Israel National Masters Championships 2013

The weekend was the open championships for masters level cyclists.  I had set my sights on this event since March and I was really looking forward to competing on this level.  The winner in each category would receive a national masters jersey and entry to the upcoming Maccabi games.  I knew I wasn't going to be getting a podium.  I had raced exactly once, fortunately on exactly the same course.  The difference in the championship race was it was an extra 2 laps (30Km) more than 100Km in all.  I have ridden this distance before but perhaps not enough and not under race conditions. My goal was just do better than last time.  Last time I was only able to stay with the peloton for 1 lap, this time if not for the whole race at least for more than before.

more pictures here

My wife left me a message to see in the morning before the race.

sunrise at the start

The evening before Alon and I had our pasta dinner together.  This time he cooked and I brought desert.  Techina cup cakes with chocolate ganache and smoked salt, made by my wife.  We talked about the race and about what I am up to with TeamBG, ate plenty of pasta and drank lots of water.  I went home and got my stuff ready for the next day.  Water bottles filled, sandwiches made, chain oiled, bag packed with shoes, helmet, energy gels and everything else that I needed.

Alon brought coffee for the team

Making his coffee run so every can start the day right

The following morning my alarm goes off at around 415am.  I jump out of bed and start to get read.  I check my blood sugar.  It was a little high (not surprising after all that pasta the night before), see below for specific details.  I took some insulin and started eating my sandwiches.  I ate two on the drive as I wanted to store as much energy as possible for the long race.We arrived nice and early at the car park, got ready and went to meet the rest of the team at the water tent.  Alon Yotam and I started our warm up.  We had a few runs at the finishing hill and made our way back to the tent.  Carmi wished us all good luck and we all made our way to our respective start lines.  Alon, Yotam, Omer and I lined up together close to the front as the four representatives of X-Team in the 30-40 category.  I check my blood sugar a final time, at 312 mg/dl it was a lot higher than I would have liked but I had no choice.

Last minute tactics

getting the water tent ready

The starting beeps came and we were off.  The pace was around 35kmph and after the nervousness of the peloton died down a bit I started to relax.  My heart rate was higher than I would have liked but not sky high like the last time I raced.  As the race went on I felt comfortable moving around peloton, its not so easy and you have to fight for position.  Thankfully everyone was alert and there were no incidents, though one or two close calls, another reason to stay up near the front.  After a lap and half I was feeling really happy with myself, I had not been dropped from the group.  Time for some food, I reached for my preopened cliff bar.  First mistake of the race.  I took a big bite and I realised there was only a bit more left.  So I stuffed it in my mouth.  Ooops too much.  My mouth was really full.  I was finding it hard to breathe and I had so much in there I that I couldn't chew or swallow.  It took me me far to long to get down and sent my heart rate sky high, right gels from now on.

lining up on the start

Carmi setting off

Alon saw that I was doing ok and asked me to keep and eye on one of the danger men, Ariel.  He was easy to watch, the only one in an FC Barcelona cycling jersey.  I stuck to his wheel and watched for his moves as best I could.  I was able to take water on the go without getting dropped from the peloton.  Everything was great until it wasn't.  At the end of the 4 or 7 laps some guys made a break for it and the group sped up going up the steepest part of the towards the finish line.  I just couldn't hold on, after 60Km at race speed I was done.  I just couldn't hold the pace.  Yotam, one of my team mates, was having the same difficulty.  We rode together for a lap and a half unable to catch the peloton until I made my second mistake.  I had picked up Yotam's bottle the last time round the water tent.  I hit a bump and the bottle fell out.  I felt guilty as I was riding with the guy at the time and turned round to get it.  As I turned round I saw the Masters Pro peloton baring down on my like a freight train.  I decided to forget about the bottle and get moving again.  By this time Yotam was well ahead of me and by the end of the penultimate lap I was almost spent.  I finished up the race coming in 24th out of 30 around 20 minutes behind the leaders.

