I'm having bonk anxiety

[CNY rider]

Need some advice and reassurance here.

Wednesday night on my commute home from work I had one of my worst episodes of bonk ever.
My commute should not involve bonk; after all it is only 7.5 miles. The last 2 miles are almost straight up though.

So on Wednesday I ate lunch at my typical time, about 1230. The afternoon got busy and I was in an interminable meeting until after 6. I got on my bike in the pitch blackness, fired up my lights and started for home. I felt crappy almost immediately. I remembered that all I had eaten after lunch were 2 chocolate chip cookies, but at that point it was too late.
When I got to my hill it really hit the fan. It's out in the country and darker than dark. I could feel my legs wobbling, the bike was all over the place and I could barely turn the pedals over. Finally struggled home and really felt crappy the whole evening, even after eating.

Now I find myself totally psyched-out about riding home tonight :confused:
I know it's not going to happen again (I think).

So what's your best suggestion for dealing with bonk? How do you head it off?

[swoop]

eat meat. have a little packet of mixed nuts and almonds from starbucks in your back pocket. eat them on the way home and the last hour of work.

if you're dying have a snickers bar and a coke.
breathe.

don't skip lunch.

[fiamme red]

For emergencies, always keep a few pieces of squirrel jerky in your jersey pocket. :D

[markie]

You shouldn't bonk in that distance.

I'd look to another reason. Over-trained, getting sick, scared of the dark?

[Blue Jays]

That distance should preclude a true "bonk" episode. I would look down other paths.

[swoop]

if you're on empty at the start .... you're on empty and it doesn't matter the distance.

do you hypoglycemia? diabetes? any med issues? (rhetorical)

[CNY rider]

You shouldn't bonk in that distance.

I'd look to another reason. Over-trained, getting sick, scared of the dark?

You know there's probably something to that scared of the dark thing, all joking aside. The whole shaky/sweaty/nausea feeling is bad enough but I think having it happen in the middle of nowhere in total darkness adds to the psychological effect.

[CNY rider]

if you're on empty at the start .... you're on empty and it doesn't matter the distance.

do you hypoglycemia? diabetes? any med issues? (rhetorical)

No but the "empty on the start" thing is probably the key here, as you said.

[swoop]

well the simple answer is don't do that. but i can tell you... nothing will get you through thirty minutes of flat lining all-out bonk like coke and a snickers.

its disgusting only delays the inevitable... but it does work.
you should have a powdered protein-juiced recovery biker drink in your bottles too.

imagine what those endurance cats go through.

[NateM]

I think you said it yourself when you felt bad at the start.Have a snack like a banana or apple an hour before you leave and always carry something like Hammer Gel,GU. I am a type 1 diabetic and have bonked many times within 7 miles from my home or office. I carry Hammer Gel in a flask and for emergency's Glucose in a tube (Insta Glucose).These wont cure a true bonk but they will probably get you home in one piece.For me blood sugar control is a science that requires constant attention and those occasional bouts with low blood sugars are just a fact of my life.Think ahead if you can.

[Ray]

You know there's probably something to that scared of the dark thing, all joking aside. The whole shaky/sweaty/nausea feeling is bad enough but I think having it happen in the middle of nowhere in total darkness adds to the psychological effect.
Shaky/sweaty/nausea??? That doesn't sound like a bonk to me. A bonk is pretty much hunger related and comes on after feeling good for a while and just running out of gas. You go from feeling OK one minute to almost totally unable to ride the next - and you're just ACHING for something to eat. So there's some shaky associated with the wasted feeling, but not sweaty or nausea.

I think you're pregnant. Or otherwise afflicted. But not bonked.

-Ray

[djg]

Stuff happens, and I'm not always as careful in either direction as I should be, but I try to keep a large bag of raw almonds in a file drawer -- easy to get to but not so close that I'll just mindlessly munch on them through the day. A handful in mid-afternoon and then another before leaving can work wonders. Also, if you're worried, just stick a packet of gu in your seat bag for emergencies.

[swoop]

also... don't fear. its not like you go to bed and wake up in the morning and find a tampon growing on your ceiling.

that sh*t would freak me out.

[LegendRider]

Think about baseball.

[zeroking17]

Think about baseball.


nice (http://people.tribe.net/beejweir/photos/d8fdb623-c3ef-41ea-ab42-cb6105a1b0bf)

[swoop]

hey... i can't get into it but.. are you having a panic attack? is it the dark or is it the nutrition.. two different things... feel me?

[Fixed]

bro you might have felt a little better if you walked up the hill
cheers imho :beer:

[CNY rider]

hey... i can't get into it but.. are you having a panic attack? is it the dark or is it the nutrition.. two different things... feel me?

Hear ya, feel ya.
It started out as a "feeling crappy, damn I need some food thing".
Now there is some anxiety associated with it, but I do not think that's what triggered the initial event.
I will check the corner of the bathroom ceiling when I get home. Maybe that has something to do with it. :p

[Jack Brunk]

Hear ya, feel ya.
It started out as a "feeling crappy, damn I need some food thing".
Now there is some anxiety associated with it, but I do not think that's what triggered the initial event.
I will check the corner of the bathroom ceiling when I get home. Maybe that has something to do with it. :p
Maybe the outside of your house or the rooms in your house need PAINTING. Maybe thats freaking you out.

[stevep]

i almost always throw a gel in the pocket.
even a pretty short ride.

if i bonk i big time bonk.
never hurts.

[Ginger]

I ride with people who bonk, so I'm usually over prepared for such things. As in, there's always at least one powergel in the seat bag. Never use it... (sort of like those old-unused-condoms married guys have carried around in their wallets since they were teenagers...the just in case that never happened. But it's still there. Just in case.)

