Bears, bikes and bug bites, Day 7

The Parks highway from Nenana, AK to Fairbanks is a taste of home for me. But not a taste I want to relish after a cycling for a few hundred miles. The scenery is beautiful, the shoulder is great to ride on, but the hills are killers. My tired old legs (and butt)struggle with every grade, but sheer stubbornness makes me keep going.

I’ve heard it said that endurance is all mental. But whoever said that didn’t have type 1 diabetes, and my BG is staying to high. I figure the stress on my body has cortisol levels running high, and that causes high BG levels. But unfortunately it means I have to bogus, and that is always tricky when cycling all day.

Before a particularly nasty 10% climb I slot pot rest. BG at 232, but I don’t have enough carbs on board. I really need the fuel to keep going. So I slurp down a 25 gram gel, and use the carb calculator bonus feature on the pump. It says take 7 units, I opt for 2.5. An hour later at the top of the climb I’m at 139, and I like it.

The rain poured last night and thunder ripped. As I sit on the hotel room bed and look out the window, low grey clouds drift across a view of trees and hills. The friendly locals have commented on the recent heat, a scorching 75. Back home in Western Colorado, on the edge of the Great Basin, temps are in the high 90’s. We’re probably in the beginning of a few drought years. But today I layer up once more and ride another Tour de Cure. My last day of cycling Alaska. I know it will be a good one.