And we're off.

finishing a lap in the peloton

Yotam and I distanced from the pack

Alon in the break

Alon coming across the finish line

Finishing strong

Alon came second from a break.  Vered came second in the 30+ women, Avi came second in the 60+ men, and Orit came second in the 50+ women.  Ilan made the top ten in the 40+.  Most inspiring of all was Henry who at 80 years old was able to represent our team.  At the presentation he was presented with the winners Jersey for the 80+ category.  Carmi helped him up to the podium and he spoke a few words, thanking us all for being his extended family.

30 - 40 winners podium

All in all I had a good race.  I held the peloton for longer than last time, I collected water without getting dropped, and for the first half of the race I was riding really comfortably in with the front runners.  Next year I will be racing the the full season and hopefully after a busy off season I hope to smash it.

Post race festivities

Blood sugars and food as best as I can remember it.
2222 - 230
0428 - 215 4u insulin 80g sandwiches coffee
0615 - 257 2u insulin
0650 - 306
0703 - 312
cliff bar after 1.5 laps
gel at 2.5 laps
gel at 4 laps
gel at 5.5 laps
1028 - 43  this was a bad test, my hands were a little wet with sweat so messed up the reading
1028 - 198
1044 - 202 bowl of pasta and half a bottle of beer. no insulin
1122 - 252
1235 - 215
1331 - 204
1604 - 190 various food 7u insulin
1704 - 207
2102 - 266 schnitzel and mash potato 6u insulin
2348 - 191
0034 - 259
0747 - 142

Over all not a major success blood sugar wise.  I am conservative though because for such a long race where I have no opportunity to test along the way I do not want risk going low or running out of energy.  Should have had more insulin the night before with the pasta and more first thing in the morning, maybe 7u.  That way the insulin is mostly gone from my system midway through the race which will allow my body to break down glycogen and fat better.  When I first started and I was not getting feeding and insulin correct at all after a long ride I could be as high as 400, here finishing at around 200 wasn't so bad.  I was hesitant to give myself too much insulin in the afternoon as I was worried that the after burn would send me very low.

My upcoming events

The Israeli National Championship Masters (Amateur) - June 22nd
Same route as the Negba race but this time 100KM so thats 7 laps.

The mHealth Tour stage 4 as part of TeamBG  - September 16-19th
you can follow all my training on Strava

Grand Fondo Jerusalem - 11th October - 150KM

Bishvil HaShanti - October 26th
180km from the Tel Aviv Shanti House to the Desert Shanti house.  Shanti house is an organisation that takes children who have no where else to go and gives them a home and opportunities for a life they might not have had.  They do great work and I am happy to be supporting them.

The Gran Fondo Dead Sea Diabetes Challenge - December 13th
There will be two starts for regular riders 155KM and 100KM (these are approximate).  From the second start it will be timed.  I want to put to get a big group of riders to ride in support of TeamBG to publicize what we do on a national and international level.  We are thinking of opening up the first section to people who what to come and support this effort but do not feel that they can make the longer distances.  As this first section is not timed I am hoping to encourage many people to wear the jersey and cycle with us in a group.
I would like to extend an invitation to anyone currently involved in TeamBG or connected to Diabetes in any way to come join in and support our organisation.  I can help with arrangements and navigating the Hebrew pages if needed.

http://www.teambloodglucose.com/TeamBG/Home.html

Return to the upper Galilee

We had friends visiting from Canada and they invited us to come away with them for the weekend.  I wasn't ecstatic about the idea of going away for the weekend a week before the national championships.  But I trained hard during the week and took my bike with the intention of getting up early and putting in some miles.  We left Tel Aviv late morning and headed up the coast.  We met up with our friends in Akko (Acre) and had lunch at one of my favourite restaurants, Uri Buri.  We continued up north to the boarder where we tried to get to the caves at Rosh Hanikra.  Unfortunately they were already closed for the day so we continued on to Maarat Keshset.

