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Bonked

Old 02-04-09, 03:16 PM
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Bonked

Big Time!!! First time I've ever bonked on the trainer. Had my favorite breakfast of pancakes, threw in the virtual reality ride of Lake Placid and away we go. Four water bottles lined up one with sportsdrink, a homemade powerbar thought I was all set. Well the last 20 minutes I knew I was in trouble but pushed thru it and after 2h55m it was over. I was shot, kept drinking fluids, had a good lunch with all food groups but four hours later I still feel like crap, headache too. I went way over the edge on this one. One thing I learned was my homemade power bar does not provide enough for this intense training video last time I ate granola bars and had no issue. Did burn 2750 calories. Anything you guys promote to help with the bonks!!?? I've never felt like this after a ride on the road but I do focus on my calorie intake a lot more when riding the road.
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Old 02-04-09, 03:31 PM
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For any ride over 2 hours, I start pushing 250 - 300 calories/hour at the 60 - 90 minute mark. Usually, it's half a Clif Bar, a bottle of Accelerade, and an Accel Gel. I pretty much graze constantly after an hour and a half of riding.
I also take 1 - 3 Endurolyte capsules every 60 - 90 minutes depending on how much I'm sweating.
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Old 02-04-09, 03:46 PM
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Eat more often. I did 2 hours 20 minutes today. While riding I ate several handfuls of preztels, and some low salt crackers. Lots of water. No trouble today, though I have had problems in the past.
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Old 02-04-09, 04:43 PM
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How much have you been riding this week? Might have had only a percentage of your max glycogen level stored up...

Originally Posted by youcoming
Big Time!!! First time I've ever bonked on the trainer. Had my favorite breakfast of pancakes, threw in the virtual reality ride of Lake Placid and away we go. Four water bottles lined up one with sportsdrink, a homemade powerbar thought I was all set. Well the last 20 minutes I knew I was in trouble but pushed thru it and after 2h55m it was over. I was shot, kept drinking fluids, had a good lunch with all food groups but four hours later I still feel like crap, headache too. I went way over the edge on this one. One thing I learned was my homemade power bar does not provide enough for this intense training video last time I ate granola bars and had no issue. Did burn 2750 calories. Anything you guys promote to help with the bonks!!?? I've never felt like this after a ride on the road but I do focus on my calorie intake a lot more when riding the road.
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Old 02-04-09, 04:55 PM
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Originally Posted by JoelS
Eat more often. I did 2 hours 20 minutes today. While riding I ate several handfuls of preztels, and some low salt crackers. Lots of water. No trouble today, though I have had problems in the past.
Actually real food is the key. If you are solely relying on liquid supplements you will bonk. The stomach needs some content in it in order to retain water... otherwise the water and the electrolytes you added just sweat out.

For rides under 2 hours, no worries. After that, every 1/2 I GU (or a hand full of raisins, or fig bars whatever - doesn't take much - it just needs o tbe consistant). If your rides are 4 hours+ you just take in a meal like a PBJ sandwich or something.

And I can do all the right things on the ride and still bonk. It all starts with the day before. Be concious of what you eat the day before a ride. If your body hasn't processed the food properly (or there is no food to process properly) then is no glycogen store for you to rely on.

I used to have a friend who would drink the night away, show up for a ride with Starbucks and a sweet roll and wonder why he bonked 20 miles out.
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Old 02-04-09, 04:59 PM
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Did you guys know that old school guys used to take cake with them on rides...cake. Then again they used to smoke during the Tour de France and drink bourbon or something before stages...
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Old 02-04-09, 05:45 PM
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TdF riders today drink flat coca cola during the ride. Drink that.
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Old 02-04-09, 06:16 PM
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Originally Posted by jyossarian
TdF riders today drink flat coca cola during the ride. Drink that.
I drink that for hangovers
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Old 02-05-09, 10:53 AM
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My 2c.

I swear by caffeine. I will have a latte if I have a couple of hours pre-ride. The skim milk keeps the espresso from being too harsh on my stomach and provides some protein. Otherwise I drink diet coke before I ride. No sugar that long before riding.

I am a relatively new cyclist and only have a few rides > 3 hours. I don't ride every day. My usual diet is low fat, high carb focusing on fruits,vegs, whole grains. Usually I just take water on a ride; for my most recent 50 mile ride I took a bottle of G2 and a powerbar also. I seem to average 13.5 mph whether I'm riding 5 miles or 50. These are rides where my performance is important to me but I'm not redlining or maxing out. It sounds like your intensity was much higher.

The only time I bonked was at a swim meet where I had 5 events in 6 hours, along with warmups/warmdowns for each event. It was absolutely a miserable day - I got chilled and couldn't warm up, had a 200 mile drive after dark to get home, and I was on the verge of tears. I started that day already depleted and didn't have much breakfast and had no snacks. This sounds really bad but after that I started eating a small bowl of ice cream for breakfast about 4 hours before my first event along with coffee. It had a lot of calories, more staying power than a breakfast of only simple carbs, and it was low-volume so it did not mess up my streamlining. Away from home an Egg McMuffin is what I get.

