Enjoy Your Health

The Ride Begins

March 26, 2006 on 6:06 pm | In My Experiences, Ride to Cure Diabetes | Comments Off

Tomorrow, I will begin my trek down the coast. If all goes as planned, my friend and I will make it to Santa Monica in four days. It is possible (even likely), though, that the trip will take five days. If we were to try four days, we’d need to average over about 110 miles each day. We’d be riding almost every hour of daylight to do that, so I think that five days may be a little more realistic.

I have my Powerbars, my spare tubes, and just enough infusion sets and pump supplies to make it through the trip. I’m trying to keep the backpack light, but I am bringing a fresh pair of socks for each day of the trip. Socks are one item I simply can’t skimp on.

Thank you to everyone for the advice for my trip. I wish I could have a support car follow us, but we both want to ride and we do not have any friends in the area that would be willing to serve that role. We both think that we are ironmen, and we both want to make the full trip.

Almost every person that I’ve talked to this last week – from family members to coworkers – has told me how dangerous it is. I heard a story of a rider who broke his collar bone, one who was intentionally hit by a passing car, and one who was caught off guard by a passing truck and tumbled into the ditch. After all of these horror stories, I am reminded of how intense this ride will be. I hope the drivers on the Pacific Coast Highway are friendly to us…

450 Miles of Training for Death Valley

March 15, 2006 on 6:43 am | In Type 1 Diabetes | Comments Off

I know it sounds crazy, but I have decided to venture down the Pacific Coast on a ride from San Francisco in two weeks. Fortunately, my boss is supporting the ride and has allowed me to take a week off to do it.

Our plan is to start just South of SF. If things go well, we will be biking over 100 miles a day. The goal is to get down to LA in four days.

I have been biking as often as I can, but it’s hard to know how ready I am. My commute to and from work is about 20 miles round trip. On the weekends, I have been biking about 50 miles at least one of the two days. To date, however, I have never gone 100 in a day.

Does anyone have suggestions for “touring”? We are going to sleep in hotels/motels, and I hope to keep my supplies to a minimum. I am going to bring the appropriate bicycle repair equipment in addition to my insulin pump supplies. Without a doubt, I am bringing my camera. I think a little bit of food and drink might be nice, too.

Any suggestions for preparation, for the ride itself, or for endurance athletics and diabetes would be greatly appreciated.