View from Rosh Hanikra border crossing south towards Akko

View east, the hills of Galilee in the distance

At the border crossing

From there we went to the small village where we were to be staying the night.  It was a beautiful drive the the Upper Galilee, past villages of all denominations: Jewish, Christian, Muslim and Druze.  Through wine country, past vineyard after vineyard, some wineries and many graves of Rabbis from the Talmudic period.  You could almost smell the history.  We past the famous Mt Meron site of the grave of the mystical Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai and the town of Sefad, home to the Kabbalists of the 16th century.  The village we were staying in was in the middle of a forest on the side of a hill looking north over the Galilee and the Golan heights.

View west standing on top of Maarat Keshet

As we arrived and were being shown around by the owner it came up that I was planning a bike ride.

"I know someone here that likes to ride too"

"OK" I responded

"But he gets up really early to do it"

"That's fine by me, its what I was going to do anyway"

10 minutes later he comes back with Barak and introduces us.  Barak and I chatted for a couple of minutes and just like that it was decided that I was going to ride with him, and he would pick me up in the morning at 6.  Later that evening he called to make sure I was still up for it and to confirm the time.  Avraham the owner of the B & B where we stayed directed us to a restaurant in the Maronite Christian town of Jish.  We had a simple dinner of salads, pita bread, humous and shishkebabs.  We also witnessed a Druze wedding party which was explained to us by our waiter.

Team members refueling before attempting the short climb

The following morning I woke up with plenty of time to get ready, have a coffee and a sandwich before leaving.  Barak picked me up on time and we drove up the hill to the town of Biriya.  From there we rode down to Rosh Pina where we met up with the rest of his team.  They are called Bishvil Haofaniam BeGalil - "for galilee cycles".  Its a play on words that does not translate well.  I was introduced to the trainer a double winner of the national elite championship, Ido Sirkin.  He was warm and welcoming and was happy to hear that I was from X-Team and introduced me to the group.  Ido discussed the route and we took off together set off climbing a long climb which was not too steep.  I was feeling ok, climbing well, heart rate not too high.  As the climb wore on and my hear rate started climbing I felt unable to keep the pace.  A few others had dropped back before me so I was confident that I wasn't going to be the last one up the climb.  A short while later and I was on my own.  I saw ahead two others who had dropped back and when the hill flattened out for a short while I was able to catch them.  The three of us pretty much stuck together for the next part which were some flat and shallow uphills punctuated by some short punchy climbs.

Har Meron

We followed the route back the way we had come in the car the previous day.  The weather was sunny and warm but not too hot and not wind.  Perfect cycling conditions.  The roads were quiet and mostly in good condition.  When we arrived at Sasa I stopped to check my blood sugar, 141mg/dl not too bad but time for a gel.  One of my companions, Vered, asked me if I was diabetic, and what to do if there was an emergency.  I told her to call an ambulance if I fainted, but it has never happened so not worry about it.  We continued on to Matat where we met the others who were doing circuits.  The circuit was 1KM climb up Har Adir.  Steep does not described this hill, brutal would be better, averaging 10% and in parts well over 20% there was nothing to do but put the bike in the lowest gear and grind your way up.  After the climb it was a 5KM time trial back to the previous junction, then return and do it all again.  I did this once.  Barak and the 8 or so other tough guys did it 3 times.

The bottom of the Har Adir climb

Coming back round for another go

While the stronger guys were on their last set a few of us started to make our way back.  The way back was much easier.  We formed a nice group and took it easy.  I was feeling good and my blood sugar was fine.  As I was heading back to the car with Barak I had to let the group go and wait for Barak who wasn't far behind.  He was ahead of the rest of his group with one other guy.  We then climbed back up to wear we left the car.  This was another short but very steep climb.  Not the easiest thing after almost 90KM of riding.  I finished strong and we headed back to where I was staying.

Barak catching up with me

I was back by about 11am, just in time to catch the end of breakfast.  My blood sugar was under control and I was feeling really good.  I had a great time riding with Bishvil Haofanaim BeGalil and they invited me back next time I am in the north.  I look forward to seeing them at the National Championships this weekend and hopefully I will ride with them again in the future.  Thank you Barak and Ido for and to the whole team who were wonderful to ride with and very welcoming.

