# Questions about bonking



## Ken1966 (Jul 30, 2011)

Just did a 72 mile ride. Felt fine for about 60 miles then 5 miles of slight fatigue. By mile 68 or so I was pretty much done. Slowed to about 15 mph on the flats and struggled up little hills. First 60 miles averaged 20 mph with light wind off my left front ( riding alone). About 2500 feet gain so not too many hills. I only ate a scone and cup of coffee for breakfast. Before the ride I drank about 12 Oz of water. During the ride I drank 3 bottles ( 2 accelerade 1 water). Ate 5 oatmeal bars but found out after they only contained 100 cal each. I weigh 195 lbs 6'1" tall and average about 60 -80 miles a week on the bike and run 5 miles 3 times a week. Have been biking about a year now.
These miles I mention biking and running are at med to high intensity on purpose because I do not have time to put in huge miles so I just up the speed a bit. On my 20 - 30 mile rides I usually ride 22-23 mph if wind will let me. The longest ride I have done in six months is 45 miles.
Did I bonk or is it lack of fitness? Was it dehydration or a combo of the two?
The last 6 miles I felt pasty and dry. When I got home I attacked the fridge. I drank 24 Oz of liquid yogurt, 2 hotdogs, 2 cheese sticks, a full bag of walnuts, and a few other things.
I felt like I could ride more about an hour later, as a matter of fact I wanted to go out and ride an easy 10-20 miles just to see how I felt. My legs are a little sore but not too bad.
Anyway any coments or words of advice would e great. I need to do a longer ride in 6 days (150 miles) and I want to avoid what I just experienced.


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## Ken1966 (Jul 30, 2011)

Forgot to mention weather: mid day sunny, 75-80 degrees medium humidity


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## ericm979 (Jun 26, 2005)

Unless you took 6+ hours, the food intake was marginally ok. But the amount of water probably was not. Lack of fitness probably contributed- chances are you started out too hard.

A scone is not enough breakfast for a long ride.


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## wooglin (Feb 22, 2002)

ericm979 said:


> A scone is not enough breakfast for a long ride.


Words to live by.


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## Ken1966 (Jul 30, 2011)

Thanks for the advice/ comments. I just did 21 miles (14 hours after the 72 mile ride) I feel fine. Went pretty easy at 19.4 mph. Butts a little sore, legs slightly but otherwise I feel fine today. Maybe I did go out a bit fast yesterday for such a long ride ( for me anyway). I did not feel like I was riding hard but I guess it caught up to me and I am sure I was mildly dehydrated as I weighed 6 lbs less when I got home. 
On Sat I'm riding 150 miles. My plan is to draft as much as possible, drink way more than I feel I need, eat a real good breakfast, and eat during the ride early to avoid bonking other than this, I don't know what else to do. This ride will be a real challenge for me even if I do everything right


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## Patterson (Jun 27, 2011)

Your fitness level seems ok to me for a 72 mile ride (115 km). I do 120 km rides (74 miles) once every few weeks and I am in good shape. I don't run like you and I only ride about 50-60 miles a week usually, so you should be able to do it.

I do eat big breakfasts and drink about 2 litres of water, and supplement myself with Hammer Perpeteum. 

Once I tried it without the Hammer and I bonked towards the end.

I'd attribute your bonking to nutrition, but I'm no expert.


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## Mike T. (Feb 3, 2004)

Ken1966 said:


> I am sure I was mildly dehydrated as I weighed 6 lbs less when I got home.


Then you needed about 2-3 litres more fluid during the ride. One litre weighs 1kg or 2.2lbs. Above two percent weight loss due to insufficient fluids will affect performance.


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## Kristatos (Jan 10, 2008)

I agree with Mike T - and I would recommend something with electrolytes and not just water although water is better than nothing. For your upcoming 150 mile ride you'll need to plan your hydration strategy carefully. I did a 115 mile ride with a lot of climbing in May and took in 8.5 liters of secret drink mix (skratch labs sport mix) during the ride. I was also hydrated before the ride and had to stop to take a whiz about 25 miles in. 

Eating is always tougher to make recommendations because what tastes good to me on the bike may be nasty for someone else. Especially 5 or 6 hours into a tough ride - things that sounded great at the supermarket the night before are all of a sudden nasty. I stick to dried fruit, fig bars, rice cakes and trail mix but take whatever works for you and start eating 1.5 hours or so into the ride and keep eating throughout. 

Good luck!


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## Mike T. (Feb 3, 2004)

Kristatos said:


> I agree with Mike T - and I would recommend something with electrolytes and not just water


That's why I wrote "fluid" and not "water". Using strictly water and not replacing electrolytes can lead to hyponatremia. Here it is -

Hyponatremia - PubMed Health


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## Ken1966 (Jul 30, 2011)

Mike T. said:


> That's why I wrote "fluid" and not "water". Using strictly water and not replacing electrolytes can lead to hyponatremia. Here it is -
> 
> Hyponatremia - PubMed Health


Thanks again guys for the info. The first two bottles I drank were accelerade the last bottle was water. That's when I hit the wall. Ive biked and ran for 6 days strait one of which was that 72 mile ride. I'm doing nothing but stretching, carb loading, and hydrating for the next 2 days. I suppose I will have to stop early to take a whizz but that's better than the agony of bonking. 
I'll report back after the ride and let you know how I did. I'll be implementing a lot of the good advice I got here.
Thanks again


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## Trek2.3 (Sep 13, 2009)

I used to tell my troops that if you aren't pissing, you need to ingest more liguid. Forget sweat because it is greatly affected by humidity. Urine is the only visible indicator that you are hydrated enough.

