Morning Ride

In anticipation of a rainy weekend, I decided to hit the road early this morning for one of my favorite rides. Yep, it was another Sunrise Over San Quentin.

How did D (Dexcom, diabetes) behave?
I put a new Dexcom sensor in last night, to replace the one that hadn't worked at all after 3 days. I was happy to see this morning that it had been spewing out readings during the night. I woke up really hungry around 3 AM with a BG of about 100. I decided to go ahead and eat a Luna Bar in anticipation of my ride. I took 1.15 U insulin. Shortly after, my BG had fallen to about 60. I ate a few Clif Blocks (or "cubes" as I like to call them) and went back to sleep. When I woke up at 5 AM, my BG was 228, so I guess I overdid it with the cubes. Anyway, I ate 4 more cubes and took 0.6 U insulin at about 5:10. When I got out the door at 5:30, my BG had gone up to 248. I chose to not take any additional insulin, since 0.6 U is a lot for me to have floating around on a ride. I could see an immediate rise at the beginning of my ride, but after about 30 minutes, it plateaued and then started a pretty rapid decline. It seemed to be leveling off around 160 about 1h45min into the ride. I probably should have eaten something here but I wanted to finish the loop around the Tiburon peninsula before eating a gel. (Sometimes I am too impatient to eat.) Once I got to Tiburon, I pulled out a Hammergel and also noted that my Dexcom was showing a not-so-gradual decline. I was somewhere around 140 then quickly to 130. Also, I was feeling a little low and I suspected that the Dexcom was reading higher than my actual BG, so I began to munch on another Luna Bar. By about 2 hours into the ride, I started to feel a little better but decided to shut the pump off for 30 minutes. This was probably a good idea, because after finishing my ride an hour later, my BG was 131. Nice! About 45 minutes later, it was 100.

Things I learned on this ride:
1) Don't wait to eat if you see a downward trend and have more than the normal amount of insulin floating around;
2) It's better to eat at least once an hour, anyway!
3) Remember that turning the pump off is an option to attack dropping BGs;

I was really pleased with the Dexcom on this ride. It allowed me to keep going without having to check my BG, which is a pain on the bike. I do have to keep it in a Ziplock baggie to keep it dry in my pocket, though! I wish I could somehow mount it on my bike, but where would it fit with my humongous light, my bike computer, and my extra-large Bento box (which is completely occupied by my bike light battery)?

Other notes from the ride
I saw a few interesting things on my ride.
At the southern entrance to the bridge, was a group of people singing Christmas songs. I don't know who the audience was at 5:50 AM but hey, it was nice all the same. Some TV truck was there recording the whole thing. One of the singers, in a Santa hat, gave me a strange look, like he knew that the whole thing was a little odd.

Once on the bridge, I noticed a pedestrian, who just seemed a little out of place. He seemed a little despondent and I started wondering if he was planning to jump. I said, "Hi there," and he gave me no reaction (which could have been just because he thinks people who ride bikes in bike clothes are weird). I thought I was probably over-reacting but considered stopping at one of the many emergency phones on the side of the sidewalk. I passed one but stopped at the next and spoke to the bridge patrol. I mentioned the pedestrian and he asked, "What are you doing on the bridge?" "Biking," I said and then he cheered up. He said that the guy shouldn't be there and that he would check it out. I guess pedestrians aren't allowed on the bridge that early in the day.

But the best part of the ride was definitely sunrise. This picture from my cellphone didn't capture how brilliantly orange everything was glowing. But it's scenes like this that keep me riding and keep me paying my ridiculous rent (which actually isn't nearly as bad as it could be around here).



Oh, and the Christmas singers were still there when I crossed back over the bridge!