Here are my  blood sugars (all readings in mg/dl)

2304 - 243
0548 - 190 2 units insulin and a sandwich (30g carbs)
0510 - 201 granola bar (15g carbs)
0630 - start riding to meet group, mainly downhill
0654 - 283 beginning of bike ride
0700 - granola bar while riding
0824 - 141 powerbar gel (27g carbs)
0857 - 186 1/3 of sandwich (10g)
0900 - short all out hill climb
0943 - 212 1/3 of sandwich
1010 - 250 waiting for Barak
1025 - final tough hill climb
1112 - 145 6 units insulin and breakfast
1202 - 137
1243 - 122
1417 - 127

On the whole I need to reduce the amount of times I spike above 200.  I think it affects my performance as well as the potential long term hazards.  I am currently on 24 units of long term at night.  I think reducing the long term insulin and increasing the short term insulin slightly might work.  I tend to keep myself too high for fear of having low blood sugar, but I would rather hold myself in the 150 - 190 range than spike up to 250.

TeamBloodGlucose Part 2 - What's next after the kickoff event?

Last post I wrote about my participation in the mHealth tour as a part of the newly formed TeamBloodGlucose.  These are my plans for afterwards, though I have already set these plans in action.

Once the tour is over the participants from TeamBG, 10 countries in all, will go back to their home countries and work to create events there.  I have started work already.  My first event here in Israel will be to take part as a team, in TeamBG colours, in the Gran Fondo on December 13th.  I have invited members of TeamBG to come over and join in, but my main goal is to get some local people with diabetes to ride with us on the event.  It will be called The Gran Fondo Dead Sea Diabetes Challenge.  The challenge is to for a team of people with diabetes to ride the full Gran Fondo, which will be held near the Dead Sea in December, and it is a call to people with diabetes that want to get fit, get their diabetes under control and ride a serious and long bike ride.  This is not something you can just turn up on the day and ride.  You have to train for it.  This is why I my work starts now.  I really hope that I can encourage some people that would have normally thought that this was out of reach to take part.  The larger the group of TeamBG representatives that we have the bigger noise we will make - meaning more publicity.  This is about local, and possibly international, publicity.  Part of this will mean having our own support car, that will follow the bulk of the group of riders, making sure that they are OK, have plenty of food and water, spare wheels and inner tubes as well as some technical support.  There are food stops along the way and in addition to the food and water available for everyone I hope to have a little extra support for people with diabetes, for example spare blood glucose testers.

From here I hope that the organisation will become well enough established that we can have our own events as well as participate in national and international races and sportives.  The plan is to create an event some time in spring 2014, close enough to the Gran Fondo, December 2013, that we can ride the wave of publicity but not in the middle of winter and to give enough time to plan.  The event will be a day of participation in sport for people with diabetes, families of those with diabetes, and people who are at risk of diabetes.  I plan to include events at different levels, not just cycling but other things as well.  With medical professionals like dietitians and sports consultants who can help people chose a sport that works for them and give advice on how to use that sport to effectively improve the diabetic control.  Finally I hope that there will be enough high level people that we could have a main event style race, to show people what can be achieved, that there is no reason that diabetes should hold anyone back from anything, certainly not sport.

If you are reading this and are interested in the work that I am doing or in joining me on the challenge or future events, please contact me through this blog or Twitter as soon as possible.   I cannot do this alone.  I have made a start.  I am in constant contact with the organizer of the Gran Fondo, who is really hoping we can make this into something big.  I have spoken to another diabetic cyclist who works for a medical devices company here in Israel, and I have started negotiations with another diabetic device company about sponsorship.

If you know of anyone that might be interested or that you think I should speak to let me know.  Currently I am looking for diabetic cyclists, team and personal sponsors and donors, and in the future people with diabetes who want to get more involved in sport, old bikes (well I don't want them yet, but if you have one hang on to it for a bit for me please) and people that want to volunteer to help organize future events.

