No, not that sort of bonking! I'd like to ask for some advice about running out of energy. I have been doing a mountain marathon the Alps now for the last 4 years. First time was tough on account of no training. Then the seconds time I made it to about 4 hrs then my legs "fell off". Last year was much better. Could the key difference have been that last year I took some ham and cheese sandwiches with me. The reason I say this is that on Saturday I did the race once again and came a cropper at the 4 hrs mark having NOT taken sandwiches with me. It's not good for the ego when you a left lying at the side of the track a dribbling, whimpering wreck! The legs where dead, cramp in both of them. At all the feed stations up to the 4 hrs point I ate as many banana's a s I could and filled up with "energy" drinks (had a couple of those energy gells), but as full as I felt, I just didn't have any energy left in me.

My question, when doing a 7 hrs (or similar) ride with big hills to cross, how do you keep your legs going and ward off your legs cramping up?

Skiddie

Hydrate lots and small amounts of food often and pace yourself dont be going 100% everywhere youl burn out.

Energy levels are very important for anything more than about 90 mins in length.

You can try 'carb loading' the day before the event, but definitely make sure you have a large and low-GI meal a couple of hours before the event and take lots of energy food with you.

Energy drink (mixed slightly weak) coupled with some energy bars and then the odd gel if I need it. All from Torq cos they are the best by miles. Remember to take on water also, since to use carbs you need water.

Caffeinated gels are the business for late in an event.

But it sounds like you need to modify your training. Riding/running hard only trains you to go fast. You need to to long steady rides/runs to train your endurance metabolism. Really helps with the distance stuff.

I find clif shot bloks are the bomb diggy, don't need to scoff a whole packet like with gels either

after around 90mins of "strenuous" exercise you've depleted your stores of energy – you can slow down the use of your stored energy by eating along the way

getting fitter will train your body to store and utilise your energy reserves better so they go further

drinking water and electrolytes may help prevent cramp as well as a good flexibility regieme

once you "bonk" you can only slowly crawl back out of it – your performance is shot

if your aiming to ride 7hr rides build up to it gradually (10% increase per week), learn to eat and drink on the bike – see what works for you

personally my prefered on bike munchies are jaffa cakes, minstrels, cake, a flask of tea, sandwich, coca cola – no one likes a pale wimpering dribbling mess spoiling the view (i've been there too many times!) 😉

Every hr 50g of carbs (gels) for glucose to CNS and water electrolyte to keep stroke volume high.

Don't exceed your lactate threshhold and find out your VO2max.

Yup got close to bonking swunday. 60 mins in legs dead – ate fine – now found out I have a "bug" which explains it – Nutrition is important – I had an energy gel 1 torq bar and some energy/hydro drink and made it back 🙂

I've never 'bonked' in a race (up to 12hrs) but sometimes do during training/cycling home from work. I think the reason is I take more care to eat during a race. By eat I mean energy drinks/gels/cheese sandwiches etc.

two things help

1. go more slowly
2. eat more

theres a lot of nonsense about "hydration". Getting dehydrated is bad, but beyond that drinking lots and lots of water doesn't help. obviously energy drinks can be used in place of food, but personally i find they give me stomach ache.

Don't exceed your lactate threshhold and find out your VO2max.

A mate of mine is testing people if anyone is interested in the SW:

http://www.elitevelo.com/

but personally i find they give me stomach ache.

And farts?

The way I see it, think of your body as a machine, you need to keep fuel in your body to keep it going.

Your body can only receive a set amount of fuel per hour, certain foods get closer to this set amount of fuel per hour than others. Best way to fuel your body is to trickle feed it overnight by having high carb foods such as pasta etc this will hopefully mean your tank doesn't empty the next day.

You can obviously supplement this as your riding but sooner or later you'll burn out if your going above your threshold.

If we follow on with this machine idea, and go with MPG on fuel. The more your train the higher your MPG goes and likewise the faster you go the lower that MPG is. The trick would be to find your optimum MPG point, this can only be done via experience.

Hope this makes some sense obviously this is all my own ramblings nothing scientific but is based from experience!

I did 54 miles on Saturday in preperation for the SDW and we made sure that we stopped every 45mins or so and fed and watered ourselves. I get on well with an isotonic drink and those Nutri Grain morning bars.

One absolute must for me before a big ride is to have beans on toast.

Grand Raid?

My best performances have been ham sandwich fueled but to be honest I don't think there is any food on Earth that can avoid the gibbering wreck feeling at the top of Pas de Lona.

Which course did you do?

The more your train the higher your MPG goes and likewise the faster you go the lower that MPG is. The trick would be to find your optimum MPG point, this can only be done via experience.

Not exactly.

Depending on how you train, and what your races are, you can make yourself more like a Toyota Prius or more like a Mazda RX8. Or more accurately, if you train a lot, like the Audi R10 TDI or a Formula 1 car.

That is, you can train with an emphasis on endurance, or an emphasis on speed – you'll develop different systems in your body for either. If you have enough time available you can do both, but there are limits.

That's why Mark Cavendish only wins sprints and Andy Schleck never does.

You can try 'carb loading' the day before the event,

I'd say two days. For leg re-coup sit in a shallow very very cold bath(iced if you have it) for 10-15 mins post event. The colder the better. It will hurt like hell and you'll probably loose all feeling but you'll have no delayed onset muscle soreness. It's the nuts yo!

@molgrips good point!

Recovery drink (or similar) is very good for recovery as well. Basically, loads of high GI carbs immediately after riding. It gives you a blood sugar spike which causes an insulin spike. Normally this is bad but when your muscle glycogen stores are depleted, the insulin promotes rapid uptake of blood sugar into your muscles, which is what you want.

Many thx all for taking time to come back. Much for me to ponder.

Schweiz, I was only doing the Heremence start!

I haven't done this since I got married 😀