[Acotts]

Dont Fret. Just chug a cup of coffe and head home. If you get the willies just go to your cave.

Your_Freind will be there to get you through.
.....slide

[jimcav]

unless your work is manual labor. bonking is depleting glycogen stores and continuing to push exertion resulting in consumption of energy faster than your body can mobilize and convert fat stores to keep up with energy demand. that is not going to happen if you have eaten meals and certainly not in 7 miles.
If you were really dehydrated, maybe you'd feel that bad, and also if you were severly overheated--but it is the wrong time of year for that.

you are either getting sick, or you have a condition that is not diagnosed--anemia, glucose intolerance, the list is long. see a doctor if it happens again.

I would rather be shaky, nauseated, etc going up a steep hill than have it happen bombing down. be careful and get it checked out. I don't even think it is normal to require any supplemental food if your ride is under 45 minutes and you are eating meals.

good luck
jim

[thwart]

(sort of like those old-unused-condoms married guys have carried around in their wallets since they were teenagers...the just in case that never happened. But it's still there. Just in case.)

Now that's not nice... :D

[stevep]

I (sort of like those old-unused-condoms married guys have carried around in their wallets since they were teenagers... .)

i sold mine to swoop in las vegas.

he couldnt find one anywhere there.
made money on it.
cost me $.30 in 1978...
sold it to him for $3.00

pretty neat pure profit. as i had written it off in 1982.

[gt6267a]

Salt / Potassium? Stress? Something other than bonking?

I am with jimcav ... it seems strange to bonk in under an hour unless you hadn’t eaten for a lot longer than six hours. This isn’t a TT in the tour, it’s 7.5 miles chillin’. Two cookies should take care of getting you home even if you missed lunch.

I felt crappy almost immediately.

If you were on empty from the beginning, ok, sure, it could happen, but, after eating lunch and cookies ... how empty could you be ... you might be ready for dinner but there were nutrients in the system.

[1centaur]

Total vote for not a bonk. The Vegas line says 8-5 you'll have other symptoms within a few days.

[Ginger]

Well, it's awfully close to lunch...

food poisoning from breakfast that day or dinner the day before?


Oh Hey, I used to get like that...now that I don't eat gluten, I don't anymore. :)
Hammer, meet nail. Celiac.
:)

[gt6267a]

Well, it's awfully close to lunch...

food poisoning from breakfast that day or dinner the day before?


Oh Hey, I used to get like that...now that I don't eat gluten, I don't anymore. :)
Hammer, meet nail. Celiac.
:)

Celiac ... yeah I used to be tired all the time and HAVE to get some zzzz at 9pm. Now I am up at midnight. And I have had the thought ... what if I was awake during high school and college ... That said, in life, Celiac D doesn’t just sneak up on a person. I.e. Don’t Celiacs talk about having the same problems forever? The solution might sneak up and be a wonderful surprise but the problems don’t come out of no where. Seems like there is more to learn about this mystery.

Also, I don’t know about you, but if something eaten is going to give me sheot (hahahahhaha), I’m usually put on notice of later joy within 20 minutes.

[CNY rider]

Totally uneventful ride home tonight.

Gnawed down some deer jerky before leaving.
No problems whatsoever.
We'll see if anything else comes up, otherwise chalk it up as a bad day. :beer:

[Ginger]

Celiac ... yeah I used to be tired all the time and HAVE to get some zzzz at 9pm. Now I am up at midnight. And I have had the thought ... what if I was awake during high school and college ... That said, in life, Celiac D doesn’t just sneak up on a person. I.e. Don’t Celiacs talk about having the same problems forever? The solution might sneak up and be a wonderful surprise but the problems don’t come out of no where. Seems like there is more to learn about this mystery.

Also, I don’t know about you, but if something eaten is going to give me sheot (hahahahhaha), I’m usually put on notice of later joy within 20 minutes.

No, it can come on rather suddenly from what I understand. Doesn't have to be lifelong, can be triggered by a stress of some sort. Pregnancy, surgery, injury, etc.

HEY THAT'S IT. He's right. You're pregnant!

[Grant McLean]

Totally uneventful ride home tonight.

Gnawed down some deer jerky before leaving.
No problems whatsoever.
We'll see if anything else comes up, otherwise chalk it up as a bad day. :beer:

Good news.

I've had a few strange moments. Once running after work in the winter,
I remember being about 15 minutes into my usual 10K, and feeling really
floaty and totally drained. I walked for a bit, pushed on and felt like i was
going to pass out.... but I kept going. I lived.

-g

[chuckred]

i sold mine to swoop in las vegas.

he couldnt find one anywhere there.
made money on it.
cost me $.30 in 1978...
sold it to him for $3.00

pretty neat pure profit. as i had written it off in 1982.

it wasn't as leaky as the 1978 inner tube I carried around for all those years "just in case"...

[DfCas]

If it returns,I suggest you have some blood tests done to eliminate possible problems. Usual profiles that include the liver,pancreas,etc.

Do you jump on the bike and hammer away?Maybe a slower warmup would help.

If you consume alchohol,give it up for a week or so.We diabetics must be extremely careful about alchohol consumption,as it occupies the liver and tends to lower blood glucose levels.

The symptoms you described are consistent with low blood glucose-nausea,sweaty,weak. i've seen it happen to normals after eating a carb only meal and then riding-the dreaded insulin response crash.I've not seen it in cases where its been > than 2 hours after injesting carbs.

Treat this with respect-hypoglycmia can be very dangerous.