Finally regarding sponsorship.  If you are a company, or know of one,  that makes equipment or apps for people with diabetes and are interested on being well advertised by our events and participants, additionally we will have the opportunity to use the product and show it off, then please let me know.  If you are involved in a company that has nothing to do with diabetes but would still like that association, publicity and knowledge that you are helping with a worthy cause that affects more than 300 million people worldwide, we are also interested in sponsorship.  What we are trying to do will require some funding and if you can donate we would greatly appreciate it.  If you would like to donate to TeamBG or sponsor me personally on my up coming ride across the Pyrenees then please go to the the TeamBG website and click on the donate button.  Half the money you donate will go towards funding my entry into the ride and the other half will go directly to the TeamBG pot.  If you do donate you will be contacted asking if you are donating on someone's behalf.

Thanks for your support, please get in touch and let me know what you think

Live long and stay healthy.

Team Blood Glucose Part 1 - the mHealth tour

Lately when people ask me what I do, unless they specify '...for a living', I answer something along the lines of a lot of cycling and some diabetes projects.  I am not what I do for a living.  Sure its a big part of my life, and I do enjoy writing programs and playing with data.  Hey, I even did a PhD in the my field of work, so its certainly no small thing.  Outside of my work life, I cycle 200km a week, I blog about diabetes and cycling and I am involved in the DOC (Diabetes Online Community) through twitter.

It is through twitter that I have met some great people.  Many of them are super motivated to do something positive for the world of diabetes.  Others are looking for emotional and practical support from the many other people out there on on social networks that are willing to help (One of the reasons I started this blog was to share my experiences dealing with diabetes so other people could learn from them).

The sense of community among people with diabetes is incredible.  I regularly get messaged by twitter friends asking for advice, or just comparing notes on how are blood sugars are at that moment.

All those things have come together as one big project for me that contains a number of smaller and larger ones.  Coincidentally I got involved with the DOC and twitter just a week before World Diabetes Day.  It was a great day.  I chatted to lots of people, I participated in tweetchats on a variety of topics, and I met many other people with people with Diabetes.

One of the people I met through Twitter, Paul, has been encouraging and enthusiastic from the get go.  He had been diagnosed less than a year ago, in his 40s, with type 1 diabetes.  Since then he has been determined to make a difference in the world of diabetes. 

Paul suggested that I join the mHealth tour, a ride over two weeks from Brussels to Barcelona.  He recommended that we do it as part of a new venture that he was working on.  That venture is TeamBloodGlucose, which Pauls has founded as a not for profit organisation.  He has sought out grants and sponsorship and has arranged for TeamBloodGlucose to be the official patient team for the mHealth tour.  I am looking forward to being a part of this venture and especially to ride for 3 days across the Pyrenees and into Barcelona.

The goal of the tour is to showcase medical technology for diabetes care, to aid research on the effects of sport on diabetes, to raise awareness about diabetes and to encourage participation of people with diabetes in sport.  This final goal is inline with TeamBloodGlucose's mission.  We as an organization wish to do exactly that, to encourage participation in sport for the benefit of diabetic care.  I am doing almost 600KM in 3 days with around 8000m of climbing.  This will be the hardest, longest and highest I have ever been on my bike.  Not only is it a challenge for me to get fit and strong enough to complete this event but managing my diabetes both in training and on the ride itself is no small feat.

Doing this as a team will allow us to give each other encouragement as well has having the support we need. It will also show others that this kind of thing is in reach.  When I was first diagnosed I wondered if I was going to be able to be able to continue being active and involved in sports.  But you do not need to look very far to find people who have competed at the highest level despite having diabetes.  Our participation in this event says to people, "Hey, its not just superstar athletes with diabetes that can do serious sport, but anyone"

If you are reading this and are interested in the work that I am doing or in joining me on this tour or future rides, please contact me through this blog or Twitter as soon as possible.  If you know of anyone that might be interested or that you think I should speak to let me know.  Currently I am looking for diabetic cyclists, team and personal sponsors and donors, and in the future people with diabetes who want to get more involved in sport, old bikes (well I don't want them yet, but if you have one hang on to it for a bit for me please) and people that want to volunteer to help organize future events.

