did coke cause me to bonk

[madvics]

Hi all i did the diamond rush marathon at cullinan this weekend, it was my first 70km.

can someone tell me where i went wrong.

 

I carbo loaded two days before saturday with 32 gi, had future life for breakfast with no sugar ,a bottle a 32 gi on my bike and water in my pack,at every watering hole except for the last one i had a glass of 32 gi.

 

at the last watering hole there was about 11 kms left i decided to have a glass of coke,it wasnt 20 minutes,i lost all my energy ran out of water and almost felt like dying.

 

I did not finish well at all, was it the coke?

 

forgot to mention i also had 32 gi chews on me which i too every 30 mins,they did not help me at the end.

 

thanx for your feed back

[Tiny K]

doing drugs is not cool man :clap: :clap:

[TNT1]

I honestly don't have a clue what 32ig is. It sounds like marketing crap to me.

 

I'd say the reason you hit the wall is due to a lack of solid food.

 

Next time, forget what the marketers tell you, eat lotsa pasta, and on the bike take one bottle of water, and one bottle of coke (or two bottles of half and half) and some bananas in your pockets. Drink before you feel thirsty, and eat before you feel hungry.

[Top Fuel]

It doesn't sound like the problem was the coke to me. It sounds like you just ran out of energy. Be interesting to see what other people say. How long were you on the bike for?

[Gillie]

Also thought he needed to eat something. Madvics does not give an idea of time spent on the bike, but liquids and a few chewies might be too little. A banana or baby potato would have helped a lot, don't think it's the Coke that made you bonk.

[Tiny K]

I actually have no idea - I did the one tonner cycle race two weekends ago. 153Km's of sheer riding pleasure... or not!

 

A bud of mine stopped for coke at 120Km mark and rode fine - I however cramped up from 126Km's until the finish.

 

Might not have been to coke but rather the lack of nutrition - your body can absorb 75g of carbs per hour so starting to eat from before the start, fuel's you body and prevents it from using your glycogen stores (and prevent you from bonking).

 

His eating routine is different from mine - I ate Gu's and Energy bars, he just ate nutella on white bread.

 

Edit: btw we both use 32Gi

Edited October 24, 2011 by Tiny K

[The expat cyclist]

Aaaaaaaaah, hitting the wall. It happened to me once and I swore NEVER to let it happen again!

 

Bonking is when you simply run out of fuel. I hate to say this but I agree with TNT - maybe not enough solid food before the race.

 

Eat before the race, drink during the race. I am not a huge fan of eating during a race. My theory is that your body is not going to spend a lot of time digesting food while you are going like a boeing. So what you eat during a race might take too long to digest or will not even get digested fully to be truely usefull. Yah, sure it also depends on what you eat and how easy it is for your stomach to digest.

Edited October 24, 2011 by The real MJ

[_David_]

I think it was the heat not the coke. I found the last couple km hard as well, had a swim in one of the water reservoir with about 5 km to go and that sorted me out...

[AndreZA]

I would say it can be partly be the coke's fault. Coke gives you a lift but drops you quite suddenly. You should have started eating 30 minutes into the race so that the fuel was ready towards the end.

[TNT1]

I agree with TNT

 

 

 

Post of the day

[Carmichael]

what i do, i drink a bottle an hour and eat a powerbar every hour with a banana that i get at the wp, hungry or not... i eat it. Bonked once in my life , and also on my first 75km ride, that day i ate nothing on the bike.

Edited October 24, 2011 by Carmichael

[tombraider]

Coke gives me one hell of a spike and if I don't finish within 30 min or have another Coke, I fall in a hole energywise, sort of what you explained happend to you. I have learnt to stay away from Coke during an event and enjoy it post ride.

Another big no-no is to flush down a gu with coke. Instant cramping!

[Johan Bornman]

Throw away all the crap with mathematical formulas in their name.

 

Eat low release stuff for breakfast and some faster-release solid stuff whilst you ride. Solid stuff can include a wholewheat sarmie, (Brooklands bagel with molasses and peanut butter is yummy), a little boiled potato as suggested, a banana or even fruitcake. Palatability is an issue and very dry stuff makes eating on the run difficult.

 

Have one bottle with plain water and one with low-concentration sugar water - be it Coke, Powerade or whatever you fancy. There is no need for you to consume any syrups (goo) during any 70km race.

 

Depending on your conditioning, you could have spiked your blood sugar by eating a high glucose snack during a race and then have the spike invert and cause low blood sugar before you finish the race - causing what happened to you. However, I think you just ran out of energy. Your body has to be trained to operate as you want it to and by zapping it with bogus race additives you're doing yourself a disservice.

 

Bonking isn't nice, so just follow the trusted formula and enjoy your next race.

[TNT1]

Another big no-no is to flush down a gu with coke. Instant cramping!

 

BS. That's dependent on the individuals own unique body chemistry.

[TNT1]

Throw away all the crap with mathematical formulas in their name.

 

Eat low release stuff for breakfast and some faster-release solid stuff whilst you ride. Solid stuff can include a wholewheat sarmie, (Brooklands bagel with molasses and peanut butter is yummy), a little boiled potato as suggested, a banana or even fruitcake. Palatability is an issue and very dry stuff makes eating on the run difficult.

 

Have one bottle with plain water and one with low-concentration sugar water - be it Coke, Powerade or whatever you fancy. There is no need for you to consume any syrups (goo) during any 70km race.

 

Depending on your conditioning, you could have spiked your blood sugar by eating a high glucose snack during a race and then have the spike invert and cause low blood sugar before you finish the race - causing what happened to you. However, I think you just ran out of energy. Your body has to be trained to operate as you want it to and by zapping it with bogus race additives you're doing yourself a disservice.

 

Bonking isn't nice, so just follow the trusted formula and enjoy your next race.

 

 

Even more alarming than MJ agreeing with me, is I agree 100% with JB!

[Benjamin]

Of all the juices I've tried, find 32gi the best for me. I also have some red ambulance at water tables when I feel I need it and never caused me to blow. Agree with other posts, doesn't matter what type of fuel you using, when your intake is less than the reserves you use, going to hit the wall. It sucks when it happens. Always keep an emergency gu or gel to suck on if you need it.