If you had not bonked before then you would not have full appreciationi for what it is, and you might think "it can't happen to me".

I bonked once, long ago before I rode my first century. Since then I've studied it and learned more about it. I've tried to explain the concept of bonking to other people but I know that since they aren't athletic they will never fully appreciate what it is. When I first bonked I had ridden about 50 miles. I had not eaten, and did not have any food or money with me. I was hallucinating about stopping along the side of the road and eating grass or weeds. I got to a point where I couldn't ride the bike anymore so I got off and walked. Then in a mile or 2 I got to where I couldn't even hold the bike up as I walked, so I hid it behind some high grass and walked across a field to an apartment complex. I layed on their lawn for an hour almost like a zombie. I walked another couple of blocks to a convenience store and thankfully I had a quarter so I could call my wife to come and get me. At that point I was within a couple of miles of home. My wife was worried because I was late in getting home. She came with the neighbor in his pickup and they were surprised that I was sitting there without my bike. We backtracked the route and got my bike. That was a learning experience and later that year I rode my first century.

That was 25 years ago and I've done a lot of training and riding since. I've learned how I respond to training and how to work up my distance. I've also learned that taking sports drinks on longer training rides is very helpful.

Another bonking story- about 15 years ago I had a young coworker that was interested in cycling and started training for longer rides. He and I went to a metric century in a town about 80 miles away, I rode with him in his car. I finished the 62 miles, medium difficulty because it was windy for the second half of the ride, and wondered where my friend was. After about a half hour I saw him come in on the sag wagon. He had bonked pretty badly. He couldn't drive so I drove us back home, and we stopped about 20 miles away for a drink at a fast food place. I worked on my drink pretty well but he just sat there like a zombie looking at his. He was a young single guy, and had a hot date that night, but he had to call and cancel his date. He said he just layed on the couch all afternoon. I thought the whole thing was somewhat funny but also illustrates what the bonk can do to even a young athletic guy that thinks he is in good shape.