Finally regarding sponsorship.  If you are a company, or know of one,  that makes equipment or apps for people with diabetes and are interested on being well advertised by our events and participants, additionally we will have the opportunity to use the product and show it off, then please let me know.  If you are involved in a company that has nothing to do with diabetes but would still like that association, publicity and knowledge that you are helping with a worthy cause that affects more than 300 million people worldwide, we are also interested in sponsorship.  What we are trying to do will require some funding and if you can donate we would greatly appreciate it.  If you would like to donate or sponsor me personally on my up coming ride across the Pyrenees then please go to the the TeamBG website and click on the donate button.  Half the money you donate will go towards funding my entry into the ride and the other half will go directly to the TeamBG pot.  If you do donate you will be contacted asking if you are donating on someone's behalf.

Thanks for your support, please get in touch and let me know what you think

Live long and stay healthy.

Race Day - Negba

This past weekend I had my first race.  Some of the guys from the group have raced before, one or two race regularly.  For me this was going to be a learning experience, as I am hoping to race more in the future.  The next race I plan to go to is the National Amateur championships.  So hopefully everything learned from this race would go towards a better performance at the Nationals.  The race itself for my category consisted of 5 laps of a 15KM course, totaling 75KM, around Kibbutz Negba. For maps and course profile you can see how it looked on strava.

The team before heading to the start line

The team had done some training on the course a couple of weeks earlier so I was familiar with the route.  Mostly it was flat, however there were two steep rises.  They were not major climbs however they would present a challenge staying with the peloton.  I was not going to with this race.  I did set myself some goals.

Negba Kibbutz

• Stay with the peloton as long as possible.
• Get comfortable riding in a big peloton
• If I could help out my teammate who had a chance of winning.
• Take water while racing
• Complete the race in a reasonable time
• Eat enough before and during the race that I finish with good numbers.
• Have fun

The tl;dr version is that I learned a lot.  Staying in the peleton is hard work.  If you miss the back you will not get back on.  At the end of the first lap I slowed too much to get water.  I could not get back to the peloton and I was left riding out 4 laps at a much slower pace.  I was not able to be much help to Alon, though he still managed to claim second place.  I got much better at taking water while moving quickly on later laps.  I felt that my time for finishing 75KM was pretty good. According to my Strava data I held 225 watts for 2 and a quarter hours, which I think is damn impressive.  I managed to get my eating right and didn't finish the race with blood glucose too high or too low (massive win for me).  I had a lot of fun.

Pictures from the race here.

For those who want more detail read on.

The night before the race Alon came over for dinner.  I had lowered my long term insulin to 22units and I took only 7 units of short term insulin for dinner.  We discussed tactics a little but mainly ate huge amounts of pasta.  A big worry for me usually because so much carbohydrate late in the evening makes me sleepy.  Considering I had to get up early (4:45am) the following morning feeling sleepy early on in the evening was not likely to be a problem.  After dinner I got my bike and kit ready for an early start in the morning.  I checked my sugar before bed and it was in 74mg/dl.  I started second guessing the amount of insulin I took.  I finished everything I had to do and checked once more - 92.  Ok it was heading in the right direction.  I decided to risk it and went to bed.

I woke up at a time that I have previously gone to bed on a Friday night.  Dressed, coffee, blood test 234, a bit higher than I would have liked.  5 units of insulin, to bring myself down and to cover the sandwich that I ate on the way there.

Alon was already attaching his bike to the rack when I got downstairs.  We finished loading up the car and got on our way.  Thankfully the roads were clear and we got to the car park at 5:55.  There were many people there already and a good contingent from our team.  I walked Leehee to the water tent that we had set up on the hill.  Aviv was organizing things, I introduced them and left them too it while I while I started to warm up.

