Highlands Glens and Sealochs 1300km Brevet Populaire audax

As a summer holiday I decided to ride a 1300km permanent audax. Island hoping up the West coast of Scotland, following part of the North coast 500 route before heading south via glencoe, Inverary and back to Ardrossan. Paul immediately declined the invitation to accompany me. Quite apart from the cycling distances involved he refuses to go near the west coast of Scotland in summer because of the midges. I'd be cycling alone through some of the most remote areas of the UK. This trip requires a sub blog of it's own, yet to be published.

Vale of Belvoir 200km Audax

Time for a second ride of the Lichfield Audax. After the last few weeks of very hilly rides I was pleased I had this in the calendar. I had thought Paul might join me for his first 200km rides but after TINAT he was taking a break from audaxing.

This was my first long ride using the miao miao transmitter, changing my libre, flash glucose monitoring device into true continuous glucose monitor (cgm). It was great to be able to keep riding whilst keeping an eye on my watch to check my glucose. No more stopping to scan the libre sensor or juggling the libre reader in one hand, steering the bike with the other and scanning the sensor whilst riding along.

My glucose has high for the first 50km and I had to stop several times to do corrections. I was careful to just correct by a couple of units each  time to avoid hypoing. I was in range and dropping by the time I arrived at the first control, perfect preparation for cake consumption. I ordered a cream tea and sat out in the court yard. Seeing a fellow audax rider tucking into a slice of raspberry frangipane, I ordered one of these as well. Remembering the recent advice from my dietitian to 'eat 2 cakes instead of 1' when stopping during a long cycle ride. The route was slightly different to last year, avoiding the traffic lights through Melton Mowbray. I also opted for the alternative control at the half way point, diverting to the co-op in Colsterworth for a danish pastry and bag of crisps, far better than the A1 services. I judged the 2 units of novorapid for 50g carbs perfectly and spiked up to 8 before dropping back down to 5.5 within a couple of hours. At 150km I stopped at Sutalia cafe in Loughborough. Last year I just had some cake here but this time I treated myself to a bowl of pasta with roast vegetables and tomato sauce. It was delicious and worth the slightly extended cafe stop. During the final 15km my watch started giving low glucose alerts. I had a couple of glucose tablets and continued. My glucose remained stubbornly less than 3.5 and Paul phoned to check I was okay. I scanned my glucose sensor with the libre reader and got a reading of 4.7 so I judged this was an xDrip calibration error and carried on riding. The following day I confirmed my suspicions with a blood test. The xDrip calibration was slightly wrong giving falsely low results. It was a reminder that xDrip should only be calibrated when glucose concentrations are very stable.

Overall glucose control was pretty good during the ride. My dosing for he first and second food stops was very good. I need to reduce novorapid dose further towards the end of the ride. Glucose concentration was high overnight after ride as I didn't inject enough insulin with post ride meal.

Miao miao, converting libre into a cgm

I have a new glucose monitoring set up to test out. A miao miao (yes I thought that was a street drug too) is a device that fits over the libre sensor, scanning by NFC every 5 minutes. Results are transmitted via bluetooth to the xDrip app on my phone and also to my smart watch. I'm now using my sony SW3 as a regular smart watch rather than strapped to my libre sensor so I no longer need it to have NFC capability. I haven't yet upgraded the firmware back to it's factory settings so it doesn't work as a collector device, only as a follower.

Paul also has xDrip on his phone and is set up as a follower. I did explain to him that this would mean regular alarms when my glucose was low or high but he seemed okay with that. Within a few days he was suffering from extreme alarm fatigue and changed his settings to drastically reduce the number of alarms he received. He now only gets alarms for low results and I have a 30 minute grace period to sort things out before he is alerted.

I wear the watch continuously, except when charging it up. The battery lasts a full 24 hours and it only takes an hour to recharge. 

This is not a tour 200km (A) Audax

'This is not a tour' (TINAT) was a weekend of audax rides in the spirit of the late ultra endurance cyclist Mike Hall. Designed to maximise elevation gain with some off road sections and making the most of the mid Wales landscape.  When I entered this audax I was doubtful about my ability to complete it. The elevation profile was harder than any audax I had done previously. Paul had entered the 100km audax with >1500m ascent but a generous minimum speed of 8km/hr. He'd spent weeks researching gear ratios, putting knobbly tyres back on and fitting mountain bike mud guards. I'd put it to the back of my mind until the week before in the hope that I'd somehow be prepared for it.

