Result: 31st

The BURN 24 Challege was held at the Dark Mountain trail system in Wilkesboro, NC over Memorial Day weekend.  Although this race is entering its 6th year, 2008 was the first year it was held on the newly  modified Dark Mountain course. The trail has been lengthened to just over 7.5 miles, and contains approx 800 feet of elevation change.  Also new this year was the addition of many technical sections including rocks gardens, and many banked and unbanked switchback turns.

My main objectives for this race was to put in a solid performance of blood glocose control, and to ride as close to 24 hours as I possibly could.  I knew given the craziness of the last couple of  months, that my fitness was not where it needed to be to rock out a strong finishing place, but after the Cohutta disaster I really needed to just record solid bg control, sticking with a fueling plan, and complete long continuous amounts of saddle time.

Also, I was racing for the first time with my new Deltec Cozmo Insulin pump.  I have been using the Cozmo for a couple of weeks now with great success!  I was really looking forward to trying its advanced features during a endurance distance race event.

With all that being said, I would have to say that this was my abolute best 24 hour race by a long shot!!  I couldn't have asked for things to go more perfectly, and I have never been so amped at the conclusion of an event!!!

I didn't sleep very well Friday night into Saturday morning, but was able to get out the door on time for the 2 hour or so drive to the race site.  Drive was simple actually, and the clouds and very lite rain that was falling in the morning, cleared up about an hour before race time.  Race start would be sunny and 78 degrees with very low humidy and almost no wind.

I arrived a little after 9:00am, and found my way to the campsite on the grassy infield on part of the race course.  A HUGE thank you to Marcy and Steve for arranging and allowing me to set my stuff up with their teams.  It was GREAT to see friendly faces who had "my back" if needed.  Thanks so much!!!!

The basecamp was located about 40 feet from where the single track part of the race course dumped into the infield.  Perfect location.  I dropped a small collection of tools and spare parts, a cooler with drinks, a cooler with food (including "emergency supplies"), and a chair at this location.  I had prepared and prelabeled my food supply to allow for easy manipulation during the race.  I had on hand PB&J sandwhiches (cut in half), PowerBar Performance Bars, Nutella, Pop-Tarts, Bananas, Raisins, and a few other items.

My plan was to consume about 200 cals at the end of each lap (via half a BP&J sandwhich, PowerBar, PopTart, etc), and 1 PowerBar Gel at the lap half way checkpoint.  Along with that I carried one water bottle, which I filled at each lap.  I planned on riding in the upper end of my T1, which should give me pretty balanced substrate utilization.  This worked out unbelievably PERFECT for the entire 24 hours!

I lowered my basal rate on the Cozmo pump to a 55% reduction at 11:02, which was 1 hour before the LeMans style race start.   I also modified the target blood sugar in the Deltec Cozmo pump to 150 from the regular 110.  Slightly higher target for the race will cause no harm, and will help to pad the window a little bit.  I finished the Trek Top Fuel preperation, and took the bike to the post run "transition area".  On the way back, I noticed that Santa Cruz Syndicate pro team member Mark Hendershot was getting ready in his pit as well.  He is one of my favorite pro endurance racers, as well as being quite the mountain biking character.  I knew that this was going to be an amazing event.

I had been "grazing" during the morning to be sure I wouldn't start the race hungry and unfueled.  During this time I was very cautios about bolusing, and, as a result, my BG was a little high 30 minutes before race start.  I did bolus slightly to correct (about 1/2 normal).  This little high actually worked out ok, as I usually get a little low before race start due to nerves.  Since I was high, I didn't need to follow my normal extra basal lowering at this time.

While lined up with the other riders 2 minutes before race start, I decieded to lower my basal rate another 5%.  This put me at a 60% reduction.  For me, my most frequent place to drop is in the first 2 hours (nerves and too quick of a pace at start), so I figured it would be ok.

First lap was CRAZY!  Took my time on the run (um, this race is 24 hours long after all), and I got tied into a little slower traffic for the first 2/3 of the first lap.  This was cool as I just settled into a nice pace in a perfect heart rate range.  I consumed my first PowerBar Gel at the halfway point as planned, and consumed the 16oz of water in my bottle during the first lap.

First BG test at end of lap 1 was at 13:38.  I was at 79.  I figured I could make another small adjustment to my basal rate, and I dropped it another 5% to a 65% reduction.  Refilled my waterbottle, drank about 4oz of regular soda, and consumed a Pop Tart.  Headed out for lap 2.

I stayed on this same type of routine for the next 3 laps.  Blood glucose readings at the end of each of the next laps where 78, 104, and 98.

