# "Blow Up" ?



## Gnarly 928 (Nov 19, 2005)

Is it ever so dramatic as that? How many have really ever totally blown up? I've been a racer for many years and I've even done some Ultra events. I've been dropped many many times over the years. But I don't think I've ever really 'blown up" in the dramatic fashion that I often 'pace myself' in order to avoid. 

Yes, I have bonked, hit the wall, felt like I could never get back because I was so 'powerless' from lack of fuel or water...but I don't recall ever going too hard and just blowing up...really... Yes, I have started a climb and not been able to hold the pace all the way to the top..I've hung with the leaders till I just couldn't keep up. I've burned too many matches on an ill-timed solo break and been caught and dropped by the pack....but I don't 'asplode' completely all of sudden.. ...I just fall further and further behind, though sometimes I even get a second wind and catch back or even (gasp!) go on for the win... It's not, for me, a dramatic event but more like I'm forced to acknowledge that I can not go as hard..so I slow up a little to keep going.

Am I not pushing myself hard enough? Should I really EXPLODE, and drop to say 3mph with my tongue hanging out on my top tube? Or is being forced by your body to say "enough"...Uncle!...is that the real 'blowing up'?


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## Alex_Simmons/RST (Jan 12, 2008)

Ever done a track kilo? Or overpaced an individual pusuit?


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## wim (Feb 28, 2005)

I suppose it's all just semantics, but Alex' response is right on the money: there is no more in the tank. If you can 'catch back on' or recover to win a badly-paced timed track event, you didn't "blow up" as I would define it.


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## Wilierit (Oct 31, 2005)

Gnarly 928 said:


> Is it ever so dramatic as that? How many have really ever totally blown up? I've been a racer for many years and I've even done some Ultra events. I've been dropped many many times over the years. But I don't think I've ever really 'blown up" in the dramatic fashion that I often 'pace myself' in order to avoid.
> 
> Yes, I have bonked, hit the wall, felt like I could never get back because I was so 'powerless' from lack of fuel or water...but I don't recall ever going too hard and just blowing up...really... Yes, I have started a climb and not been able to hold the pace all the way to the top..I've hung with the leaders till I just couldn't keep up. I've burned too many matches on an ill-timed solo break and been caught and dropped by the pack....but I don't 'asplode' completely all of sudden.. ...I just fall further and further behind, though sometimes I even get a second wind and catch back or even (gasp!) go on for the win... It's not, for me, a dramatic event but more like I'm forced to acknowledge that I can not go as hard..so I slow up a little to keep going.
> 
> Am I not pushing myself hard enough? Should I really EXPLODE, and drop to say 3mph with my tongue hanging out on my top tube? Or is being forced by your body to say "enough"...Uncle!...is that the real 'blowing up'?



I was in a race this past year in which I completely exploded myself. Went too hard after cresting a short 750 meter 11% climb. Saw the split starting to happen and started to bridge across when all the fluids I had consumed in the previous 2 hrs. came back and out. I couldn't breathe at all during the projectile vomiting phase of the effort. Went from 5th wheel to 75th in about 10 seconds. What sucked was that evrything came back together for the sprint 5 miles later. I was out the back and dropped by then. Ended up in 51st place. I was feeling really good up to that point and was having no issues with staying in the pack, staying at the front,chasing etc... I was even in a break for a while that day. Then boom, I exploded!


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## Zipp0 (Aug 19, 2008)

This past summer, as a 5, I rode 30 miles to a race, raced, and rode home. When about 5 miles from home, I hit the wall harder than ever. I could barely turn the cranks over. Good times.


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## mf9point8 (Jul 17, 2006)

In my mind 'blowing up' is slightly different from a 'bonk'. I would use blowing up when going to way hard at the base of a climb and being able to barely put out z2 watts by the top. (which I have done)
Bonking is more gradual for me, like forgetting to eat in a road race or training ride. there comes a point where you get shakey and cant hold a pace, but its not as violent as a blow up.


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## spade2you (May 12, 2009)

I did once this year, very early in the season. I am a Cat 5 and went out with a bunch of the top 3 and 4s. I didn't know who they were, but a friend of mine suggested riding with them because everyone else were rec riders. I was able to keep up with them for 50 miles, then I blew up and had to take a break every couple of miles and was really struggling to get back to my car. It ended up being a 60 mile ride and it was only like my 3rd time out.


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## eddya (Aug 7, 2009)

There's blowing up, and then there's fading out, neither of which are very desirable.


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## kbiker3111 (Nov 7, 2006)

Blowing up happens to me when I push myself til my body sez uncle, recover, push again, recover, and repeat until all of a sudden I can't recover, my legs start cramping and its all I can do to finish the race at 15 mph.


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## JustTooBig (Aug 11, 2005)

just last week, a guy "jumped on my wheel". Literally?

Is it possible to "pull the paceline" without physically touching something else?

This is much ado about nothing (but semantics)...


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## pretender (Sep 18, 2007)

Gnarly 928 said:


> Am I not pushing myself hard enough?


If you are doing it right, you _literally_ explode. Seriously. Explode. Literally.


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## spade2you (May 12, 2009)

pretender said:


> If you are doing it right, you _literally_ explode. Seriously. Explode. Literally.


Like how carbon asplodes?


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## ptfmb71 (May 16, 2007)

I race MTB as well and I think it's easy to blow up during XC races when you begin racing. Many XC courses are steep ups so you can never recover. I find that on the road you can recover and maybe bonk later. During my second season of MTB XC racing I once came out so hard that I had nothing left in the tank half way through the first lap....every time I tried to recover I had a steep climb and was getting passed like I was standing still. I almost puked a couple of times trying to catch up.