The weekend before TINAT, south Birmingham was hit by several hours of torrential rain and flash flooding. Met office weather forecast continued to show a <5% chance of rain throughout this period. Our street was knee deep with water and several houses in the area flooded. Thankfully we escaped the worst of it but with more storms forecast we were unsure about going to Wales for the weekend. 
"How are you feeling about the audax?" I asked Paul
"the thing I'm most worried about is that the tent will get wet and we won't be able to dry it out before packing it up to bring home" He was definitely in denial!
Weather in Wales was warm and sunny. After setting up the very heavy but spacious bell tent we unpacked everything, soon discovering that we'd forgotten the camping mugs.
"I'm not sure why we brought this" Paul said uncertainly, holding up a little brush attachment for the vacuum cleaner.
The following morning after a quick breakfast, I rode down to the start point. I gave myself 2 units of levemir rather than 3 given the difficulty of the ride. Underestimated breakfast dose meant doing a couple of corrections in the first 20km. I began riding with a couple of women from Bristol South cycling club but they were a bit fast for me so I settled into a more comfortable speed alone. The first stop was a check point somewhere along a rough track. I was unsure what to expect. Could I have cycled past it? was it someone hiding behind a tree with a clip board? Soon enough I approached a group of cyclists on the track with controllers checking names off on a list. Another brief stop on a bridge across the dam to take photos and we carried on. Shortly after I was overtaken by a group of riders on the other 200 B ride. Some of the off road sections were particularly hard going including the 'mohican' road. A narrow strip of tarmac, less than a foot wide, snaked up a steep slope. On either side of the tarmac were deep gullies filled with rubble. I fell off at least twice unable to maintain momentum up the slope whilst concentrating on keeping the wheels on the tarmac. It was a relief to arrive in Llandidnoes and after having my brevet card stamped I headed further up the road to the Great Oak cafe. I was spoilt for choice with a tempting display of cakes, quiches and pastries on offer. I chose a slice of apple cake and a large flapjack. I rode the next section alone but met up with some more audax riders at the co-op in  Machynleth. This was the half way point for me but they were  a third of the way into a 600km ride and were just stopping to refuel. I brief moment of receipt anxiety forced me to ride further up the road to the centre of the town to get an ATM receipt. Leaving Machynleth, I initially turned right back the way I had come before I stopped, checked my route sheet instructions and back tracked. Relieved that no other audax riders were around to notice my error I carried on.
For me, one of my favourite memories of this ride was the solitude. Riding alone, with views over mountains around me with no people, cars or buildings in sight. As I waited at the traffic lights in Llandrindod Wells, more audax riders joined me. After some uncertainty about the location of the finish and yet more traffic lights, we joined the queue for brevet card checking.

Glucose control was okay, high at the start, generally good during the day, dropping below 4 at the end, just in time for fish and chips.

Moors and Wolds 400km Audax

This was my first 400km event. The start time was 11am which meant I could get the train up to Alfreton in the morning. My plan for this ride was to ride the first 200km fast enough to reach  Scarborough by around 9:30pm. I could then stop for food and get a receipt at a late opening shop or pub and avoid stopping at the 24hr McDonalds.

Whilst chatting to other riders at the beginning one of them, a lady from Sheffield said she was also a type 1 diabetic! Quite a bit more experienced than me, she'd completed many audaxes including several 400km rides I was keen to do the first half quite fast so that I could make it to the half way point by 9:30 when shops/pubs still open to get food. I rode first 220km mainly on my own, leap frogging other riders between controls. Glucose control was good, stuck to the 50% reduction for first couple of hours but I found I was having to top up with energy bars between controls to stop myself going low so for next few hours didn’t inject for carbs consumed and glucose was stable (For my next ride I need to reduce nvorapid more). I carried 2 bottles of water but drank fruit smooothies at a couple of the controls which worked really well, easy to drink and 30g of carbs. Reached 220km at 9pm, controlled at a garage with spar shop (loads of food and costa coffee plus a window sill outside that was just perfect for snoozing on!). I relaxed there for 1 hour, then back on the bike again. At 1am I was at 270km, just 10km from the next control. On the A164 just north of the Humber bridge I hit a piece of metal on the road which punctured my rear tyre. As soon as I saw the inch long split in the tyre I knew that it wasn’t going to get me 140km, I would be lucky if I managed to get to the next control.  It was pretty much destroyed. I decided to change the tube and try and get to the next control, a 24hr garage. Quick call to Paul, to get some moral support. I changed the tube and reinflated the tyre. It was holding air but I could see the tube bulging out of the split. A police van pulled over and offered assistance, provided some light amusement when I told them how far I was cycling! I told them I would be okay and had a phone to get help if I needed it, I was still unwilling to accept that I couldn’t continue so was stubbornly sticking to my audax rules. Shortly after, another group of audax riders from the Derby Mercury came past me and stopped to help. One of them very kindly offered their spare tyre so after deflating the tube changing the tyre and reinflating again I was back on the road. I rode with them for the next 70km or so, rather cautiously as I’d used my only spare tube and after reinflating it twice I had very little C02 gas left. Feeling more confident I rode the final 70km alone, finishing just before 10am so still within my planned 24hr time. My phone battery died at about 350km so Paul could no longer track me from that point (he texted the organiser to check that I had finished ok!). 

Glucose control generally okay on first day, dropping low an hour or so after novorapid injections so requiring extra carb intake. After 200km, puncture repair and getting home took priority over glucose control and I was mostly very high. I got home, ate loads then fell asleep before deciding how much insulin to inject. No ketones and very good overnight with 50% levemir reduction. I need to reduce my novorapid doses further and not lose focus after 200km. 