One of my worst swim meets was where I hit a breakfast buffet and filled a few plates. A boat anchor would have been a better meal. I was bloated, lethargic and slow the rest of the day.

Other thoughts:
* Chocolate milk immediately afterwards is a good recovery drink.
* Alcohol can take 36 hours to process before you can ride well. After a good night of margaritas and a morning workout, I've tested with a blood glucose of 36.
* If you know you're in trouble, it might be time to bail rather than tough it out.
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Old 02-05-09, 11:37 AM
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Originally Posted by Pamestique
Actually real food is the key. If you are solely relying on liquid supplements you will bonk. The stomach needs some content in it in order to retain water... otherwise the water and the electrolytes you added just sweat out.
For rides over 2.5 hours, I'm also a proponent for real food. Sometimes I eat something like a granola or sports energy bar, but find that too expensive and wasteful to do 2-3 times a week in the summer. I've found that the best portable foods for such rides is a small baggie of salty and crunchy snack foods (wheat crackers, chex-mix, etc.), and maybe some dried fruit. I prefer banana chips and dried papaya or mango, but just about any dried fruit will do (for me, usually whatever is cheapest that week).

On really long or hot rides, I've found that dry-roasted and salted nuts hit the spot like nothing else. They also seem to help prevent cramps in me.

Take care.

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Old 02-05-09, 11:53 PM
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It looks like you had plenty of water, but when I'm on my rollers I sweat buckets, did you get thirsty?
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Old 02-06-09, 02:49 AM
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There's something about just pancakes & syrup that makes me go into sugar deficit about 2 hours later (no activity to speak of) where I actually get the shakes/feel faint. IF I have some "breakfast meat" with them, then bo problem whatsoever??? It's ONLY pancakes that do this to me???
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Old 02-06-09, 12:14 PM
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Originally Posted by Meek
I drink that for hangovers
Flat coke for hangovers? Is that like waking up the morning after a party and taking a swig of beer with a cig butt floating in it?
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Old 02-06-09, 12:31 PM
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Originally Posted by Bill Kapaun
There's something about just pancakes & syrup that makes me go into sugar deficit about 2 hours later (no activity to speak of) where I actually get the shakes/feel faint. IF I have some "breakfast meat" with them, then bo problem whatsoever??? It's ONLY pancakes that do this to me???
Could be the simple sugar in the syrup spiking your blood sugar, do you use real maple or the fake stuff?

If you use real maple syrup or agave syrup (which is awesome btw) you might fare better as its lower on the glycemic index. When I'd have too much sugar for breakfast I'd crash later regardless of my exercise level. Whole grains and wholesome sweeteners totally fixed it for me.
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Old 02-06-09, 12:57 PM
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You are all better than me. The only way for me to ride more than two hours is to get two hours from home. Over an hour on the trainer and I'd go nuts from the boredom. Fortunately my weather doesn't force me inside much.
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Old 02-06-09, 04:28 PM
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I'm planning on doing that Lake Placid DVD with coach Troy tomorrow... glad I ready this. WIll prepare some snacks. ANd another water bottle.
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Old 02-06-09, 08:32 PM
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Please pardon my noob-ness. But what is "Bonk"?
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Old 02-06-09, 09:40 PM
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Please pardon my noob-ness. But what is a virtual reality ride of Lake Placid? What is Lake Placid? Is this some kind of DVD used while riding a trainer? How does one adjust the effort?

I'm not a high tech rider!...$12 from speedometer from Performance is all I need!
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Old 02-06-09, 11:09 PM
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Originally Posted by db0723
Please pardon my noob-ness. But what is "Bonk"?
A bonk is when you totally deplete glycogen from your blood. It's like hitting the wall, you lose all your energy and become weak and demoralized. You will bonk, everybody bonks. The more experienced you become as a cyclist, the farther you ride, you will carry gels and energy bars to maintain your glycogen levels on long rides.

Floyd Landis bonked hard on stage 16 of the 2006 Tour De France. He was dropped by the peloton and was actually dropped by a kid on a skateboard. That night he had 2 beers and on stage 17 he dropped everybody including the helicopters! So, if Uncle Floyd can bonk and come back to win the TdF, there's hope for the rest of us!


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Old 02-06-09, 11:30 PM
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Originally Posted by Mr. Beanz
Please pardon my noob-ness. But what is a virtual reality ride of Lake Placid? What is Lake Placid? Is this some kind of DVD used while riding a trainer? How does one adjust the effort?

I'm not a high tech rider!...$12 from speedometer from Performance is all I need!
Lake Placid is that lake in NewYork were they like to hold olympics and do a ironman triathalon. It is a DVD you use whilw on trainer, I'm a wuse no way I'm riding in snow. With my trainer you can adjust by simply changing gears or raiseing tension on mag wheel of trainer. Looking back now that I have a clear head I just plain didn't drink enough. I thought I had but the last 20 minutes I still had sweat on my head but my arms were dry. I could actually see the poors opened up but nothing coming out. Shoulda got off right then.
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Old 02-07-09, 05:56 PM
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OK thanks! I wasn't sure if the tension adjusted on it's own like the exercise bikes at the gyms.
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