A Look Inside

*This image is solely for informational purposes and is not intended as medical advice. It is not a substitute for the advice of a health care professional. If you have diabetes or suspect having any health problems, you should consult a qualified health care professional.

For almost four years Team Novo Nordisk kept their riders blood sugar information under wraps.  As an athlete with diabetes I can understand why this was done and totally respect their decision both professionally and personally.  Managing ones blood sugars while racing at the worlds highest level is beyond challenging, it can obviously be done but much like a snowflake each and every person living with diabetes is different.  What works for me may not work for Sam Brand and what works for Quentin won't work for a teenager in Norway.  Team Novo Nordisk is making it a point to let everyone know that the images they post of a riders blood sugar are for informational purposes only!!  To figure out what works best for you it is best to see a medical professional!!  

Thanks to Fitzalan Crowe the Team Novo Nordisk Senior Director of Public Relations I was able to learn a little more about how riders are racing with their CGM.  In an email Fitzalan said "For the readings, each rider has his own personal preference. Some use watches while some just use the regular CGM monitor that they keep in their back pocket. As of right now, they can’t read it on the powermeter or have it live fed back to the team car but both are things we are working on. SRM’s engineers  (our powermeter sponsor) are working hard to get it on the meter head for us" 

Much like myself and everyone else racing with diabetes when it comes to knowing their blood sugar the members of Team Novo Nordisk rely on the same thing.  It is the CGM receiver, a phone or a watch that lets us know exactly where our blood sugars are.  That is amazing and makes a common bond between team riders and everyone else.  However you will notice that Fitzalan said SRM engineers are trying to make it so blood sugars show up on the riders powermeters.  You better believe I have sent out an email to SRM to get more information on this, as soon as I learn more I will definitely be sharing that.

Above you will see Quentins blood sugars during todays stage.  You will notice the Dexcom racing phenomena.  I can't tell you how many times in the middle of a race I will mysteriously lose my blood sugars!!  Is it annoying yes but I also know what my blood sugar was doing up until that point.  I should have an idea of where my blood sugar was going.  As for Quentin today, I believe he did a tremendous job of staying in range and bouncing back from a blood sugar that was falling during the stage.  Again this is just me looking at the same picture as you!!  I don't know what Quentin did and I'm not going to tell you what I would do if I was in that position!! 

​Hats off to everyone at Novo Nordisk and Team Novo Nordisk for allowing us to look at what it is truly like to race with diabetes!!