La'al lakeland 100km audax

 I was invited to participate in the C2C in a day ride organised by opencycling. I wanted to try cycling hardknot and wrynose passes before the event so I knew what to expect. I chose this permanent 100km audax staring in Windermere, the minimum speed requirement is a generous 12km/hr but it is very hilly with 2300m ascent. I cycled over to Staveley on the Friday evening to see a few friends at a cycling film night. Pizza, a couple of beers and a late night, my plans for a 9am start didn't look promising. After a leisurely breakfast at the youth hostel I collected my first receipt from the garage just before 10am. I'd plotted the route myself the previous day on ridewithgps. I wasn't sure I'd got it 100% correct so I was still checking the route sheet occasionally. Wrynose and hardknott were tough climbs. The road is fairly narrow in places so particular care is needed when zigzagging up, to avoid falling off the edge of the tarmac. I was riding east to west so hardknott was easier and wrynose slightly harder than the other direction. Riding down the steeper side of hardknott was terrifying and I wondered how I would manage riding up it in a months time.

I reached hardknott cafe and sat in the garden waiting for my pot of tea and scones. A small child tried to engage me in conversation but I was rather preoccupied consulting my route sheet. The location of the first control was a little unclear. Had I ridden far enough? I carried on to Booth and stopped at the cafe there to top up water and buy a postcard. I was now 10 minutes behind and had some catching up to do. It was easy to think that the hard part was over but the hills continued. As I climbed the final ascent into Broughton in Furness I only had 4 minutes to get a receipt. I dived into the Kings head pub and ordered a lemonade. My receipt was 1 hour behind! I rushed out, abandoned my drink on a table and jumped back on my bike. Round the corner I stopped at a deli. Dumping my top tube bag and gloves on the top of the glass counter, my sunglasses fell into the chiller cabinet below. I looked around for something to buy while the shop assistant fished my sunglasses out from behind the display of cheeses. A bag of peanut butter and honey comb clusters would do. Yet again my receipt was out of time, by 30 minutes. Sprinting into the newsagent a few doors down I grabbed the first item in front of me, a Vimto fizzy rip roll. A completely irrelevant confectionery item that I had no intention of consuming. The lady behind the counter waved it across her bar code reader
"oh dear, it doesn't seem to want to scan. I'm not sure how much these are"
"its 40 pence" I said impatiently, although at that point I would happily have paid a fiver just for a receipt. Finally I had that all important piece of paper in my hands. I checked the time stamp, just 1 minute to spare! I slowly pedaled back to the kings head to finish my glass of lemonade.

Back on the road again I tried to up my pace to gain some time. Passing Old hall farm ice cream farm in Bouth I hesitated but resisted the temptation to stop, I didn't have time. Finding myself on the A590 I pulled over to check my route sheet. My suspicions were confirmed, I'd plotted the route incorrectly. I took the first available exit road and followed the river up to Newby Bridge. A few kilometers from Kendal I struggled up Underbarrow road. On the downhill stretch into town I stopped at the first pub I came to, The Rifleman's Arms, 3 minutes within the time limit. Back on my bike again for the final stretch to Windermere. The flattest section of the route I did increase my average speed here and finished 20 minutes early, collapsing on the garage forecourt to eat a bag of crisps. Returning to the youth hostel I chatted to some Fred Whitton riders who were peparing their bikes for the following day. I didn't envy them one bit.

I sat by the station eating my fish and chips, waiting for a rail replacement coach service back to Oxenholme. It didn't matter that the trains were disrupted. I'd finished the audax and all my receipts were in time. Just. This was probably the most difficult audax of all. Only 120km but I was always cutting it fine and never had the opportunity for a proper rest.


Glucose control: high overnight, managed to avoid over correcting in the morning. A little high still after breakfast but soon back in range, very good control for the rest of the day, spiked again in the evening post fish and chips.

  

Isle of Wight Randonnee 100km

I did this ride in 2017 and it's one of my favourites. 100km round the Isle of Wight starting from any of 6 controls, free to enter.  This year I am joined by Paul. It's an important ride, 30 years ago Paul gave up cycling after attempting to cycle round the IOW so I'm hoping this ride doesn't have the same effect.
We stay overnight at the UK sailing centre in Cowes. A beautiful sunny day for the ride, no arm warmers required. We start early to get ahead of the cyclists arriving on the Cowes ferry. As we arrive at the first control we join riders from the Fishbourne ferry. They have all registered on the ferry so do not need to stop at Wooton. In the confusion we initially ride past the control but realise our error and back track to the wooton sports hall to get our cards stamped.
We keep to a fairly easy pace going round remembering to top up water supplies and enjoy the homemade cakes at each control. The old military road on the south west coast is tough going but the views at the top are spectacular and we pull over for a photo stop. Later there is time for an ice cream and more cake before we do the final leg back to Cowes via New Town. We queue to board the new floating bridge and the staff cram on as many cyclists as they can.

Glucose control: good for first couple of hours then generally high (lots of cake was eaten!!) I over corrected at the end so by the time we were back in Southampton for the drive home I gone too low.