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## Creakyknees (Sep 21, 2003)

I did a January ride with a much stronger rider a couple years ago. I was in decent "base" fitness, but he was riding at a slightly faster pace than my comfort level. About 50 miles into a 60 mile ride, my legs rather suddenly ran out of gas. I had about 5 minutes of warning, but by then it was too late to eat anything. I had to tell the guys I was bonked, and rolled in at about 12 mph.

That's a bonk. And bonks are bad - when your legs/liver/glycogen empties out like that, bad things start happening to your muscles. A bonk can take weeks to recover from and are worth taking special efforts to avoid.

"Blowing up" in my mind, means you can't sustain a shorter/harder effort but can still recover and eventually get back up to good pace.

/ edited b/c I didn't answer the OP's question.

I think in the racing context, it's a tactical decision that come from knowing what kind of efforts you can do, and whether you can hold on until the pace eases a bit, or if you'll blow up and should ease up now.

But in terms of end-of-race or must-do efforts, yeah I've blown up, sometimes before the line, and had to roll across gasping for breath, barely turning the pedals. Sometimes I've been out of position when "the move" happens and have to go full anaerobic to bridge...and sometimes I blow up just short of making the bridge.... so yah I've blown up many times. 

The trick is to know when / how and why, in racing, to make a "blow up" effort.


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## easyridernyc (Jan 10, 2008)

i think i had kind of a bonk the other day ...putt putting along at, i dont know, maybe 15, 16 mph, 20 25 miles in, basically minding my own beeswax and admiring the scenery, ya know. and all of a sudden group of four pretty fit cats come a cruising by. usually i just tip to the side and give berth, but the one cat at the head of the pack kinda sneered at me a bit, so i figured, phuck it. why not, i'll just tuck in and pick it up a bit. so im a cruising along at, i dunno mighta been 20, 23,24 mph for a good bit there, which is a pretty good clip for me i am an old man

but that day i was feeling pretty good for some reason, had that big muscle piston action going. until we turn in towards the bottom of a pretty big hill. when some pedestrian (a- hole, with a f uckin back pack on no less) walks right out into the middle of the road and in front of the pack. i mean out into the middle of the road and STOPPED, bro, turning to look at the riders bearing down on him with this half stupid, half grinning expression on his face, i dont know what the f uck the guy coulda been thinking. slowed everyone down, and just as i'm cranking up to get my tired old ass up the hill. halfway up, pack is pulling away, im losing speed and in the wrong gear to boot, so out of the saddle i come, but by then its almost too late. and then, by the crest of the hill...

bonk a ppotamus. that hurt.

curiously enough, though, i did feel like i recovered later...


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## EDUC8-or (Jan 2, 2009)

I blow up in just about every race and on our club rides. At 6'2" I can push a lot of wind and have good (but not very sustainable) power so somehow I've been designated as a leadout man. On the sprint on our club rides or at the end of a race I look around for our best sprinters and hit it as hard as I can until I can no longer turn over the pedals. Usually my legs feel like they're going to explode and if I do it right I'm gasping for air so badly it sounds like I'm wheezing. I'd consider that blowing up.

I'll be working on sustaining my power this year so fewer people pass me by after I blow up.


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## ptfmb71 (May 16, 2007)

EDUC8-or said:


> I blow up in just about every race and on our club rides. At 6'2" I can push a lot of wind and have good (but not very sustainable) power so somehow I've been designated as a leadout man. On the sprint on our club rides or at the end of a race I look around for our best sprinters and hit it as hard as I can until I can no longer turn over the pedals. Usually my legs feel like they're going to explode and if I do it right I'm gasping for air so badly it sounds like I'm wheezing. I'd consider that blowing up.
> 
> I'll be working on sustaining my power this year so fewer people pass me by after I blow up.


yes this is a "blow up"...but it's typically referred to as going out to hard in the beginning and not having anything left in the tank.


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## MR_GRUMPY (Aug 21, 2002)

"Am I not pushing myself hard enough? Should I really EXPLODE, and drop to say 3mph with my tongue hanging out on my top tube?"



You know that you're getting ready to "blow", when you begin to see dead relatives beckoning you to come into the light. All the color starts to wash out of your vision, and you start to get tunnel-vision. When you do blow, your speed may drop 10 mph.

Blowing on a climb is a different animal. The best way to experience a traditional "blow up" is to ride in a fast group, or race, where you have to ride at a HR of 5-10 beats over AT. After a while you will begin to hurt, it will become harder and harder to hang on. After a while longer you will begin to pant like a dog, and begin to experience the typical blow up symptoms. When you begin to lose your vision, it will feel like someone has cut off your face and thrown gasoline on it.


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## teapotter (Feb 1, 2007)

Not sure if this is "Blowing up", but I definitely lost it during a race. I was in a lead group during the race, but after the last climb, I lost it, had nothing,could barely turn the cranks. It was *very* hot, and I think I was dehydrated, or maybe even feeling a bit of heatstroke as I felt some chills. It was definitely something I won't forget for any race in very hot conditions!


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## DZfan14 (Jul 6, 2009)

There definitely is a such thing as blowing up. Blowing up happens because you put in a hard effort that you couldn't really afford to with the end result being complete and utter culmination. If you put in a hard effort but recover then you didn't blow up.

Usually there needs to be a special circumstance when I blow up. Like this summer on an evening group ride in 100 degree heat and I decided to get cute on a climb and then followed it up by going for one of the sprint points. I blew up so bad that my heart rate never really fully recovered and I dropped. After a few minutes I was getting passed by some novice riders onand to add insult to injury one of them was easily 30 lbs overweight and was bursting out of his Rock Racing team kit on a tri-bike.


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