No this isn’t a race.   The name of the post signifies my experiment with  UCAN this weekend. I did two completely different rides and had two completely different results.  I found it pretty interesting to see the difference they had on my blood sugar levels.

On Saturday I drove out to Lake Geneva where some CAMBR (Chicago area mountain bikers) were doing a road trip to a place called Green Canopy Tours.  I was itching to do some real mountain biking versus riding on the road with my mountain bike.  Since the Chicago local trails and Kettle Moraine were closed again due to rain I jumped at that chance.  It was also a nice late 10am start J.  I got up at 7am (so luxurious) and ate a full breakfast with a full bolus.  I reduced my basil to 85% at about 9am.

I also planned on trying out the UCAN product on my rides.  So I put a full packet in my water bottle at 28g of carbs.  I made it a point throughout the ride to not snack on anything else which might skew the results.  I did have some skratch labs electrolyte mix in my camelback though, but there isn’t too much sugar in skratch and I wasn’t drinking it full strength so it shouldn’t really have had an impact.

I had no idea what to expect from this place or how long the laps were.  As it turns out the laps were very short but very technical.  Not in a rocky or rooty way but from a hairpin turn and steep climb way.  My adrenaline was through the roof and my heartrate was through the roof.  The pace was  very slow,  in fact I ended up doing all of 16 miles the entire day. I didn’t take any major risks and go off my bike where I thought necessary.  There was one section called the “beer mug” which was treaturious (at least in my eyes)  it had ups and downs that were pretty much vertically straight down… um no thanks.  I did try doing one but ended up in the bushes on my back with the bike upside down. In fact one of the guys actually broke his knee cap during our ride of this section. It happened right in front of me I saw his knees go down on some hard rock.  I on the other hand was left with a bunch of bruises all over my legs.  Now I remember why I quit mountain biking!! So much for summer skirts!  It was good practice on the mountain bike though.  I definitely felt tired and sore at the end of the day. ( about 3 hours).  To get an idea of what it was like you can click here:  Saturday Ride

The next day I was subbing at a computrainer class while everyone else was doing Leons triathlon at Wolf Lake – so my ride was indoors, I didn’t mind at all since the temperatures had plummeted yet again.  I did the door county half ironman course. I started off with the same breakfast and  I rode for about 3 hours consuming 2 packets of UCAN this time I didn’t decrease my basil.  There were a couple of times where I was dipping a bit low so reduced the basil a little later.  I then followed up that ride with an hour and half outdoors on the mountain bike.  It was so cold I had to put on my leg warmers and stop part way through to put an extra layer on!  Crazy stupid wet cold weather!

Here are my readings for the two days:  UCAN WEEKEND_1

As you can see by the attached charts of day 1 and day 2 the adrenaline on day 1 caused a huge spike in blood sugars where as on day 2 with 3 hours at a steady state my blood sugars remained relatively flat.  I also made it a point not to eat anything else on day 2.  I managed through the 3 hours without eating but I have to tell you when I got off that bike all I could think about was eating my MOJO bar.  Nothing ever tasted so good!

I used the pomegranate flavor mix and didn’t really mind the taste.  I never really have an aversion to any of those sort of drinks/gu’s or blocks.  I  did have a bit of an upset tummy later on that day and am not sure if it was UCAN related or not.  To put it bluntly there was a lot of gas.

I also used the post exercise recovery powder which has 33 g of carbs.  It was chocolate flavored again it was fairly tasty and went down ok.  I had one in the car on the way home on Saturday and one when I got home on Sunday.  It was hard to tell on Saturday how I reacted because my blood sugars were so f’d up but on Sunday it seemed to not have an impact which was nice.

I will try the product out again this coming weekend which will involve a 100 mile race and the Tour De Cure!  I love doing the Tour de  Cure for reasons described in my post here: Red Rider. This year Tom and I are doing the 62 miles.  It also is based out of a local craft brewery this year!  Yay!  Two Brothers here we come!  If you are feeling generous here is my donation page. Gillians Donations