Ever Bonked?

[CharlV]

It is a killer... You can't think do or react when you are dehydrated.

 

 

On my action photo at the finish line of last years 94.7 it look's as if I had my head down charging over the line like a "wafferse Ertjies Bezuidenhout" fact is I could not keep my head up ! I Sh!t you not sir !!!!

[Woofie]

Ive been there once before as well.

It was my first long road race a couple of years ago, and I was pretty clueless on what to do.

 

It was the wilde fruit juice ride when they had it from wellington to malmesbury and back (not past riebieck kasteel)

 

I went on the ride only with water, no food nothing. The previous long ride I did I used powerade and I started throwing up on the ride so I decided to give the powerade a skip and only do the water thing.

 

I was very slow back then, but I got past the windmills and I was still cool.

As I turned left towards wellington, I just suddenly had nothing left in the tank.

That stretch of road must have taken me more than an hour and it was alternating between granny gear and standing under trees that got me up there. All I could think about was coke. It haunted me!!!!

I eventually stopped at the ambulance and I told them that they had to help me because I just never had any energy at all.

They gave me some gels and after a few minutes I was able to crawl through the rest of the race.

 

Terrible feeling! Never want to go back there again.

[gtr1]

A few too many times for my liking.

 

Worst thing is to bonk on a stage of a stage race and then have to ride a stage the next day. Recovery does not happen. This happened in the Panorama Tour way back when. Bonked on the stage into Lydenberg after Robbers pass.Rode the last 10 k's into Lydenberg 20 metres behind 2 guys who had given up for the day. I couldn't even get on the wheel to have an easier ride.

 

When I got to the hotel I downed a litre of coke and ate en entire fruit cake. I even refused to share with my roomate.

 

The next day we had to ride a time trial.....I kakked off big time........until Tony Impey caught me and I stole a bit of slipstream.

[Cois]

Ooh I fogot... I Groblersdal, after a night shift decided to take the bike out... That day was bad news. 32 degrees under the trees ans some powerade... Rode till I puked... Did the ride with my folks. I remember I freaked out when I could not outride a red rooman spider gogga thing. Got in bed at 15H00 when I lugged myself to camp ans slept till 21H00 missing most of the party I had to attend.

 

Aai the fun days I had in the 15 years of cycling...

[Gravity Sux]

If Crater Cruise 2010 was another 100m I would have been unconscious with meters to go. One of you mentioned shivering...you know you bonked when you are really cold with gooseflesh in 45 degree sun! And you know you should be drinking and eating but knowing it and doing it are not the same, you just use every ounce of energy to keep that 7km/h granny gear going on the flat. Character building

Snap, 2009. 3h50 for first 90km, 1h for last 10km. This is when they tell you the race distance is 103km and you hit that mark on your polar and you still cant see the finish becomes a big deal. Couldn't go more than 300m on that lumpy track thru the veld without stopping for a rest. Would have bailed and taken a lift to the finish if there had been one. Damage was done before halfway. My mistake was that I had done Hill2Hill a month before, similar distance, twice as much climbing - how bad could the Crater Cruise be?

[Woofie]

This sums it up for my most recent Bonk...

 

http://nevcragg.com/2011/01/08/team-rsaweb-two-day-training-camp/

 

depleted Glycongen at 50km then rode another 70km - hit the wall truly at 25km km to go and that included 2 passes, last one being 15km.

 

Closest I have been to a desolate road yard sale ever.

 

Just remembered something else that happened to me as well.

Your core body temp was most likely too high as well, very very dangerous.

 

Two years back DC was that super hot year.

I was unfortunate enough to be riding with some good riders so they started us 20 min from the end (like after 7am)

By the time we hit the big pass I was feeling livered.

I got to the top and I didnt know how the heck I would be able to finish.

So that was at 80km - still 120km to go and I felt like going to sleep under a bush already.

I thought that I wasnt hydrating and eating properly (but I was) so I just carried on stuffing my face and drinking whatever I could.

Some of the guys in our team were measuring temps in the mid 40's and there was a constant headwind. It was hell.

Decided that I would carry on going despite how I felt until I fell off the bike.

Lost our strongest rider due to heat at 120km.

We all ran out of water at 130-140. Next stop is like 20km away.

 

Got water off one of the farms, dodgy black pipe coming out ground, but at that stage I didnt care where it came from.

