The Bonk?

[d1bble]

What’s all this about? Why is it called 'the bonk'?

I’ve heard it is similar to runner’s 'the wall', but does it differ in symptoms?

I’d appreciate any stories.

[andirider]

Deleted

Edited by andirider on Tuesday 12th September 09:08

[mcgus]

andirider said:

Imagine its winter and a few degrees above zero. Imagine you've gone with a club run and its been faster than you normally go and much much further than you've ever been before. Imagine that your ego has made you keep up a 20mph+ pace for over 3 hours. Imagine you only had 1 bottle of water and no food. Imagine you are in the last 20 miles from home and its now really really hard. Just to stay in the wheels takes all your willpower and the wind is now in your face. You hit a hill and bang, there is no strength left in your legs and the group has failed to notice your demise. You try to limit your losses but all you achieve is burning your last remaining glyogen. Getting off and having a nap is now a tempting idea. You have tunnel vision and can only crawl along at walking pace. You are now unable to generate enough enery output to keep warm. When you eventually get home you devour any instant food. Cake is good. Expect to fall asleep for a couple of hours only to wake up from feeling more hungry than you have ever been before in your life. Been there a few times but expirience is your friend.

excellent! perfectly put

[Parrot of Doom]

andirider said:

Imagine its winter and a few degrees above zero. Imagine you've gone with a pub run and its been heavier than you normally go and much much further than you've ever been before. Imagine that your ego has made you keep up a 3 pint per hour pace for over 3 hours. Imagine you only had 1 bottle of redbull and no kebab. Imagine you are in the last 20 minutes from last orders and its now really really hard. Just to stay on your feet takes all your willpower and the cig smoke is now in your eyes. You hit on a girl and bang, there is no strength left in your legs and the group has failed to notice your demise. You try to limit your losses but all you achieve is burning your last remaining notes from the wallet. Getting off and having a nap is now a tempting idea. You have tunnel vision and can only crawl along at private taxi cab pace. You are now unable to generate enough enery output to keep on your legs. When you eventually get home you devour any instant food. Last night's pizza is good. Expect to fall asleep for a couple of days only to wake up from feeling worse than you have ever been before in your life. Been there a few times but expirience is your friend.

Fixed.

[andirider]

Parrot of Doom said:

andirider said:

Imagine its winter and a few degrees above zero. Imagine you've gone with a pub run and its been heavier than you normally go and much much further than you've ever been before. Imagine that your ego has made you keep up a 3 pint per hour pace for over 3 hours. Imagine you only had 1 bottle of redbull and no kebab. Imagine you are in the last 20 minutes from last orders and its now really really hard. Just to stay on your feet takes all your willpower and the cig smoke is now in your eyes. You hit on a girl and bang, there is no strength left in your legs and the group has failed to notice your demise. You try to limit your losses but all you achieve is burning your last remaining notes from the wallet. Getting off and having a nap is now a tempting idea. You have tunnel vision and can only crawl along at private taxi cab pace. You are now unable to generate enough enery output to keep on your legs. When you eventually get home you devour any instant food. Last night's pizza is good. Expect to fall asleep for a couple of days only to wake up from feeling worse than you have ever been before in your life. Been there a few times but expirience is your friend.

Fixed.

Spot on!

[saddle bum]

d1bble said:

What’s all this about? Why is it called 'the bonk'?

I’ve heard it is similar to runner’s 'the wall', but does it differ in symptoms?

I’d appreciate any stories.

When it's there, death is preferable to "the Bonk".

If your wildest fantasy was there, naked, you would swap her for food.

Been there and survived, but only just.

Edit: Typos.

Edited by saddle bum on Tuesday 29th August 09:18

[Selmer]

And you've got 8p in your back pocket! now in the days of 'Switch' and debit cards and mobile phones it's easy for a young lad to get out of it. It's been a long time since I saw any youths crawling back from Glaisdale sucking on a Highland Toffee bar at 6mph

[coopers]

I don’t think I have had the fully BONK experience , but I cycled around 30 miles around a month ago (when the weather was very hot, stupid I know) and I was feeling in a must do something to relieve the boredom of staying out of the sun kinda mood.

I had a few targets such as speed throughout the ride and a heart rate goal and lets put it this way heading into the last few miles I was wishing I could of die/sleep or get off but I knew if I did I wouldn’t be getting back on for while…. the flip side of this is if I think about it I could have slipped off, lost concentration and hit a on coming car which wouldn’t been, in the long run a nice experience but I was so ruined at least it would have provided a distraction to the pain I was going through at the time.

I had plenty of fluids and had eaten sensibly before the ride, but I guess it was lack of food on the ride that did me in.