Sunday, I rode 75 miles in dry 90* weather. I drank 300 fl oz and could have used more. It is very easy to underestimate fluid needs especially if you use bottles and need to be constantly refilling them. I use a 100 fl oz Camelback (yes, I know, no class but also no more heat exhaustion / broken helmet / wake up in ER). I don't think it is possible to overhydrate while exerting. You'll just piss away the excess.


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## Ken1966 (Jul 30, 2011)

The ride went well. Nice weather and dry. We were in the 19 mph grouping but latched on to the 22 mph guys at mile 35+/- we were riding 22 -26 mph consistently. I thought I would poop out but I was fine til 135 miles. Got inner thigh cramps. A friend of a friend gave me a pill for cramps and some pickle juice and the last 10 miles I was cramp free
Overall we were 20 mph for the entire 148 miles but 18 of those miles were through downtown Boston, Cambridge, Arlington, Belmont etc...... A lot of lights, stop signs, rolling stops etc. Once we got into the burbs we were running like a train taking turns pulling. A real fun experience. Looking forward to doing it again. 
I'm a bit sore today but not bad
Thanks again for the advice. I'm sure if I had not posted this I would have been on the side of the road rolling around on the ground with cramps


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## Rip Van Cycle (Jun 11, 2012)

Ken1966 said:


> Did I bonk or is it lack of fitness? [...] When I got home I attacked the fridge. I drank 24 Oz of liquid yogurt, 2 hotdogs, 2 cheese sticks, a full bag of walnuts, and a few other things.


Doesn't sound like a fitness issue to me. If you're suffering in the latter stages of your ride and then, after finishing it, you feel like you want to eat Brazil, I'd say you bonked.

There are probably a few adjustments to be made (not go out as hard- seems like sound advice-- take more fluids [especially calorie-bearing fluids], all right)-- but I'd say the biggest adjustment would be sizing-up that "latte-and-scone" breakfast.


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## drodrigueznyc (Mar 30, 2012)

let's see... i did my first century in mid May and eventhough i was exhausted after the ride (who isn't..) I believe it went better than expected.... my fluids and fuel consisted of nothing but gatorade and cliff bars... obviously i had a good breakfast (peanut butter and banana sandwich along with cliff bars and stuff before heading out..

at the rest stops i had my cliff bars and more gatorade.. nothign else... 

funny thing is that just two weeks later i attempted to do my usual 70mile ride on the North County Trail (round trip)

now this is a path i have trained on for two months on weekends and alway made the round trip which is about 68-69miles...

this time i struggled to do 20 miles straight and decided to turn back... i bonked out and couldn't tell why... had the same gatorade and cliff bars but i believe the higher temp (it was 90+) and high humidity made it more difficult... I also believe I started my fuel intake too late... (over an hour after starting my ride)

or maybe I didn't get enough rest the night before... (was 6 hours of sleep enough??)

so go figure.....


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## BlueGrassBlazer (Aug 4, 2009)

I'm just getting into "longer" rides and this all sounds great. I did my longest the other week at 52 miles and bonked at the end. No doubt, it was hydration. You'd think with all the backpacking I've done, and the Bikram (hot) yoga I'd know better but.....
Due to time constraints, most of my rides are 25-40 miles at most so I don't usually eat as I ride. I'll need to plan better as I get into consistent 50-100 mile rides. 
Thanks for the info


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## Ken1966 (Jul 30, 2011)

I'm still on the learning curve on this stuff but have seen the dramatic difference between being prepared vs not. A week and a half ago I struggled with a 72 mile ride. I was dehydrated and ate way to little calories. Three days ago I ate and drank regularly and did 150 miles up into Vermont hills/ mountains and had no problems ( except for a few leg cramps). The cramps I can figure out how to deal with ( more training or further changes in diet and or suplementation on the road). As one previous poster said "drink till you feel like you need to take a whiz". Well that's what I did. I needed to take a whiz from mile 10. Really had to go bad by the time we got to the stop at mile 49. So I was properly hydrated. You need to drink and eat constantly. Even if you don't feel hungry or thirsty, you need to force yourself. Anyway try what these posters have recommended. It absolutely worked for me





BlueGrassBlazer said:


> I'm just getting into "longer" rides and this all sounds great. I did my longest the other week at 52 miles and bonked at the end. No doubt, it was hydration. You'd think with all the backpacking I've done, and the Bikram (hot) yoga I'd know better but.....
> Due to time constraints, most of my rides are 25-40 miles at most so I don't usually eat as I ride. I'll need to plan better as I get into consistent 50-100 mile rides.
> Thanks for the info


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## BlueGrassBlazer (Aug 4, 2009)

quick question for the crew: Anyone ever use coconut water in their drinks? I've used GU and I'm using CytoMax now. I like CytoMax but in really hot weather both the GU and CytoMax give me problems.

When I rode today I used a 50/50 mix of water and coconut water and...outside of the questionable taste...it seemed to do a good job. My GF does hot yoga and they all swear by it.


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## Ken1966 (Jul 30, 2011)

I used it at mile 128 and finished to mile 148 as planned however, at the same time I had pickle juice, and sports legs supplement. So I can't say for sure if it was the coconut water itself or a combo of the other things I ingested.


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