We took a group photo and made our way to the start.  I realised as I was doing my final BG test and grabbing a snack that I still had my glucagon kit on me.  I quickly went to find our support car that would be following my group around, unsuccessfully, and just made it back in time for the start.  Final check before the start, 229, I stuff half an energy bar in to my mouth and waited with my teammates.  We got moving at a decent pace.  Generally I was feeling fine, a little anxious about being in a large peloton but I was up for it and I felt like I could hang with the pace.  I was getting used to the movement of the group and trying to get into a rhythm.  But my legs weren't feeling nearly as relaxed as I wanted.  My glutes and hamstrings were really tight and worse my heart rate was at 171bpm.  This was really bizarre because at this level I should have been struggling, but I felt ok and I was getting the power out of my legs.

some of the elite racers coming past the water tent.

The first lap was at quite a pace and I was happy that I stuck with the peloton.  I was pretty happy that considering my high heart rate which was starting to settle down and my tight legs I was still able to ride in the pack.  It was all a bit nervous, certainly that's how I felt and I figured others were this way as well.  There was a lot of jostling for position, I was finding myself near the front and within a few moments near the back.  I worked myself into the middle but I was on the right hand side coming towards the end of the lap where the team water point was.  I couldn't find away through so I let myself go back to the pack and round to the right hand side of the road to get water.  I collected the water from Aviv at pace but too slow to stay on the back of the pack, the next 50 meters continued to rise and I had to put in a big dig to catch them.  Unfortunately I could not.  The pack were getting away from me and I was fast approaching my limit. 

dropping off a bottle 

I chased hard, giving it everything.  I took a corner too wide and almost crashed out, thinking if I could just make it up the next rise I could go all out on the descent and catch up.  I could see them pulling away with every peddle stroke and towards the end of the down hill they were out of site and I knew I had no chance.  I saw some individuals in front of me and as I got closer I saw some green shirts.  They were members of X-Team from the 40+ and 50+ starts.  I caught and passed them and Shai came back up to my wheel and we decided to work together for the rest of the race.

I was now at a much more comfortable pace, switching between leading, on the flat and downhill, and following on the rises.  My heart rate had come down into the mid 160s and my legs were loosening up.  I could now think about feeding.  I was worried that my sugar might be dropping after the second lap and I had a gel and some energy chews.  I was trying to eat something small but regularly.  Alternating between energy gels, bars, dates and chews.  I mistakenly did not record exactly what I ate but made sure to eat something small when I could.  I drank at least a bottle a lap.  My first two bottles had electrolyte and the rest were just water.

As the race went on we got passed by the Elite riders and they flew passed us at quite a pace.  The last lap I was feeling really good.  I was glad when it start to rain briefly that we weren't in a big group.  The roads were very slippery and it caused many accidents around the course.  We came up to a big group from X-Team, they were not riding so quickly so Shai and I went past them.  I rode up the rise following the turn off the main road, able to stand up on my peddles and power up the hill.  I took the down hill carefully and when I saw that I was riding away from Shai I slowed up and let him come to my wheel.  Eventually though he couldn't hold my pace and I rode away.  Finally on the last hill, I pushed myself.  I stood up on the peddles and gave it what I could.

Final lap, final hill.

I have never been so motivated coming passed my wife and the rest of the X-Team crew in the water tent loudly cheering me on giving me the power to speed up the final rise and on to the finish.  I was about 15 minutes behind the peloton.  Not as good as I was hoping but still happy that I finished and certainly good that I did not get lapped.

pushing hard to finish strong

The most encouraging part was that I finished the race with a blood glucose of 146mg/dl.  This is better than I had expected.  Not too high or too low.  I had something to eat to keep my sugars from dropping and went to the awards ceremony.  Out team did quite well.  Alon came second in our race, the 30-39 category.  We also got second in mens 60+, womens 30-39, and second and third in women's 50+.

Alon in second place 30+

Avi in second place 60+

Vered in second place womens 30+

Following the ceremony the team got together and had brunch.  It was a great day, everyone had a good time.  There were a couple of scrapes but we all survived the race well.

Team brunch

I look forward to the next one.