It was about 17:30 as I began rolling out for lap 5, so I was 5.5 hours in.  I stayed with the regular plan of dropping my basal at this point.  I lowered it another 5% for a total reduction of 70%.  I stayed on the consistant fueling plan per lap for the next 3 laps.  I also took the time to mount my lights at this point, since you never know.  One lap with the lights not needed is better than finishing a lap in the dark.

BG readings after each of the these laps where 110, 112, and 84.  It couldn't be more pefect.

At the end of lap 6 I was about 12 hours in.  I was feeling a little hungry, so I took some time and ate a little extra.  Took some time eating and resting with my feet up. I made no changes to my basal rate during this period.  I headed back out for a slighly slower lap 7, and was running a 162 at the completion of that lap.

Only real incident occurred during lap 8.  I was finishing up that lap about 02:20 on the super quick (and very fun!) downhill section that dumps into the infield.  I was coming up to the a switch back turn and clipped my handlebar on a tree on the outside.  It flipped me off the trail to the right, and down an approx 20 slope with lots of brush.  While sliding thru the bushes and trees I caught the tubing from the inusling pump on something, and the force pulled the infusion set out.  It took me a couple of minutes to get my "stuff" together before heading on at a much more careful pace.  Luckily I only had a small distance to go before arriving back at base camp.

This is where I got off pace for about 2 hours or so in both my riding times and my blood glucose levels.  I did take some time to eat and refill the water bottle before I went back to the truck and looked for the spare Cleo 90 infusion set I brought with me.  I tested at 02:49 at a 304.  This was not completely unexpected, as I had lost insulin update, I had eaten more food than was on my normal plan about 90 minutes ago, and my pace on that last lap had slowed quite a bit.  Also, I normally start to go high after stopping for more than 30 minutes post endurance exercise.  Not sure why exactly, but the highs that followed where not completely unexpected.  Just needed to get back on track and back out.

Once I got the new infusion set in and hooked up, I set my basal rate back to 100% of normal, and bolused for the 304.  It wasn't a full bolus for that amount as I didn't want to risk going low, but I didn't want to ride out with it that high either.  Figured I would wait about 45-60 minutes and see how it leveled out.

About an hour later (near 04:09) I was still high at a 327.  Did another bolus, but risked a little more insuling this time.  Again, sit and wait a bit for it to correct.

Around 05:15 I could feel myself feeling a little bit better, so I put on a new jersey and some warmer gear.  I set my basal rate to a 55% reduction, and tested again. I was down to a 276.  Ok, can't wait any longer, so ate a quick snack, bolused again at a lower than normal corrective rate, and headed out for the next lap at 05:30.

About 15 minutes into the lap, I decieded to raise my basal rate by 5% to a 50% reduction.  I also planned on bypassing my normal half lap PowerBar Gel intake.  This lap took a little while to complete as I was trying to get the legs moving again after a long period of hanging out.

Finished up this lap a couple minutes before 07:00.  BG was reading at a 70.  Jumped right back into the normal eating schedule and headed out to bang out the rest of the laps.

During the early morning hours the race announcer started to mention that I was a Type 1 diabetic and was racing as a solo.  At the completion of each lap he would say something about it, and the race spectators started to shout some encouragement as well.  I felt really good about being recognized and it definetly had me starting to push the pace a little bit harder to close out the race. 

The next two laps where great at a 84 and 75.  I completed my last lap at 11:30 at the 75.

PERFECT!! PERFECT!! PERFECT!! PERFECT!!

I raised my basal rate back to a normal rate at 12:00 on the money.

A couple of people came up to me after I completed and told me that they or someone they know has diabetes as well.  They asked about the Type1Rider oranization, the pump, and any difficulties I might have had riding for that many hours.  This made me feel fantastic, as awareness and education are key components of the Type1Rider organization.  

In total I did 12 laps which was about 90 miles and 10K feet of elevation change.  Save for the incident at 02:20 my blood glucose levels at the end of each lap where 79, 78, 104, 98, 110, 112, 84, 162, 70, 84, and 75.  For me it was like being non-diabetic for almost 22 hours.  :)

Although my finishing performance could have been better, I could not have been happier and more proud of my accomplishment of steady level blood glocose control.  I learned SO SO much, and have a repeatable series of steps to make me successful at future endurance races.

Not lost on me is that the Burn 24 Challenge was the my first experience at 24 hour racing when I did a duo back in 2004 with Kirsten.  Seemed fitting that I feel like I turned the page to a new chapter in my ability to race effectively as a diabetic at the same event.