I'm doing a massive, for me, ride this Sunday and am a bit worried that I'll bonk. Any tips to prevent said condition.
Should I be carb loading now?
What to eat/drink on the ride?
Owt else?

Tangfastics
Lucozade Sport

Sorted 🙂

drink plenty of water and regularly.

eat regularly. Power bars or just good old fashioned bananas even when you're not hungry. Something like lucozade or any of the many other fizzy energy pop stuff out there on the market

you'll be fine.

Yeah just take some haribo or something with you, and energy drink in your camelbak

Just bring food and drink on the ride. Unless you're really serious, just eating normally will be fine beforehand (make sure you have breakfast though if you don't normally).

In theory, you need to eat 1g of carbohydrate per kg of body weight per hour – just to give you an idea. Energy bars are good but not essential though I personally would avoid very sugary things like chocolate or haribo except for a quick sugar rush pick-me-up if you're feeling crap (eg go for snack bars, etc instead).

Drink before you get thirsty – that's usually drinking a fair bit more than you naturally feel like. Lucozade sport is good and easily available but so long as you're eating enough and it's not blazing hot (seems unlikely…) then plain water is fine too. A cheap energy drink is 1/3 or 1/2 OJ mixed with water and a pinch of salt.

It's all in the head. Just tell yourself that you're not bonking – repeatedly.

<rides by TrollZooFighter as he bimbles along at 5mph telling himself that he's not bonking> 🙂

As long as you do keep eating, and don't go too hard, then you'll be fine. It doesn't really matter if you don't eat "enough", as long as you do keep fuelling, and keep the intensity down enough that you're fat burning, then you won't run out.

Sandwiches, Malt Loaf, Banana(s), Haribo/Jelly Snakes, Lucozade Sport, Lots of water

Just keep eating/drinking. Thats what bike rides are for (for me anyway)

Matt Hart has written some very good articles on this in some of the recent editions of the mag.

if you do start to bonk then just hold your breath until it stops.

Take shit loads of food.

Thanks for the reasuring advice.

TZF you really are kidding, aren't you?
If you think its all in your head, then have you actually ever bonked? I have and quite frankly its awful. Cant focus on anything other than feeling as strong as a limp lettuce leaf.

Eat regularly- every half hour or so if you can. I suspect that when I bonk I've actually done the damage in the days leading up to it but keep the right stuff coming in on the day and you should be right.

At the minute I'm on Clif Bars and Torq energy drink most of the time. For a real trek you'll feel better stopping for some cold pasta. Keep the sugary sweets for last resorts, they'll give you the quickest burst of energy and if you know they're all you have left you can ration them out a bit.

I have to tell myself "GO OFF AT YOUR OWN PACE!. I link my bonking to going off too fast at the beginning – althought water and nutrition is paramount so is you pace!

There's confusion about "bonking" and "blowing" (great slang 🙂 ) I think

bonking is when you run out of energy due to not eating enough and you can only ride slowly because you're stuck with fat burning

blowing is when you start a ride too hard and then slow down because your muscles are full of lactic acid/accumulated muscle damage (eg start a 100mile ride at a pace you can only maintain for 10miles)

Yep I'd say watch your pace, all the food in the world isn't going to prevent bonking if you overdo it. (mind you stopping for a snack is a good way to keep the pace a bit more relaxed)

If you think its all in your head, then have you actually ever bonked?

Agreed – I have bonked properly once (after doing a 12 mile run then a 40 mile ride straight after). At about 38 miles I just went. Completely. I stupidly had no food with me at all and started rooting in my Camelbac and I (quite seriously) considered trying to eat some brake pads I found in there. Thankfully I was only 2 miles from home and just pulled a chair up to the open-doored fridge…

I always feel like im in some sort of horrible trance.
Last time was 3/4 into the SDW from Brighton to QEP, god it was hell, great when things pick up again though!

Watch your pace – drink plenty. Stick to your regular trail snacks. Don't wolf down a load of food just before a hill 😳

It's not the day to start using energy gels etc… as your stomach won't be used to processing all that refined food.

lol @ m_f!

Careful you'll be accused of upsetting people who bonk and not askin gthe question correctly you insensitive b@stard!

I (quite seriously) considered trying to eat some brake pads I found in there.

😆

Really?

Really?

Yes, REALLY really! I can remember it clear as day. I mean, I didn't have them in my hands and about to put them in my mouth, but the thought quite consciously crossed my mind!

Careful you'll be accused of upsetting people who bonk and not askin gthe question correctly you insensitive b@stard!

Let's not go there! I have stepped away from that thread and resisted all thoughts of posting 'one last time' 😉

Yeah best to walk away from that one. What a farce!

I've not got as far as brake pads but during one bonk episode for quite a few minutes (grinding up a hill) I was seriously wondering whether I could kill cook and eat a sheep armed with just a crank bros multitool and tyre levers 🙂

Bonking is running out of carbs. Take carbs with you and you will be fine. That could be energy drink or a sandwich, doesn't really matter unless you are really interested in max performance.

