Morning Glucose Levels and Cycling Performance: What Really Matters

Posted on by Hunter Allen

Many cyclists start their day by checking fasting glucose. If the number looks high or low, they worry about what it means for training. But here’s the truth: a single morning glucose reading doesn’t define your fitness, fueling strategy, or performance. What matters far more is the pattern of glucose throughout the day, especially during rides.

Why Glucose Matters for Cyclists
Glucose is your body’s fuel for endurance. Stable glucose means steady energy. Spikes and crashes mean fatigue, poor recovery, and performance drops. Morning glucose is just one data point in a 24-hour cycle.

For example, you could wake up with a “normal” fasting glucose, but if your levels crash during a ride, you’ll still bonk. On the flip side, a slightly elevated morning glucose might not hurt performance at all if you manage fueling well.

The Limits of Fasting Glucose Tests
Traditional fasting glucose is used in medicine to screen for diabetes risk. For athletes, it doesn’t capture what happens under stress, hard intervals, long rides, or fueling mistakes. Athletes need dynamic data, not static snapshots.

The Power of Continuous Glucose Monitoring (CGM)
This is where CGMs are a game-changer. A CGM shows you in real time how your body responds to meals, rides, and recovery:

  • Does your oatmeal breakfast keep you steady, or spike you?
  • Do your gels cause a crash after an hour?
  • Is your post-ride recovery meal refueling you or leaving you flat?

I coached a 52-year-old rider who thought his glucose was fine because his morning numbers were always “normal.” But his CGM revealed massive mid-ride dips. Once we adjusted his fueling, eating 60-70 grams of carbs every 45 minutes—his performance skyrocketed.

Practical Guidelines

  • Don’t overvalue morning readings. Look at patterns.
  • Fuel consistently on rides longer than 90 minutes.
  • Monitor how different foods affect you. Athletes are highly individual.

Conclusion
Morning glucose is a small piece of the puzzle. What really matters is stability throughout the day and during training. Performance is fueled not by one number, but by patterns and habits.

Want to learn how to use CGM in your own training? My book “Training and Competing with a Continuous Glucose Monitor” breaks it all down in practical steps.

Thanksgiving Glucose Hacks: Four Practical Hacks to Lower Your Glucose Levels Quickly

Posted on by Hunter Allen

It’s that time of the year! Thanksgiving is coming up and many of you will indulge in a wonderful family meal! How would you like to both indulge in that meal AND ensure your glucose spike stays relatively normal? Keep reading to find out.

If you’ve ever looked at your Continuous Glucose Monitor (CGM) or blood glucose reading after a meal and thought, “Whoa, that spike looks high,” you’re not alone. Many cyclists worry that a sharp rise in glucose means poor performance or long-term health issues. And while not every spike is catastrophic, consistently unstable glucose does affect energy, recovery, and endurance.

The good news? You don’t need extreme diets or drastic changes to make a difference. Small, practical adjustments can quickly bring glucose into a steady range. In fact, I’ve seen athletes completely transform their mid-ride energy by tweaking just a few habits.

Hack 1: Move After Meals
One of the simplest, and most effective, ways to lower glucose is light movement after eating. A 10–15 minute walk, some easy spinning on the trainer, or even chores around the house can dramatically blunt glucose spikes. Instead of just sitting around on the couch after Thanksgiving, get out and play some football, go for a walk, pedal around a little. Sitting on the couch is just going to raise your glucose even more.

The science is simple: movement activates muscles, which act as glucose sponges. They pull sugar out of the bloodstream and use it for energy. For cyclists, this not only stabilizes glucose but also aids recovery when done after post-ride meals.  Walking especially is good, as it uses the soleus muscle in the lower leg, which uses glucose directly.  Google: “Soleus Push-ups”.

Hack 2: Stack your foods when you eat
The order in which you eat your food is important.   This is EASY to do at Thanksgiving!!!

Eat your Salad first and put that at the bottom of the “stack” in your stomach.  Then eat ALL your veggies next.   Then eat ALL your protein and finally eat your carbs. If you eat in this order instead of eating a little of this and a little of that at the same time, you’ll reduce your glucose spikes dramatically. 

For athletes, this is especially important before rides. A pre-ride meal with balanced macros sets you up for stable energy instead of rollercoaster dips.

Hack 3: Take 2 Tablespoons of Apple Cider Vinegar before your meal!
Dilute 2 Tablespoons of Apple Cider Vinegar in a coffee cup of water. Drink this 10 minutes before the “call” to Thanksgiving dinner. ACV will help mute the glucose spike by making your cells more insulin sensitive and taking up more glucose. It will also help to slow down the absorption of glucose as well.

CGM data shows this clearly. Try the same meal with ACV and without and your glucose levels will be dramatically lower with the ACV.

Hack 4: Build Muscle With Strength Training
Start NOW! Going to the gym the week of Thanksgiving WILL help. Muscle tissue improves glucose control. More muscle mass means greater glucose uptake capacity. Even two strength sessions per week, focused on squats, lunges, deadlifts, and core, improves both cycling performance and glucose stability.

A 54-year-old athlete I coach added two weekly strength sessions. Within three months, not only did his glucose stability improve, but his sprint power increased by 15%.

Conclusion
You don’t need fancy supplements or rigid diets to stabilize glucose. Move after meals, pair carbs wisely, Use ACV, and build muscle. These small hacks compound into big performance and health wins.

Want more practical fueling strategies? Download my free Smart Training Checklist for Cyclists Over 40.