Bonk?

There are probably different levels of bonking.

Here's what I've had the pleasure of going through a few times. Cramps in my calves and in my quadreceps. An almost total inability to pedal at any speed whatsoever. Dizziness. Nausea. The need to get off the bike and lie down, drink something, and hope that what I was feeling would tone down to just misery.

I think its possible that just hitting an energy wall and not being able to push yourself much harder is also a kind of bonking, but its a gentle bonk. Until you have felt like it would be better to just ride into the next oncoming car than push the pedals anymore, I don't think you've gone through an extreme bonk. And no, I don't recommend it.

Duffy

Bonking is not recommended.
All you can think about is food on the flat you struggle to do 15kph every incline seams like l'Alp-d Huez and downhill you feel as if you have a flat. Lite headed, nausea.
And it hits you in no time. As you said 1 min your OK 5min later you want to die.

Fatigue on the other hand is more gradual and is usually just felt just in the muscles. Instead of pumping along at 18mph was7g you would slow to 16 or 17 for say 30 min then 15 to 16 after that and so on.

well that is how I've experienced the two different states.

Bonk: I had a similar experience after a while off the bike & thought I had the same fitness, went out and after around 40kms hit a wall. Felt like throwing up, black spots in my vision, dizziness and an almost out-of-body experience (could see my legs turning - just, but they wouldn't respond to anything and it felt like they weren't there). I was turning my legs in the easiest gear, but it was like pushing through mud - uphill.
Fatigue: I get this alot. But it's easier to push through. Some cramping (stretch out at a set of lights) and just general tiredness.
I do also find, early on in a ride, I do feel 'fatigue' setting on and I think - this can't be right, but as I push through and get into a rhythm this disappears until the real fatigue kicks in. I use 'fatigue' as a guide and try to experiment with foods, drinks, distance, etc to see how I can improve. Once I reach a distance and fatigue hits I work on being able to go that little bit further in another ride to see if I am improving.

Duffy,

You're describing exactly what happened to me yesterday. Towards the end of my 40-mile ride I had to stop every mile or two and just lie right on the ground. Pretty scary. I felt like I was close to throwing up or even blacking out. A couple miles from home along a bike path I found a picnic table to lie on for a while, hoping I'd eventually get the energy to continue my ride home. After at least fifteen minutes it felt like there was no way I could do it. Luckily I had my mobile phone and called my dad to pick me up (lives near me).

No sure if this had anything to do with it, but this was my first day eating after a three-day water fast. I did eat quite a bit of fruit and chocolate almonds that morning and had a banana during the ride. The other thing is that this was the longest and hardest ride I've done in a couple of years, as I've been recovering from acchiles tendonitis.

Anyway, that was my bonking experience yesterday. Not pleasant.

Duffy Pratt said:

There are probably different levels of bonking.

Here's what I've had the pleasure of going through a few times. Cramps in my calves and in my quadreceps. An almost total inability to pedal at any speed whatsoever. Dizziness. Nausea. The need to get off the bike and lie down, drink something, and hope that what I was feeling would tone down to just misery.

I think its possible that just hitting an energy wall and not being able to push yourself much harder is also a kind of bonking, but its a gentle bonk. Until you have felt like it would be better to just ride into the next oncoming car than push the pedals anymore, I don't think you've gone through an extreme bonk. And no, I don't recommend it.

Duffy

wolfgang said:

No sure if this had anything to do with it, but this was my first day eating after a three-day water fast. I did eat quite a bit of fruit and chocolate almonds that morning and had a banana during the ride. The other thing is that this was the longest and hardest ride I've done in a couple of years, as I've been recovering from acchiles tendonitis.

So you go out and do the hardest ride you done in a few years, the day after not having any calories for three days? Could you possibly explain to me the wisdom in that? Sometimes I wonder if people have any concept about how the human body actucally works.....

That was most definately a "bonk".

was7g said:

Noob question about bonking. I went out to ride ~50 miles (80k) today, and like an idiot didn't have anything to eat with me on the bike (although I had a good breakfast). Around mile 35, I just ran out of energy... flat out... I couldn't maintain speed except on the very flattest parts of the route, or on downhills.

I'm just curious as to what the difference between a bonk and good old fashioned fatigue is? It seemed to me to happen within 3 or 4 miles... at one point, I'm doing great, and then over about a 10-15 minute period, I started to wane, and then all of a sudden was like, "I gotta get off the bike soon." It was like a hammer had hit me... Needless to say, the latter miles of the ride absolutely sucked. I think I averaged somewhere between 10 and 12 mph (normal for me is just shy of 18 mph).

Thanks.

I rode a 53 miles today in rolling hills and a few short climbs. I consumed a cliff bar, two shots of hammer gel, and 2 20 ounce bottles of water heed mixture, plus a half a small hydration pack of water. Maybe thats a little much but at least I know the pain I felt was coming from good old fashion fatigue.

Lonnie Utah said:

So you go out and do the hardest ride you done in a few years, the day after not having any calories for three days? Could you possibly explain to me the wisdom in that? Sometimes I wonder if people have any concept about how the human body actucally works.....

That was most definately a "bonk".

Yeah, it doesn't seem wise at all, does it? I think the problem was that I felt very strong, stronger than normal for the first couple of hours, so I just kept going farther out into the boonies than I normally do. It was also a very windy day and relatively hot so I was pleasantly surprised at how well I was doing. It was about half-way after my turn-around point that I started bonking. I did have plenty of water before and during the ride. Yeah, I guess it was dumb, but what I was trying to do was go by the way I felt rather than worrying whether I'd had enough fuel, and like I said, I felt great for most of the ride. I guess the "bonk" just has a way of creeping up on you.