Hitting the wall, bonking, hunger knock

[LegendRider]

Let's hear your funny stories about bonking on long rides.

This past Sunday I went out for an easy 2.5 hour ride with a friend. He recommended adding some mileage when we got to our normal turn-around point. I was feeling good and immediately agreed.

As it turns out, he underestimated the distance of his proposed route and we ended up doing over five hours, both with basically no food. My buddy struggled badly for the final ten miles and ultimately called his wife to meet him a few miles from his house.

The next day he called to tell me that he placed a pick-up order at Dominos as soon as he got in his wife's car. They stopped on the way home and the pizza was finished before they pulled in the driveway! Mind you, this happened over the course of 3.5 miles!

[unterhausen]

I'm not sure anything is funny about it.

I got to mile 99 of a century which I rode without any food and couldn't go on, so I went to sleep by the side of the road. I know I'm in real trouble when the road looks like it's edible. I've been riding a lot of long distance, so I'm a lot better at recognizing when I need to eat. Plus I always carry extra food now.

[steamer]

I'm not sure anything is funny about it.

I got to mile 99 of a century which I rode without any food and couldn't go on, so I went to sleep by the side of the road. I know I'm in real trouble when the road looks like it's edible. I've been riding a lot of long distance, so I'm a lot better at recognizing when I need to eat. Plus I always carry extra food now.

The last time Unter saw me bonk, he said I looked like I had been "smacked about the head with a wet mackrel."

[bigbill]

Seattle to Portland in 97. I got behind some tandems and was making good time at 22-23 mph. They had like 5-6 bottles each along with some food. I had two empty bottles and nothing. I rode almost 80 miles like that before I noticed my field of vision narrowing. I also got rhabdo from that ride so the bonk seemed pretty minor.

[rePhil]

My first century. My brain was so foggy I was "lost" a few miles from the finish, on roads I routinely road on. Ended up doing 112 miles.

[R3awak3n]

a couple of years ago I decided to go out in the hottest day of the year, it was well over 100 degrees and it was the longest ride I had done to that point. My wife told me not to go but of course I ignored her.

I ended up getting a couple of flat tires probably around 10 miles from home and that took it out of me (small pump and why I never roll out without anything less than a frame pump, lately a frame pump and some CO2 just in case I am really tired). I had to call my wife probably 4/5 miles from home.

I just could not do it, my body was not responding ahah.

[gasman]

1976
I was in school at U of Oregon in Eugene. My old HS girlfriend started going to Oregon state in Corvallis about 40 miles north. Since I didn't have a car I'd ride up about every other weekend and spend Sat and part of Sunday with her. I'd head back after having breakfast in the dorm cafeteria. One Sunday I really had to get back early to study for a test on Monday. The cafeteria wasn't open and all there was to eat was an apple and one water bottle Poor planning.
I hit the road, in November with steady rain and a good 20 mph headwind.My wool clothing kept me warm but i could barely run the pedals over the last 10 miles-and I had no money on me. I got to my house and was so wasted I couldn't undo my toe straps to get out of my pedals. I fell over into some bushes by the house. I don't really remember getting into the house but I was crawling and a roommate gave me some peanut butter on bread and milk. I slept for hours after a shower got up and went back to bed, didn't study.I got up until early the next morning crammed and just passed my test.
Never bonked again.No woman is worth bonking that bad :)

[rounder]

Years ago, I showed up for a ride in the local Hunt Valley Hundred in Maryland.

I was at the start and realized that I did not have any water (dumb).

Fortunately, there was a local bike shop truck at the start that knew me. They gave me two bottles of water {thanks!!}, and I was off for a good ride.

[regularguy412]

March 1989. Was in only my second REAL USCF (yeah, I'm old) road race. It was a training race. Part of a 4-race series that a local restauranteur put on each spring. First race of the series was hilly but only 38 miles. Weather was reasonable -- sunny warm-ish.