 

At 170km I told my team to leave me. I just wanted to crawl back to swellendam.

 

Before they left me the team car threw water over me and filled up my bottles again.

 

And an amazing thing happened.

 

As my body temperature came down my energy started coming back.

Took a little while for it to come down, but when it dropped I felt amazing again.

Kept on using my water to cool myself down then for the last stretch.

 

My team was gone, but I rode those last 30km as if they were the first 30km.

Was slipping some tandems down one of those last hills and they turned around to *** me out.

Why *** me out? We arent racing anymore? We are just all trying to finish.

So I thought stuff it and I dropped them all by myself.

Now, when do you drop tandems by yourself downhill and especially at the end of the DC?

 

Learnt a very important lesson there.

Heat is a killer. I ride with a buff and if it gets hot I will now keep on throwing water over myself.

Buff holds the water for longer than your hair (or in my case lack of it) and hense will keep you cooler for longer.

 

We all know that heat is a killer etc etc.

But when it is happening to you for the first time in a bad way you dont realise that it is not just hydration killing you, but it is actually your core temp that has rocketed past where you can handle it.

[MTB_Roadie]

my last Argus...I was turning 14....got dehydrated because of the heat just before Kommetjie....popped so badly and did like a 5:12 in the end, thought like I was ging to die, couldn't breathe, couldn't even drink anything as I vommited it all out....the medical people even asked if I was fine and wanted to help....but I made it! went up Ou Kaapse Weg, made it all the way, cycle back ever....finished....fell down at the car and slept rest of day and didnt go to school the Monday....was off the road bike since last year April....which gives me around 8 years....

 

So now I am back, more prepared, focused and train more often

[FowlStArt]

ME tries every day!

 

Practice makes perfect

[flymango]

Firstly, let me try and explain my understanding of "bonking" and "hypos". The latter mainly occurs in Type 1 diabetics on an insulin regime (injections), and also in Type 2 diabetics who are on an oral regime (pills).

 

Any doctors/dieticians out there - please correct any of this if I'm wrong.

 

Insulin is a hormone produced by the pancreas which allows cells to covert glucose into energy. Any surplus glucose (eat more than you need) is stored in the liver as glycogen and/or changed to fat and stored in fat cells.

 

The body can therefore use glycogen or fat for energy between meals (depending on the rate of energy demand). Quite simply, as blood glucose levels drop, another hormone is also produced by the pancreas called glucagon which reacts with the liver to break down glycogen stores into glucose for release into the bloodstream.

 

A "hypo" occurs in diabetics when the glucagon response is impaired and the liver does not break down glycogen stores to release glucose into the blood, i.e glucose is continuously converted into energy but is not being replenished into the bloodstream. That's why diabetics grab Coke, juice, etc. when going hypo to get an instant boost in blood glucose levels. But there are glycogen stores.

 

Now "bonking" occurs in any cyclist's body when there aren't any glycogen stores left to convert into glucose (and I think if the rate of energy consumption is higher than the metabolism rate of fat?).

 

Now, during the 2009 Hell & Back, I had THREE hypos on day 1, the first one only 15km into the race while we were climbing up the Swartberg Pass. So obviously, being hypo so many times, didn't allow me to store or replenish adequte glycogen stores for day 2 (actually for that matter for day 1 either!!). Needless to say, it took me TWO HOURS to do 12 km on day two, at which point I had to surrender to defeat. Quite literally I couldn't put one foot in front of the next. That was a very frightening experience.

 

That worst part was having to spend 3 more hours on the back of the sweeper truck in the baking sun, watching the last rider grind it out to the finish!!

[GuyP]

Hey you okes, you're scaring the newbies away from the sport!

 

Geez, it gets scary out there doesn't it!

[FanieFiets]

Last year, 2 km into to running leg of a triathlon I had serious cramping problems. Luckily it was in vineyards and the tasting venue with beautiful stoep was at 2,5 km. I just chilled there for a while to see of I could recover. After the 2nd offer of the owner and his friends I gladly accepted a beer. Rest of the day I sat on the stoep having wine and watching the race! They later dropped me off at the finish with their bakkie. Best 'bonk' ever.

