Basal Biking

I’ve been mountain biking a fair amount the last few weeks, providing the chance to adjust my pump settings for longer rides. I wear the tandem pump with control IQ along with a dexcom glucose monitor.

Right now a “longer” ride for me is anything beyond three hours. Next season, I hope I can extend these long rides to five or more hours, but for now, three hours is about my sweet spot.

Exercise mode seems to work alright for me during short rides and runs of one hour or less. Anything longer in exercise mode requires me to eat a lot of food to avoid lows. As much as I love control IQ, it just seems to be too aggressive for long efforts.

This is my strategy lately:

• 2 hours pre-ride: stop control IQ and set a 50% temp basal; eat 30-40 carbs at 50% bolus

• Ride start: set temp basal to 80% of my standard basal

• Eat skratch chews if I start to drop; and sip water with electrolytes throughout the ride

• I found that in the last hour of a ride, especially if it’s mostly downhill, my blood sugar rises. So, I stop the temp basal and return to control IQ when I have about an hour to go.

Here’s hour my strategy played out during a recent ride:

• Ride duration: 3. 5 hours

• Starting blood sugar 200 (I like starting a little high as I know it will drop during my ride)

• Temp basal rate: .20 units per hour

• Average blood sugar: 106

• Finishing blood sugar: 89

It’s not perfect, but it has been really great to get back out on my bike for longer stretches this summer- especially with my friends and kids. I’ll keep fine tuning the numbers and keep exploring more of the beautiful trail systems that are all over southwest Montana.