom connectivity for easier blood sugar viewing throughout