My saddle really is sore!

Getting ready for the Saddle Sore 1000, I thought was going to be easy. Load your gear, fill up the motorbike and ride. It is only 18 hours of riding time, how hard can it be? I will use my CGM to make sure I don’t go low or high, but it will need to be easy to use. I can’t hang the CGM on my belt. It could vibrate off and I can’t get to it with one hand. So, the question is: How can I use my CGM on the motorbike with ease?

I need to mount it on the motorbike, where I can see it and press the buttons with my left hand. It has to be in range of the transmitter

Sifting through the web sites, I found a cell phone holder that would hold the Guardian CGM. It will keep it secure and it is easily accessible.

I order the holder. A week later it arrives in the mail and I mount it on the motorbike. I take it out for a spin and it is working great. I am still a little nervous, maybe paranoid that it will vibrate off, so I pick up some Velcro straps and secure the CGM a little more. The next test run it is working better. I can push the buttons and see my BG. Fantastic!

The very next week the battery in the transmitter for the sensor stops working. I won’t be using the CGM on the Saddle Sore 1000.

The plan for the ride is coming together with the rest of the guys. All of our wives/girlfriends said they didn’t want to ride along. There was going to be too much riding and not enough stopping for them.

The guys got together on Thursday night for a planning session. Snake bite, Hairy Saddle, Tooth Ache join me in my garage to lay out the details of our travels. Big Red doesn’t make the meeting, because he has ridden his motorbike to Arizona for vacation.

The morning of the Saddle Sore 1000, we meet at the gas station at 3:45AM. A couple of minutes before 4:00AM we fill up with gas and file the receipts for documentation. Take a picture in the early morning darkness and start the run.

Every 150 miles we stop to fill up with gas. We take a few minutes to stretch, use the bathroom and check the directions. Everyone is hungry after the first fill up, but there is nothing at the location except a gas station. We head down the road and pull over in Big Creek, NE. to have breakfast.

150 miles and we stop to fill up. Quickly back on the bikes for another two hours down the road. Our third stop to fill up and we decide to skip lunch and keep going. I check my BG at every stop. I don’t want to Hypo while on the road. Skipping lunch is dangerous, but can be done. A big breakfast helps with not having lunch. I pick up some nuts and some sour candy to keep me going, both from a BG perspective and to help keep me awake on the motorbike.

The seventh stop puts us in eastern Iowa. It seemed like it took forever, to get through Nebraska and into Iowa. At this stop everyone was tired and we all grabbed some kind of energy drink. Stretched a little more and stood around the station a little longer. On more leg of the journey and we would get gas and eat dinner. My BG is good and I grabbed a few more nuts to eat along the way.

A stop in Rock Falls, IL should give us the gas to make it all the way into Milwaukee, WI. Grab some dinner and hit the road. We managed to get turned around in Rock Falls until we discovered a GPS setting that was keeping us from getting to our destination. The GPS was set to avoid toll roads. We needed to be on a toll road to get to Milwaukee. The GPS had us winding through towns and neighbored hoods. The GPS setting was fixed and we made it back on to the highway.

Last stop for this journey is the gas station in Milwaukee, WI. Just before 2:00AM central time. Twenty one hours over all to go 1000 miles on the motorbikes. But, Hey, I get a pen and a patch and a certificate for the Saddle Sore 1000. Not to mention how sore my but is after sitting in the saddle that long.