Last summer I did the RAGBRAI and that was a lot of fun. On that trip I met a guy who recommended a tour along the Erie Canal, so that’s my trip for this summer. It goes the week after July 4th, from Buffalo to Albany. Then I’m going to bike from Albany to Boston unsupported. I figure that’s about 4 days.
Any suggestions on things I should consider packing that I might not have thought of? I’ve done a bunch of bike trips, but I am sure that there are some good suggestions of things I haven’t thought about.
Here’s a link to the Erie canal tour, in case you’re interested (I think they are sold out this year, but they do it annually).
And here’s a link to last year’s thread on Ragbrai:
That Erie canal ride looks great! Thanks for publicizing it…I am tempted to do it in ‘24. Have fun!
Packing for it? At least double the amount of insulin, pump supplies, CGM supplies etc. that would be indicated by the duration. When I travel or trek I rely heavily on Transcend glucose gel because it works so well to treat a low and is easy to pack so i bring lots of pouches of gel maybe 2 a day? I also usually carry emergency backup supplies such as a few syringes and pen tips, some expired basal and bolus insulin pens and meter with test strips in a separate pouch in case I lose my main supplies.
The other important thing is not just a double in the amount, but a backup for the source of everything. So it is not just doubling the units of insulin, but 2 vials are better than one because vials can break or get lost. Like what @John58 said, have a backup for everything!
Also, written prescriptions are a great thing to have with you, just in case. I know they can call and transfer, but I think having it is helpful and it doesn’t take up any space.
Good advice for any situation when you’re not close to your home base. I always think what a way to ruin an awesome day or awesome experience when you may have to stop and figure out how to solve a potential huge problem.
@bostrav59 If you do Stava, let us know if we can follow you?
Somethings you might get are a couple silicone vial safes to protect the vials from breakage. Not my original idea but from Eric.
I might have told y’all this one … about my bike trip in Europe and insulin supplies? It’s more of a cautionary tale. But the big takeaway for me from that trip: do not rely on any public post office service - pay the money for DHL.
This was a 6 week trip - a sabbatical. I had thought that I could get my insulin supplies replenished by sending care packages along to places I knew I would be staying. I sent one to Denmark and one to Italy about 6 weeks before the trip. Neither package made it to me in time (although both packages made it back home after being sent back by the hotels).
So I ran out of pump supplies by the last week and fortunately had some spare pens along which lasted me through the trip.
This is probably already on your packing list, but overpatches for Dexcoms, or plasters for keeping infusion sets and FSLs in place. The adhesive will probably wear away faster than usual if you’re getting sweaty. They take up no room at all, so might as well bring a few.
If you use Skin Tac, would a few extra wipes be useful?
Hi @CarlosLuis – sorry i didn’t get back to you on this earlier - thanks for the reminder. Short answer - yes. I’m not a big Strava user at all, but my gps does upload to Strava – you probably won’t be able to follow along as I do the ride, as I won’t be uploading then. But when I’m done I’ll get all the days up into Strava. How do I connect with you (and others?).
I am back! My bike touring for the summer officially ended today. Had a great time and, surprisingly, very good weather. Only once was I biking in the rain.
From the diabetes perspective, I think I was the only T1 diabetic on the tour, out of about 700 riders. As we all know, biking is great for managing your diabetes - you dial down your insulin consumption and have to be always conscious of going low. But you can pretty much eat whatever you want. And the food on the trip was catered by local caterers in upstate NY, and was really good every day - a fair amount of italian food for dinner which was great, and pb&j for lunch, which is something I can’t eat if I’m not exercising. I loved them.
As for packing, the most important addtion was the Dexcom overpatch, which I ended up using both for the dexcom and for the tandem catheter site. My insulin use was down about 25% which gave me an extra day per vial for tandem.
This is a very relaxed trip - with about 50 miles of cycling a day on very flat country in Western NY. It’s sort of like summer camp for adults, although there are a few kids there as well. Lots of different combinations of family. And now I know more about the Erie Canal than I ever thought possible.
I finished the Erie Canal last Sunday in Albany, and then crossed the hudson to go from Saratoga Springs to Williamstown. That was a hard day with a lot of climbing. The next day was the hardest I think - had to go up over the berkshires from Williamstown to Amherst. Here’s the most useful sign I found:
It was a great adventure - but air quality wasn’t great for about 3 days in the hills - the forest fires in Canada sent smoke down and everything was very hazy with air quality alerts. Nevertheless, I persisted.
