UKH

Sunday for me.

Wheels came right off. Had to stop at a garage and munch a whole bag of chewy cola bottles.

You?

Last time I rode home from work. All I wanted to do was sit down on verge and make the pain go away 😂

I think I've only ever truly, properly bonked the once, a few years ago.  I walked the last mile of a run at a snail's pace feeling quite wobbly, physically, intellectually and emotionally, almost bursting into tears at one point.  Thank god I just happened to have a malt loaf at the bottom of a bag in the back of the van (which I demolished in about 30 seconds flat) or I don't think I would have been able to drive home.

Been a while since I've done (for me) a long ride. Went out Sunday - a hill too far on the way home and had to do the walk of shame past the Alpaca farm. 

Decided to run home from mums house in Stoke Canon one night last week. Hadn't eaten, so had 5 choccy biccys at her place. About 10 miles in the sugar wheels came off. The next 5 miles down the estuary were slower, and sader....!

Last spring - went out for a run first thing (before breakfast).   Was a much nicer day that I’d expected and I was feeling good.  Ended up running half marathon - last couple of lms back to my house were horrible.  Had to walk, every time I tried to run, I thought I was going to pass out.  Felt utterly rubbish for a couple of days afterwards too.

Entirely my own fault!

Couple of years ago did the whole Camel Trail, North Cornwall on a heavy rental hire bike with the saddle set too low. Having had only a black coffee for breakfast, I started out the top of the trail at St Breward. Meant to stop at Wadebridge but it was such a nice day that I pushed on all the way to the end of the trail at Padstow.

The trail followers the River Camel all the way as it meanders down to the estuary and on to the sea... Therefore it  follows that it meanders all the way gently back uphill as I did it in reverse back to the car at the Wenford Bridge carpark.

Urgh... My God. The last few miles I just wanted to lie down on the ground and cry but I knew if I didn't eat and drink soon, I might just fall asleep and not wake up again. At one point I did lie in a convenient picnic table, but was worried I was going to cramp up. The raging hunger and thirst drove me on through the horrid light headedness and the crashy mccrashface sensations fortunately. Got back, offhired the bike and sped back to the nearby holiday cottage and ate the pretty much the entire contents of the fridge.

One of the very few times that exercise has made me feel worse. Like someone else said, took me a few days to come back from that one. Did not know it was known as bonking until reading this thread though. 

I had a cycling-keen girlfriend once. She mentioned 'bonk rations' when we were preparing for a long bike ride. I have to say I was disappointed.

Actually, that reminds me of the thread title; a very, very long time ago.

The first time was just over a year ago, two months after starting road cycling. I decided to do a 59 mile, 4,300ft of ascent round trip to watch my son play rugby in Paignton on a Sunday morning when I knew nothing about hydration and fuelling. I came very close to bonking on the return leg along the lumpy, coast road. 

The only other time was six months later in a car park in Princetown over 70 miles into riding the Dartmoor Classic Grande route on my own on a hot, summer’s day. I felt totally broken from around 8,000ft of ascent previously with 35 miles still to go. I decided to keep going (stopping to suddenly throw up once - bloody gels) and thankfully found my second wind for the final 9 miles. 

About 3 weeks ago, it was a failing CV joint

Careful these days - the 'shivery/clammy feel' are an early warning.  Last time, I ate a bag of jelly babies and a coke standing in a garage forecourt on a very cold dark night.  Long ride home from work, after a long week of long commutes and work and not enough food.

I’m not sure I’ve ever booked completely about a year ago while having a run I was so hungry I felt like I could cry, I’d exercised the night before then gone for a run fasted late the next morning. I did manage to run slowly home though and then devour the snack cupboard. 

In 2021 a friend and I decided to do our own version of 'Chase the Sun'. It's a fair distance anyway but I failed to realise that my relatives I'd asked to stay with the evening before lived about 40 miles away from the usual starting point.

So we ended up cycling from Ramsgate to Chepstow in a day (380 kms)

We were stopping regularly for food and I felt quite good until just before Pucklechurch where we had a short sharp hill to cycle up. The 'wheels' completely came off.  I had to get off my bike and lie down at the side of the road for about 20 minutes before could face  tackling the hill. I even asked my mate if he could cycle home and get my car and come and pick me up. He said no.

We stopped at a Spar at the top of the hill where I ate an entire bag of Haribo, a mint magnum and a can of coke. The sugar rush saved the day.

For me marathon training is basically an exercise in running until I bonk, and then a bit further, to train my body to store more glycogen. So the most recent time was last autumn.

My worst experience was an orienteering event (the JK I think). I ran until I bonked hard, at which point I fell over and had a little nap. Some time later I woke up and crawled/staggered to a "first aid point" which had a foil blanket and a nokia mobile to call down to the St John ambulance team. Unfortunately I was too muddled to use the phone, so someone stopped to do that, and to huddle with me under the blanket until the first aider hiked up to where we were. By then I was quite severely hypothermic, but after mainlining an entire packet of lucozade tablets and putting on the warm clothes that the first aider had worn on the hike up I was able to get down to base, some hours later than expected.

Last June, did the Matlock Top 10. I was already dead by half way. Recovered a bit. Had to go up Rowsley Bar as the last hill and couldn't pedal for more than 5-10s at a time. Spent the whole night afterwards shivering. Tested positive for COVID in the morning and spent 10 days being very unwell. Killing your self on a cycle is totally what your body needs while fighting infection... right?