[/quote]I personally would avoid very sugary things

The sugar rush/insulin spike thing doesn't apply when biking as your insulin system works differently. Taking sugar works just as well as energy drink etc but the only issue is that lots of sugar or glucose irritates your stomach much more than maltodextrin will (which is what energy drinks consist of).

Oh and if you take energy drink mix it 2/3 strength at first. Full strength is usually far too strong, could give you bad guts.

you'll need to learn the difference between really 'tired and hungry' and 'the bonk' and make sure you keep a good fast acting carb source (gels are good) along with some water for when you reach that point. otherwise you'll eat everything you have with you when the going is good and bonk massively 3 miles from home after 100 miles 😥

Heyup,

This works for me.

Have a good solid outing on the bike 2 days before (tomorrow, Thursday).

Rest for a couple of days, eat and drink well (no boozing the night before). Have good meal evening before and try to get a breakfast down you.

Nibble and drink throughout the ride especially during the first half/two-thirds of the ride.

Pace yourself, look at the hill and if you know you cannot ride it all stop and push before you blow up.

Good luck

Paul

Sorry to be anal – looked teh terms up:

Citations: 1979 J.A. Cuddon Macmillan Dictionary of Sports and Games p. 119 @ HDAS (1994) J.E. Lighter: Bonk…A state of extreme fatigue caused by overexertion and lack of blood sugar. 1983 [Joe Bike] Usenet: net.bicycle (June 27) “Joe Bike reports from GEAR South”: As we took off to follow Scott back, we notice we had dropped Walter and the aforementioned bikie who bonked on the hill. 1984 Suzanne Charle New York Times (Sept. 23) “‘Go For It’: Making Your Way In A Triathlon”: But there is also the flip side, when fatigue hits all sets of muscles at once. If you’ve been riding hard and then start running, often it feels as if your thigh bones are no longer attached to your shinbones. Experienced athletes call this “cross-bonk.” 1986 James McNamara Washingon Post (Aug. 15) “Cyclist’s Challenge: Turning 100”: This is because such exercise will quickly deplete the body’s reserves, causing severe fatigue (in running this is called hitting the wall, in cycling it’s known as the bonk, which is the sound you make when you hit the wall). 1990 [Bruce Hildenbrand] Usenet: rec.bicycles (Jan. 26) “Primer for Getting Started in Bike Racing”: Even if you have a teamate in the break, chase it down. You never know when the guy could bonk and get dropped. 1990 Usenet: rec.bicycles (Apr. 25) “cadence matters”: My goal is to be able to increase my efficiency at the higher cadences so I can spin without “blowing up” (in a crit) or “bonking” (in a long road race). 2005 Ventura County Star (California) (July 4) “Cycling through the lingo”: Bonk: Term used to describe running out of energy when riding.

It would then seem that rapid over-exertion whereby the body runs out of energy (usable i.e. glycogen) very quickly – i.e. too fast to be replenished is "bonking". My original post was to say if you go off very quickly you can "bonk" as you can't get energy in fast enough to replenish your deficit?

I was seriously wondering whether I could kill cook and eat a sheep armed with just a crank bros multitool and tyre levers

Excellent – definitely a thought coming from the same section of the brain as mine came from!

TZF you really are kidding, aren't you?

The clue is in the forum name.

bonking is when you run out of energy due to not eating enough and you can only ride slowly because you're stuck with fat burning

Actually it's worse than that. When you bonk you can't burn fat in the normal way, which relies upon also having a carb supply. You end up using the far less efficient ketosis mechanism.

look at the hill and if you know you cannot ride it all stop and push before you blow up.

Where's the fun in that? If your gonna crash and burn go out in a blaze of glory, hit the hills hard and when you find yourself lying by the side of the trail still clipped in with sparkly lights in your eyes and a fizzing in your brain unable to talk, move or do anything other than breath, thats when you have a rest and then walk the rest (if you still can) 🙂

Thanks for the advice. I have been to bonkland several times and hope to stay away on Sunday.
I'll let you know how I got on on Monday.

For me Kendal mint cake and high5 juice.

Chaps, I didn't want to turn it into a metabolism lecture 🙂

FWIW, I know eating high GI food when exercising is different to when not but it still doesn't work well for me (and others I know).

YOu need a mix of high and low GI foods. Oats seem to have some sort of regulating effect on your sugar metabolism so porridge / flapjacks are very good. Good normal breakfast. Sweets / energy bars / chocolate / flapjacks / sandwiches with you

Chaps, I didn't want to turn it into a metabolism lecture

How long have you been on STW?

Most gels and drinks are high GI I think. Bars are often medium.

I personally don't rate porridge as it's so bulky I can't eat enough to keep me going. Half a mug of oats isn't much in the energy stakes but it's all I can manage in porridge form. Flapjacks, whilst lovely, contain a lot of fat which does nothing for you on rides. Same for chocolate.