[GuyP]

Last year, 2 km into to running leg of a triathlon I had serious cramping problems. Luckily it was in vineyards and the tasting venue with beautiful stoep was at 2,5 km. I just chilled there for a while to see of I could recover. After the 2nd offer of the owner and his friends I gladly accepted a beer. Rest of the day I sat on the stoep having wine and watching the race! They later dropped me off at the finish with their bakkie. Best 'bonk' ever.

 

FanieFiets, sorry, couldn't read your post, something stuck in my eye!

[Slave]

Year before last at Race for Victory. The course is in my back yard so I figured I had this one taped. The distance frommy house to the start line's like 11 kays. Not quite enough for a warm-up ride, but what the Frikadel? I know this course blindfolded.

 

My vest looks like hamster with bloated cheeks. Banana, energy bars, I have enrgade in my bottles, the weather is nice and cool. Windy, but cool.

 

Race starts and going up Lido Hill I get dropped. Go through Walkerville and past cheese factory and I am under real pressure to keep the bike going. 1st water point and I load up on more bananas, drink and drink some more. I feel drained with like zero energy. My mates who I passed catch up with me and the slower one eventually drops my ass. (WTF?? I can usually kick his butt any time on a reasonable day???)

 

I get a puncture and have an energy bar while I change tubes, hit the road again, Entrance to SBR is another WP, cool, load up on more bananas because I have eaten 4 since the last one plus an energy bar and sucked out at least a bottle of energy drink.

 

That first climb and I know I am in serious trouble. I really hang on digging so deep I think I may have hit Aus. Next climb (which in my experience) is the worst in SBR. Peeps are walking. I force myself to stay on the bike and make it somehow, but now I even more forked.

 

Another puncture and I just want to hurl the bike over the cliff and lie somewhere and cry.

 

I eventually get going again, and now we are into the wind. I stop on the rod outside of magagula heights waiting for the recovery vehicle. I wait, all the peeps puching their bike up that mean fother mucking hill are now coming past me and for the first time in my life, I am happy to abandon a race. NEVER happened before.

 

No recovery vehicle ever arices and eventually, I get back on the bike.

 

I could not lift my leg over the saddle to get off at the finish line over 4.5 hours after the start. I still cannot say how I rode the 11 km home, but I do know that I swore blind I would never cycle again and I would take up being a professional couch potato.

[Zeps]

Based on all these stories I have never 'bonked' in the cycling sense

[Vetseun]

Eina, hope it never happens again

Year before last at Race for Victory. The course is in my back yard so I figured I had this one taped. The distance frommy house to the start line's like 11 kays. Not quite enough for a warm-up ride, but what the Frikadel? I know this course blindfolded.

 

My vest looks like hamster with bloated cheeks. Banana, energy bars, I have enrgade in my bottles, the weather is nice and cool. Windy, but cool.

 

Race starts and going up Lido Hill I get dropped. Go through Walkerville and past cheese factory and I am under real pressure to keep the bike going. 1st water point and I load up on more bananas, drink and drink some more. I feel drained with like zero energy. My mates who I passed catch up with me and the slower one eventually drops my ass. (WTF?? I can usually kick his butt any time on a reasonable day???)

 

I get a puncture and have an energy bar while I change tubes, hit the road again, Entrance to SBR is another WP, cool, load up on more bananas because I have eaten 4 since the last one plus an energy bar and sucked out at least a bottle of energy drink.

 

That first climb and I know I am in serious trouble. I really hang on digging so deep I think I may have hit Aus. Next climb (which in my experience) is the worst in SBR. Peeps are walking. I force myself to stay on the bike and make it somehow, but now I even more forked.

 

Another puncture and I just want to hurl the bike over the cliff and lie somewhere and cry.

 

I eventually get going again, and now we are into the wind. I stop on the rod outside of magagula heights waiting for the recovery vehicle. I wait, all the peeps puching their bike up that mean fother mucking hill are now coming past me and for the first time in my life, I am happy to abandon a race. NEVER happened before.

 

No recovery vehicle ever arices and eventually, I get back on the bike.

 

I could not lift my leg over the saddle to get off at the finish line over 4.5 hours after the start. I still cannot say how I rode the 11 km home, but I do know that I swore blind I would never cycle again and I would take up being a professional couch potato.

[Vetseun]

Good stuff Big S, Its not pleasant and stuffs up your confidence for a while. you keep getting flashbacks

Based on all these stories I have never 'bonked' in the cycling sense