This second race, only a week later, was a death march. Cold, overcast, windy and 38 degrees at the start. Some folks who showed up just chose not to race. So we all went together,, about 35 of us,, all Cats. I got dropped about half way round the 42 mile circuit. And at about that time, it started to sleet. I had on all the cycling clothes that owned at the time. After another 10 miles, I could not feel my legs, except for when I tried to pedal faster, and that only made'em hurt. I made it to the end, bleary-eyed, drooling and borderline hypothermic. I coulda used about twice the calories that day, over what I actually consumed on the bike. Not that it woulda improved my performance any, but at least I maybe woulda felt better.

The good part was, the race promoter fed us all at his restaurant at the finish. I remember it like yesterday. I had 2 chicken sandwiches, large order of fries and all the Sprite I could hold.

Got home after the 2 hr drive ( I didn't have to do the driving) and slept all afternoon.

At that point, I knew I was gonna be a bike racer. Not necessarily a good one, but you find out things about yourself when you put yourself to the test.

Mike in AR:beer:

[mgm777]

Several years ago, I was riding with my usual ride partner in Orange County, when we decided to to extend the ride to about 75 miles. Unfortunately, we didn't prepare properly with a good breakfast and adequate on-the-bike food. At about the 68 mile mark, we stopped in Laguna Beach to get some food. We pulled in to a parking lot, next to a gas station, across the street from Main Beach, for those who are familiar. I promptly entered the establishment, walked up to the counter, and proceeded to order sushi from the nice person behind the counter. I repeated my request two additional times, when the bewildered cashier politely informed me the establishment was a coffee shop and didn't have any sushi. Only then did I realize I was, in fact, in a coffee shop, and not a sushi restaurant.

[carpediemracing]

When I was 15 I bonked super hard. I think kids bonk harder, I know I don't bonk quite as bad now (plus I'm smarter I think). Anyway I was going so slow in my 42x21 (the good old days) that I toppled over on a "hill" that I normally rode up in a 53x15. I actually stopped to ask a guy watering his lawn if he had any bread. He looked like he was going to attack me with a garden utensil (in self defense so I just left).

I bonked pretty hard pretty often, to the point that one of the "den mother" teammates would carry stuff for me (and made me eat/drink on rides, to no avail).

Another time I ended up lost (http://sprinterdellacasa.blogspot.com/2007/07/story-lost-in-city.html) after doing a hard 1 hour ride, sprints with a big group for about 2 hours, then a 1+ hour group "race", spread out over 10 hours (and not really eating anything during that time). I used half of my $20 to buy food. An army guy told me that in the army he sometimes had literally a minute to eat a meal, if you looked up they took your plate away, and so he got into the habit of eating as fast as possible without looking up. His signature move was to stick a chicken drumstick in his mouth and rip all the meat off in one mouthful. He said when he first came back home he did that at the first dinner, finished his plate in a minute, looked up and saw all the horrified looks on his family's faces. Anyway I thought this would be a good time to give it a shot, and I had two chicken drumsticks in about a minute. Kid studying outside the food joint just stared at me, jaw on the ground. It was another 3-4 hours before I got home; I had two bags of Pepperidge Farm cookies to carry me that far, had one bag with the chicken.

[oldpotatoe]

I'm not sure anything is funny about it.

I got to mile 99 of a century which I rode without any food and couldn't go on, so I went to sleep by the side of the road. I know I'm in real trouble when the road looks like it's edible. I've been riding a lot of long distance, so I'm a lot better at recognizing when I need to eat. Plus I always carry extra food now.

Rode a metric century with this guy..he bonked..really bad. We stopped next to a discarded mattress next to the road..he laid down and went to sleep. Sag wagon picked him up. TINS.

[p nut]

Bonked hard on a ~50 miler around Halloween a couple of years ago. Lots of climbing. Not sure why I didn't think I'd need food OR money. Still miles from home, I was desperate. Then I saw a flash of light by the roadside. Turned around and found a Twix bar. It was like finding gold. Gave me just enough juice to get me home.