Can I ask what do others do when your body goes past pain and things just get dulled down (anyone experience this), is the grown up sensible side of me meant to win and say get off have a 30 min rest or call for a car to pick me up. Or should the madder side win and should I carry on regardless.... (Within reason).

I have found that when mountain biking I stop and take food in, but on the road I just think got to get to the end and not much else drives me other than this desire to finish… (btw I don’t road ride to watch the scenery go past main drive is fitness and speed)

[Mr E]

The point when you eat the 20 month old hideous powerbar that you find in the backpack, and you *enjoy* it....

[neil_cardiff]

saddle bum said:

d1bble said:

What’s all this about? Why is it called 'the bonk'?

I’ve heard it is similar to runner’s 'the wall', but does it differ in symptoms?

I’d appreciate any stories.

When it's there, death is preferable to "the Bonk".

If your wildest fantasy was there, naked, you would swap her for food.

Been there and survived, but only just.

Edit: Typos.

Edited by saddle bum on Tuesday 29th August 09:18

Indeed.

Even more so when racing off-road. Not only do you have to drag your carcass back up the bumpy hill, you have to hang onto the bike on the way down - bloody difficult at the best of times.

I always rememeber winning a XC race years ago, and having passed my mate on an uphill to beat him, we waited for him at the start.

And waited.

And waited.

Eventually after an hour I rode round again to see where he was.

I found him asleep on a log having bonked severly. I managed to get him going with some drink left in my bottle, but he looked a sorry state - he'd simply blown up trying to keep a pace for one lap to far...

It really does hit you VERY hard.

generally when you are at the furthest point away in your ride...

[marcellus]

My worst bonk was this years Dragon...I did all of the usual sensible stuff (ie good food the night before, breakfast, start taking fluids on after 5 minutes riding and then every 5 mins, gel every 45 minutes) and it's got me through most long distance events and races.....anyhow back to the Dragon...the last 10 miles when every piece of power had gone from my legs, the only thing I could focus on was my own front wheel...not even the Road under it......as for holding a friendly wheel forget it toooo dangerous....just dug in and rode home that's all you can do..

[hollowlegs]

once while doing the fortwilliam downhill course for the avalanche cup i crossed the finish line and collapsed, my legs went from under me and vision blurry, pedaled my guts out that day,it was about 6 degrees and after loosing most of the skin from my shins in a fall half way down it was not a nice feeling, differant to the above mentioned road or xc long distance stuff but it was a wierd experience

[saddle bum]

Mr E said:

The point when you eat the 20 month old hideous powerbar that you find in the backpack, and you *enjoy* it....

Yeah, that's it, even the fungus tastes good.

How do you stop/prevent it?

Cycling is one of the rare forms of activity that require participants to consider re-stoking the fire while they are at it. Obviously sensible eating before and during exercise helps. Knowing your own limitations is better. More than an hour of effort will require food. Water on its own can contribute to hypoclycemia, so use a sports drink that suits you. A body that is trained will be more tolerant, but even the best riders have made calamatous errors and come unstuck.

Anti-bonk foods (apart from the purpose built bars and gels):

Dried apricots/large raisins.
Jam/honey sarnies. (seriously)
Breakfast bars.
Dextrosol, with water.

Edit: Forgot - Bread pudding at the cake stop.

Edited by saddle bum on Tuesday 29th August 16:16

[MTY4000]

My worst: late in the day towards the end of a big loop in the Peak District (MTB ride). Ran out of water and food, in the middle of the moors, no track to be seen, wet and very poor visability (complete with intermittent hailstones) with light failing fast.

I went down hill very quickly after running out of water & food, quite scary at the time as I was lost and the conditions were not favourable (poor visability, wet and cold). I drew the line at drinking from streams though, not a good idea in sheep country.

Not my best day, but I ate like a King when I got back to civilization though.

[alfaman]

I've just done 6 days mtn biking in Wales .... and seriously "bonked" on the hardest day ...... stupidly set out on 20+ miles very hilly offroad without any spare food , and felt my blood sugar levels plummet after 4 hours in the saddle and still 1 hour from the pub (lunch)..........got to the pub 10 minutes after they stopped serving food

.....but a bit of pleading "I've cycled 5 hours to get here and am absolutely starving" worked a treat


note: this months What Mountain Bike has a recipe for home-made energy bars

[greatgranny]

My worst one was a few years ago in The Lakes.

3 of us did sunday off road rides, decided to tackle an MBR Kiler Loop which was meant to be 40 miles. Very hot day, me on a knackered Saracen, my mates on 2 grand hardtails, at about 30 miles started feeling really ill, legs gave out, dizzy, this was in Grizedale forrest, no water or food. Mates wouldn't stop so had to carry on. Found some food and water and managed to complete the ride. Ended up doing 55 miles! I slept for 12 hours after getting home. Week after went out and bought a Trek hardtail and a camelback.