Before that it was a year earlier, I was on a 120 mile hilly ride around the Peak. Bonked 40 miles in, because all I was eating was flapjacks and my stomach wasn't doing anything with them. Had to crawl into Whaley Bridge, down two bottles of Lucozade and some gels, and was back to normal for the rest of the ride.

About 1975 I was riding home to West Bridgford from Nottingham University. Instead of going over Clifton Bridge (it was a nice evening) I carried along the Trent to Gunthorpe Bridge. With the breeze at my back I was flying along so carried on to the next bridge, little realising this was at Newark. Turning into the breeze, with about 8 miles to go suddenly I could barely turn the pedals. Had to raid the biscuit tin and fridge when I got back.

Fast forward to 2005 Etape du Tour someone suggested I put some jelly babies in my pocket as bonk insurance. On the run-in to Pau I was in dire need of some help so stuck my hand in my pocket to encounter a semi-liquid sticky mess. It did the trick though, I'll use a bag next time.

I didn’t realise what bonking actually was until my first time bonking. It was the most bizarre thing I’d experienced. 
 

Went out for a gentle~13 mile trail run over easy terrain around a lake. Planned to go early before breakfast but faffed and procrastinated getting out the door. Didn’t start until gone 2pm and didn’t eat or drink anything beforehand. I got to about mile 9 pretty uneventfully and then, and I remember it vividly, the next step I felt all my energy just drain from my head, down to, and out of my grounded foot. All of a sudden, literally in the space of 1 step, I was incapable of running. I felt dizzy, I had to sit down and I had the most intense cravings for sugar and fluids I’ve ever experienced. I managed to walk back to the car slowly after resting for a while and even tried to jog a couple of times but my body felt like it was made of lead and I only managed a few steps before my heart was racing out of control and I was out of breath. Every step was painful and jarring. 
 

Another time was similar but on the bike. I was about a mile from home after riding for a few hours. This one was slightly more gradual - I could feel it come on over a minute or so but same effect. So close to home I couldn’t summon the energy to cycle back. I bought an energy drink from a shop I’d rolled to a stop next to and had to sit down for 20 minutes before I could muster the strength to crawl home on the bike. 

65 or so years ago in the cycling fraternity “the bonk” was the only word for catastrophic drop in blood sugar levels. I can remember my parents using the phrase as a matter of course. There was no double entendre involved in those days. Anybody else used the term bonk bag for the little shoulder bags we carried? (French term “musette” was never current in those days).

It was 2012 on the Tour of the Peak sportive.  A friends wife came and pick me up in my sorry state.

It’s not big and it’s not clever. 

The Great Scottish Run half marathon 2019.

Someone else transferred their entry to me at the last minute so I was undertrained. I also completely misjudged my pace. I have no idea what got into me, but I broke my 1km, 5km and 10km PBs in the first half. Unsurprisingly, the second half was a struggle, but I bonked properly about 1km from the finish. That was the longest km ever, and I spent it talking myself into walking to the next streetlamp and crying. Thank goodness for my partner appearing at the finish line with a box of doughnuts!
 

Had to work this out, but I think it was Summer 1983... and we called it 'hunger knock' or just 'the knock'. I'd forgotten a 'knock chit' and was in a bunch that had been moving quickly through the Galloway Hills roads for 3 or 4 hours when I fell over getting off the bike at a sweetie shop. I'd made it to the shop by virtue of a long decent feeling light headed and hadn't realised I was out of gas altogether tlll I tried to stand. Mates had the presence of mind to stuff me with Irn Bru and chocolate raisins. Since then I've always treated food like fuel and remembered the knock chit. 

Only ever had one when I was racing and regularly doing big rides. More recently, last year went for a little 25km spin in the evening after interviewing for a fellowship. Was completely empty after just half an hour of flat riding! Crawled home at snail's pace. Turns out the mental energy of getting psyched up for an interview is similar to riding for several hours...

Gold!

Abergavenny 3 peaks challenge, platinum route which is 21 miles and god knows how much ascent / descent.

Didn't know as much about fueling then as now, stopped for a proper sit down/ picknick lunch at the 14 mile mark mark and got going feeling fine. The post lunch slump an hour or two later turned into zero energy, muscles dead, barely able to put one foot in front of the other, with mates way out in front of me and doing that thing were they wait for you, only to race off when you get to them.

A couple of nurofen plus and female OAPs participants kept me going, a mix of their concerne and my stupid macho pride.

Many drinks and much food was had in Abergavenny. The next day we (stupidly) drove to the Lakes for a hostel to hostel walking holiday. Utterly broken, bailed out within 3 hours of starting and spent the reminder of the break bouncing round the lakes on their decent bus service!

I've had several, the most notable was about 18 years ago 42mi road ride, just took water as a bit inexperienced, was feeling good up past Beddgelert and Nant Gwynant, Capel Curig to lake Ogwen i was slowing, starting descending nant Ffrancon i couldn't stay on the bike, i wobbled slowly to the pavement and climbed over the wall to lie down. Managed to get a lift the last 5mi home.

Last time was maybe a year ago, went for a ride after work with a friend, hadn't had much for lunch but I don't usually need much fuel on a ride, moderately hilly gravel bike ride, only 16mi and about 10 miles in start feeling crap, fish my emergency gel out, did the job, 4 miles later not doing good struggling to keep balance going down an easy hill on road, stop in a fuel station and down 4 bananas and a pack of crisps, sorted.

My usual sort of rides are like hilly 40mi gravel with two cereal bars, 40mi road ride with nothing, 20mi MTB with nothing, 12mi hilly road run with nothing.