EnPassant
Remember Remember some date in November Member
- Location
- Gloucester
With @Fnaar taking a short break, I might get away with asking this seriously.
I think I understand the principle, it's where your body runs out of fuel. However I'm having a bit more difficulty understanding in practice.
So, with a bit of background to start:-
I am trying to lose weight (see weight watchers thread), I started the year at 93kg and am now 75kg. So not actually overweight at all any more (@1.78m), though I'm still not happy that I'm the lean mean machine I want to be, another 5 to 10kg is needed.
As such, I fit the restricted calorie intake around a regime I find the easiest. This means no breakfast because I never wake up hungry. Thus when I go on my daytime ride it's often having not eaten for the better part of probably 12-16 hours. Unsustainable for some I know, but I prefer it that way, because if I eat in the morning when not particularly hungry, I'm still just as hungry by 5 or 6 o'clock as if I hadn't. With a daily calorie limit, it's simpler and easier not to eat in the morning. It causes me no problems on rides up to about 30 miles (and maybe not at all but see following)
Now to the bonk if that's what it is:-
I have also increased my distances over the year and from a start point of about 5 miles a day, I now do 15 to 20 most days with the odd day off. Some of this is just pootling and shopping, and some a bit more vigorous but not racing speed, say 15mph average roughly, maybe 20mph on the flat. None of this causes me an issue. However:-
A couple of times recently I have done 40 miles or a bit more, and here is where I hit some kind of a wall at around 35-40 miles, it's hard to explain exactly and could simply be that I need more fitness/stamina and practice at extended distance. The symptoms are 1. A general feeling of tiredness 2. legs feeling sort of lactated as if I'd just done a climb but I haven't and they won't recover after a few minutes as they would from a climb 3. The numbness in my rear and to some degree hands and feet that I get from road buzz anyway becomes an order of magnitude worse at about this distance.
The long and short of it is I enjoy the ride up to about the 30-35 mile mark, but it becomes a struggle beyond that and all I really want to do is stop.
I could try eating beforehand or during the ride and see if that fixes it, but don't want to on a regular basis until I get closer to my ideal weight, I'll actually be perfectly happy to keep sub 30 miles until then. In any event I'd genuinely like to know other peoples views on what bonking actually is.
TLDR: What are the precise symptoms of a cycling 'bonk'? How can it be differentiated from say simply needing more fitness/practice? What is your personal experience of them? What measures have you taken to avoid them? Did those measures work?
Thanks folks.
I think I understand the principle, it's where your body runs out of fuel. However I'm having a bit more difficulty understanding in practice.
So, with a bit of background to start:-
I am trying to lose weight (see weight watchers thread), I started the year at 93kg and am now 75kg. So not actually overweight at all any more (@1.78m), though I'm still not happy that I'm the lean mean machine I want to be, another 5 to 10kg is needed.
As such, I fit the restricted calorie intake around a regime I find the easiest. This means no breakfast because I never wake up hungry. Thus when I go on my daytime ride it's often having not eaten for the better part of probably 12-16 hours. Unsustainable for some I know, but I prefer it that way, because if I eat in the morning when not particularly hungry, I'm still just as hungry by 5 or 6 o'clock as if I hadn't. With a daily calorie limit, it's simpler and easier not to eat in the morning. It causes me no problems on rides up to about 30 miles (and maybe not at all but see following)
Now to the bonk if that's what it is:-
I have also increased my distances over the year and from a start point of about 5 miles a day, I now do 15 to 20 most days with the odd day off. Some of this is just pootling and shopping, and some a bit more vigorous but not racing speed, say 15mph average roughly, maybe 20mph on the flat. None of this causes me an issue. However:-
A couple of times recently I have done 40 miles or a bit more, and here is where I hit some kind of a wall at around 35-40 miles, it's hard to explain exactly and could simply be that I need more fitness/stamina and practice at extended distance. The symptoms are 1. A general feeling of tiredness 2. legs feeling sort of lactated as if I'd just done a climb but I haven't and they won't recover after a few minutes as they would from a climb 3. The numbness in my rear and to some degree hands and feet that I get from road buzz anyway becomes an order of magnitude worse at about this distance.
The long and short of it is I enjoy the ride up to about the 30-35 mile mark, but it becomes a struggle beyond that and all I really want to do is stop.
I could try eating beforehand or during the ride and see if that fixes it, but don't want to on a regular basis until I get closer to my ideal weight, I'll actually be perfectly happy to keep sub 30 miles until then. In any event I'd genuinely like to know other peoples views on what bonking actually is.
TLDR: What are the precise symptoms of a cycling 'bonk'? How can it be differentiated from say simply needing more fitness/practice? What is your personal experience of them? What measures have you taken to avoid them? Did those measures work?
Thanks folks.
.
