Diabetes Game and 22hrs of flying

Howdy from Kaushiung, Taiwan,

How is everyone doing? I am sitting in the hotel in Taiwan now, trying to stay awake, and make it to dinner which starts here soon. The past week has been good, with some solid rest in AZ, and a little bit of good training. I got my new Shimano Dura Ace shoes, with cleat set up, and Orthodox from Bill Peterson. New set up is feeling good, and I got Jason from CTS to set up my bike position. I was way off at Cali, and hopefully way better now...
Anyhow, a little while back I went to 2x Lantus so I could prep for the stage race, as well as the flight. Typically with any 20+ hour travel day, sitting, eating, sitting, and sitting, blood sugars go through the roof. Not this time baby. I did a little bit extra Lantus, 10u am, 10u pm and then had great bs's bordering on the lower side for the entire trip. We arrived late last night, and I had a beer with Ken, and Joe, catching up on their 2 week trip in Singapore. Fun times.

Today, I backed off the basal two 8u Lantus. Woke up at 4;45-5am, cruised down to the lobby played on the computer, and then ate some breakfast, and then more breakfast waiting for the boys to come down. Here is a bit of culture difference. I was sitting at the table of 4, by myself, in a 90% empty restaurant, when all of the sudden, this guy sits down next to me. A million chairs to pick from, and right down beside me. He was probably 50 yrs old, didn't speak a word of English, and just went about eating food without saying a word.

The boyz finally made it down, and we ate, chatted, and planned for the day. Aldo, Ken, Jesse, Joe, and I set out from our hotel by the river (take note of the by the river part) in the pouring rain for a 2 hour ride. We navigated through stoplights for what seemed life an eternity when we finally got to open roads where we could all do our openers (opener=intervals to get the legs ready for tomorrow- typically short, and very hard.) At 1:08 of ride time, we turn around.
Then we make a turn here, and another there, and all of the sudden, no idea where we are going. Here is where the problem lies, is that we are in a foreign land, and do not speak a word of Taiwanese. Asking people "where is the river" was next to impossible. Joe and Ken split one way, and Jesse, Aldo, and I another. We made it to Starbucks and got one set of directions, and then somewhere else for others, until finally at the 3hour mark made it back to the hotel. Joe and Ken came in about 45 minutes later. A bit long of a ride in advance of a 7 day stage race, but the legs are definitely open now.
Tonight I will do 8u Lantus, and tomorrow, probably 8u again. This should have me primed and ready for the crit tomorrow. It is a short 60kms, and then off in the bus to our next hotel. I am pretty excited that I now only have 8 more nights of suitcase life, and I get to go back to the Atl, and live in my house again, albeit for only 3 nights....

Anyhow, I believe I have rambled on long enough. Please forgive my lack of direction, as I am half asleep, and a bit jet lagged.

More race updates to come, and I will try to keep track of the changes for you.
Have a great night/day.
Ciao

Phil
http://twitter.com/PhilSoutherland