A recent Revolting episode spoke of milestones. I have experienced all the usual ones involving birth, school, work, death with the usual players of family, friends, spouses, significant and less significant others. However, the biggest one for me was being diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes at age sixteen. Nothing else has had the impact on every facet of my existence. Its presence has become something I have dealt with and had to manage every single day since.
At the time of my diagnosis, I was a healthy athletic kid. I surfed, skateboarded and was a starting high school football player. Football was where I and others first noticed the symptoms. I was a defensive lineman and suddenly my muscle tone evaporated, I was constantly thirsty, and no amount of Gatorade or orange slices (standard sideline fare at practice and games) seemed to help. This started towards the end of my junior season and after the last game I went to my doctor’s office where I received the news. Following my stabilization in the hospital (which sucked royally and again became a milestone, as I endeavored to spend the scantest amount of time hospitalized ever again) I became a voracious reader on everything regarding Type 1 diabetes I could find. I was not going to let this piece of luggage cramp my style.
Music selection: Maybe you found my previous selection of The Locust toe-tapping, but wondered what having that sound within a (slightly) more conventional song structure would be like. I do not recall exactly when I came across Swing Kids, Justin Pearson’s first notable band, but it was definitely hearing their killer cover of Joy Division’s Warsaw. I picked up their Anthology release which does include the above cover, but also basically their entire output. I hear a great deal of Drive Like Jehu in their sound which is a great thing and of course Mr. Pearson’s shrieking atop all the chaos and fury makes for fun listen.
Management of my ‘Beetus has evolved immensely as early on it was mostly a lot of guesswork. I was advised to always keep something readily available to reverse a hypoglycemic event. If you have ever experienced a “bonk” take that feeling and multiply it by 6.3.* It can come on slowly or quickly, and there is often no rhyme or reason why. There are many factors at play, but the most basic is that your insulin level is too high and there is not enough glucose in your system. Glucose powers all body systems and when blood glucose levels drop you turn into an approximation of a drunken goofy zombie. Sounds funny, but it sucks completely. You become weak, disoriented, you lose muscle control and brain/nerve function. Anything with a high glycemic index can turn this around for you in a matter of minutes or less. Juice, candy, fruit and basically any starch can work. The trick becomes portability, access and the intensity/duration of the correction. In my senior year this meant my coaches keeping raisins on the sidelines for me. These sticky little bastards worked well, and I still like them, but their consistency gets iffy when it’s hot. Additionally, there are other options that work better in efficacy and portability.
*Made up number, but basically, it’s far worse.
PowerBar and other similar energy bars came on the scene in the late eighties and became widely adopted for their portability and fast energy supplies for all sorts of athletes. Functionally these worked well as they would correct low glucose issues rapidly and they were certainly easily portable. I however found them and their ilk to be too much on several fronts. PowerBar’s level of stickiness made raisins seem like grease by comparison. I have treated patients that literally had tooth decay secondary to routinely consuming these sticky sugar bombs. They also just had too much sugar for me and would cause my glucose to spike. That effect, while not life-threatening like hypoglycemia, is very unpleasant, causing loss of focus, hyper-irritability, and the lovely “Poly” sisters -uria and -dipsia. (lotsa pee and lotsa thirst). Avoiding a hyperglycemic spike was also critical when riding/exercising as it just makes you feel like all kindsa ass and of course performance suffers.
I have worked and experimented for years on what, when and how to consume energy supplements, food stuffs and hydration enhancements. Much of the stuff out there over the years fell short. More recently I have had the ability to track my blood glucose (BG) nonstop utilizing a continuous glucose monitor versus single event BG tests of whole blood as I had done previously. This allows me to see trends and specifically how my BG responds to food, exercise, insulin intake and mood. I’ve found that small corrections in insulin use, and energy items are far more effective than being a chazzer. Pretty much all energy thingies suggest consuming whatever their serving size may be approximately every fifteen to twenty minutes with water during exercise. Previously this was a recipe for disaster as my BG would spike like crazy and I’d feel like shit. I played around with eating smaller amounts, but then I’d run into portability issues with whatever I was using, leftovers spilling, leaking, getting covered in lint, dirt or some combo thereof. Not to mention that it was difficult to accurately track how much I needed each time. Did I leave too much, or did I take too big a bite, slurp, gulp?
Enter Rotten Ronnie’s favorite snack the humble jelly bean, specifically Jelly Belly’s Extreme** Sport Beans Cherry. Jellybeans alone pass the portability test with flying colors as they don’t melt, are small and don’t ever seem to expire. Jelly Belly Sport Beans come in perfectly sized packs that are resealable so you can just take what you want and easily save the rest for another ride. In terms of efficacy, they have 2.5 carbohydrates per bean and 10 calories. I can easily titrate how many to have and slot them in at the above golden intervals. I particularly like the cherry as they are not cloyingly sweet and are pleasant to consume even while pedaling leaving an oddly hydrating effect by stimulating your salivary glands with their tang.
**Any time I see/hear the word “Extreme” I can’t help but think of that damn “More Than Words” video. Stupid sexy Nuno! Not linking it; look it up your damn self.
Speaking of tang, I more recently added another energy yum to my cycling bandolier (in my pocket but allow me the modicum of drama). Skratch Labs Sour Cherry energy chews have joined the cherry jellybeans and go with me routinely now. They’re different from the beans in consistency (they are a gelatin-esque chew, duh.), they have more carbs at almost 4 per piece and they have a slightly slower onset of action. Their taste is not sweet, but they aren’t a puckering dry sour either. They complement the Sport Beans very well not only flavor-wise, but they seem to temper the potential for a BG spike. My only downside with them is that the foil pouch is not resealable, though there is a place to tear it open, and the pouches can be folded closed again without issue. Yes, I know, first world problems. I’ve rambled on enough about a topic that has been researched, discussed and spun ad infinitum. Naturally, I am up to babble on about it even more with anyone. In the meantime, All Hail the Jewish Elvis!