Living Well With Diabetes

I’ve been on the road towards Alaska four days now. Here’s a summary of my rides so far:

• June 28 - Salt Lake City to Brigham City (67 miles)
• June 29 - Brigham City to Snowville (65 miles)
• June 30 - Snowville, Utah to Burley, Idaho (66 miles)
• July 1 - Burley, Idaho to Twin Falls, Idaho (43 miles)

In four days I’ve been able to learn some valuable lessons about bike touring.

1. Ya gotta keep drinking.
   I learned this one the hard way on the second day which was the day I rode from Brigham City to Snowville, Utah. Of course, with about 25 years of cycling in my background, I should know all about the “ya gotta keep drinking” rule, but somehow, it’s something I have to relearn every year and usually during my first ride in very hot weather. By the time I reached I-84 and the last 20 miles of riding to Snowville, I was cramping up pretty bad. I stopped at an exit to rest in the shade of the bridge and chugged an entire 20-ounce bottle of fruit juice. I sat there for the next twenty minutes or so, afraid to move for fear of bringing on another cramp. During that time, I pondered whether I was going to make it and, if I didn’t, how long it would be before anybody discovered me here. It was that thought that finally got me up and moving again. By then, the juice had done the trick. I was feeling much better — the cramping had subsided and my blood sugar was a safe, yet respectable 150. I basically coasted into Snowville and found a very nice campsite at the Lottie-Dell RV park. No internet access, but my computer did pick up a wireless network from the Flying J over a half mile away (think about that next time you set up a wireless network in your home!).
2. Ya gotta slow down.
   I’m so used to trying to go as fast as possible while riding. That’s what you do when you’re training. Except this tour is not training. The first day went pretty smoothly and I was filled with confidence as I left Brigham City on the second day, headed towards Snowville. I was going west on Highway 83, I had a tailwind, it was a cool, comfortable morning, and all those factors encouraged me to go too fast. I think that contributed to the hydration troubles I had. On the third day (Snowville, Utah to Burley, Idaho), I had to force myself to slow down. I set a maximum heart rate of 130 for myself and that helped. I think I went over that only once or twice during the day.
3. Get more than one opinion about a route.
   Last night, I needed some relief from the heat so I stayed in a motel in Burley. This morning, I had breakfast at the restaurant next to the motel. I asked the waitress what she knew of highway 30 from Burley to Twin Falls. She said it was “nice.” That was interesting to know, but extremely unhelpful. So I asked her what the terrain was like. She said “There are a lot of hills. You’ll be going up and down all day” and then she walked off. End of conversation, I guess. As I was checking out of the motel this morning, I asked the front desk attendant what she knew of highway 30. She said it was rural and I wouldn’t see much traffic on it except for the local farmers. Again, I had to ask about the terrain. “Oh, it’s pretty flat” and this leads me to my next rule of bike touring.
4. Ask a cyclist about a route.
   I admit, this isn’t always possible. The concept of “flat” vs. “hilly” is entirely different for a person who rides a bicycle. In the end, highway 30 between Burley and Twin Falls was neither hilly nor flat. It was what a cyclist would call “rollers.” It went up a little and then down a little. It wound around at the whim and convenience of whoever broke trail there first.
5. Consider the Interstate as a possible route.
   The Interstate is not always a bad choice for bike riding. Yesterday, when I woke up in Snowville, I had two possible routes to get to Burley, Idaho. One was a quiet, scenic road though the wilderness of southern Idaho. The other was I-84. The former was longer — about 20 miles longer — with more and steeper climbs and, most ominously, no known sources of water. The latter, the Interstate, had very generous shoulders, climbs that were mild (in this stretch, less than 4% grade), and regular rest stops and service stations. However, I must advise against the Sinclair service station at exit 245 because he charged me 20 cents to fill a water bottle with ice.
6. It’s not always good.
   One of the good things I like about bike touring is how it puts you in touch with the land — the scenery, the weather, the road, the smells, the wildlife. These are things you are not in touch with as you’re driving down the road in a car. On the road leading west out of Brigham City, for example, I saw a fox make its way across the road about 20 feet in front of me. It was rusty red with a huge bushy tail and it seemed unafraid of me as it trotted across the road. The flip side of that coin, however, is something else I saw that day. I had arrived at the interstate (I-84) after riding about 40 miles on Highway 83. I had taken a rest in the shade of the bridge. Curled up in the shade of one of the bridge supports was a dead border collie. It looked like it had curled up there to take a nap and had never woken up. In fact, I had to go over to it to be sure it wasn’t going to wake up. It was a very sad sight for me since Pat and I have a border collie of our own at home. I’m not sure what took this poor dog, but whatever it was, I hope it was quick.
7. It’s not always fun.
   I had two days in a row that were not much fun. My second day out, as I mentioned in one of my previous rules, was not much fun. The next day, which involved no cramping whatsoever, was not any fun either because I didn’t really feel up to riding as much as I did, but I had no choice — there were simply no other options that were any closer.
8. Stuff is gonna break.
   And if it’s going to break, it will probably break right away. For example, there’s my Dexcom continuous glucose monitor which I mentioned in my previous post. It’s still hanging in there, but I can tell something is not right with it. I’m not sure it’s the cable or the Dexcom unit itself, but it’s very sensitive about how the cable is connected to the unit. Unless I hold it just right, it won’t retrieve its calibration reading from the test meter. I’m gong to try to make it last until I get to Wilsonville and there I’ll call Dexcom to get some help with a replacement. Another thing that’s in the process of breaking is my Garmin GPS unit. It’s a model 705 which has a GPS combined with heart rate monitor and cyclometer all in one handlebar-mounted unit. It has started warning me of a low battery even though I know there’s a full charge. That’s kind of annoying, but now it has started shutting itself off in the middle of a ride. I can turn it back on and it works fine for a few more hours. That’s irritating, but now it has started to fail to recognize the maps built into it. When it did that for the first time yesterday, I turned it off for a few minutes and then turned it back on and the maps were available again. Very strange. This warrants a call to Garmin, I think, but again, I’m going to wait until I get closer to Wilsonville where I’ll have a couple days to deal with it.

Finally, here is a collection of photos from my rides during the last three days.

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