Need to lose some weight after three months in Germany consuming lots of Weißbier, Schweinsbraten and Bratwurst followed by two months in the UK consuming many pints, pies and sausages....
I've not really been out on the bike much (other than to the pub) the last few months. Too cold and/or too wet.
Now in France, the sun is shining and the thermometer said 21°C today and yesterday.
Skipped breakfast (not that I normally bother) and rode 27km along a canal before turning back. Always taking it very leisurely, sorted below 20kmh and never above 135HR
Felt fine till the last ~10km... My eyesight went. My legs felt like jelly. My balance was all over the place. No food with my and not a shop or town anywhere nearby.... Ended up putting the bike down and lying down bedside the canal. Feel asleep for an hour and a half in sun.
Only woke when the GF phoned asking where the hell I was.
Did you have any water?
I’ve had mild versions of this on my 30km morning commute recently as I’ve been skipping breakfast. I’ve found that necking my water bottle has made it slightly more bearable.
High5 do ~2kg tubs of electrolyte powder with carbs and caffeine. Up to three scoops for 750ml of water in a bottle. ~£20 on subscribe & save from Amazon.
My only experience of bonking was during one of the 24hr races (with a team of 4) around 3am. I did a lap and felt terrible, just craving food. Dennis was the caterer then, and you either got bacon/sausage etc on rolls or chocolate and crisps. I went for 2 bacon/sauages/tomato rolls and a large tea. I got through half of one of the rolls, and felt incredibly tired, so threw the rest away, finished the tea, and got in my tent for two hours. On getting up, I was fine, but knew I needed more food, got some snacks down, energy drink too, then went out into the dawn light,did a lap and felt ok all the way round. For the rest of the race I knew I had to keep fuelled, so did an energy drink (those ones where you pour the powder into your bottle of water) each lap. On the way home at 4pm, I was sick so much on the side of the A50 that I thought my backside was coming out of my mouth. Not the most pleasant weekend for those experiences , but I learnt from it, and its never happened again.
Yeah, had water with me. Drank the last drop a few km from the van.
Going to try again tomorrow. Have already planned a shorter route that goes past a boulangerie....!
I've experienced it once before (funnily enough also in France) when riding from London to Munich back in 2003 (the first proper hot summer). Although that might have been heat stroke.... 🤔
ive bonkef like that a good few times. however it makes me want to sit in the corner and weep
Just have some healthy breakfast that has some semblance of fuel in it? 🤷
You'll then be able to pick up the pace/HR and surely that will be more beneficial for weight loss?
I'm not a fitness instructor - obviously 😂
I didn't fall asleep but I have done exactly the same - but ended up sitting cross legged questioning my life choices about 800 yards from home. I did try to call Mrs Rikk but I genuinely couldn't operate a phone.
No breakfast of any significance, rode hard for an hour, almost keeled over when I dismounted for the last gate before home.
Fortunately I had a (fairly old) trek bar in the bottom of my pack and nibbling on that for a bit got me back on the bike long enough to get back home.
I bonked once on a road ride. A chap kindly led me home by letting me draft him… he was on a ‘town’ bike with a child on the back. I struggled to keep up. The shame…
Only once it's happened to me. It's a horrible thing. A Mars bar, brew and a 30 minute rest let me carry on. The cramp was debilitating.
I absolutely refuse to let myself bonk nowadays so eat and rest and take it easy. I'm not into really pushing myself anymore tbh. I still get the most excruciating cramp sometimes though. 😢
Happened to me once when I was fit and triathlon training - went out for an 80k staeady effort ride with the intention of getting a yazoo and a kitkat at the village post office at the halfway point. It was closed.
felt alright right up until I wasn’t
luckily, right at the point where i couldn’t turn the pedals anymore there was a very well stocked bramble bush - a munch on them and a wee sit down in the sun for half an hour and I was ok to ride the last few Ks home very slowly indeed
have never gone out under prepared since
Has happened to me countless times and it was always a source of much mirth and piss-taking with friends when someone suffered on one of our winter training rides. Fortunately, there’s a plethora of conveniently packaged products that you can carry on your ride these days to mitigate the risk. Tunnel vision, tingling fingers and numb lips are all the impending sings of getting battered by the hammer.
About 25 years ago, we’d go for a midweek training ride and meet up with John “Woody” Woodburn in his 80s who would typically ride for a 3-4 hours with no more than a half-bottle of water - he’d held the LEJOG and 24hr records and won countless other races over the decades and where taking food and water was often seen as a sign of weakness and thought those continental riders with their pre packed foods were wimps.
My experience of boking is its alot like pingpong with smaller balls
Happened once at a Llandegla duathlon, mate a faster runner but inexperienced mtber, I went mental on the bike to get a good gap for the final 5k run. Just wanted to lie down and die about 1k in, found some discarded gels squashed into the trail so ate them like zammo off Grange hill when he's licking the drugs off the floor. Finished to find my mate changed, he'd crashed and dnf'd!
Not a pleasant experience. I seem to relearn the fuelling and hydration lesson every year. Old school idea was water is all you need for 3 hours or less on the bike. Modern take is 30-90g of carbs per hour, maybe even up to 120g per hour for a hard session and a bottle of fluid per hour if it’s warm. Even when it’s cold you need a bottle every 90 minutes or so to keep properly hydrated.
I don’t think it’s good for you to deliberately underfuel. Not only is your performance impacted you will also probably demolish everything in the fridge when you get home.
Best effort I’ve ever heard was when the chap who runs the LBS had a crack at the Towneley, solo, armed only with a banana and a bottle of water. On the hottest day of the year.
He reckoned that it took him as long to do the last 8 miles as it had taken to do the rest, and at one point he was drinking from a puddle on his hands and knees.
Did the kielder 100 MTB in c 2010ish - didn't carry enough water or food - got cramp after 30 miles stayed with me for the rest of the ride. Would have have given up but you were in the middle of nowhere. Food stops made no difference to my debilitated state. Made it round. Winner was 3/4 hours quicker - but got carted off to hospital after he crossed the finished line - I could have eat a plate of soil to replace all the minerals I had lost - i was broken.