Bonking is no fun, but sure is an education

Donna and Linda enjoying the ride

I went into work this morning and quickly realized that there really wasn't any need for my services. No babies today. If you didn't know, I am the lactation nurse at my hospital OB unit. It was a good thing I was going home because even with three cups of coffee this morning, I still felt like crap. At first I thought I might have a cold; achy, no voice, no energy, a slight headache. As I said goodby to my co-workers I mentioned, "good thing I don't need to be here, because I "bonked yesterday" and I need to just go home and chill. My friend looked up and said, "What do you mean bonked?". "Basically I just bottomed out on my ride Sunday", I said.

Later that morning, I told Corrie this would probably make a good blog entry. What does it mean to bonk? Anyone who has trained to run a marathon knows. Cyclists too find themselves entirely empty occasionally. Yesterday was just that kind of ride. I had a feeling early that I was not quite ready for the 80 mile ride our group had planned for Sunday. It was a beautiful route in the mountains of Idaho. It did have a climb, but I'd done it before and the day should be perfect for cycling.

I started out with a partner to ride with. This was Donna's first try at real distance. She was training to ride the Tour De Lacs in Sept. and had been riding 100 miles a week to for training. She wanted to know if this was a good plan. I told her that would be just about perfect, as I mentally noted, boy have I been slacking this summer. Corrie is always reminding me that I need to put more miles on the bike, but I've just been too busy. Our bike tour in Greece is quickly approaching and I've not been too worried about milage. Our longest day will be 50 miles with lots of stops for sight seeing and fun. Usually Corrie and I do a week long tour in the summer and I try to get my milage up for the rides, but not so much this year. So my milage has probably been more like 50-70 miles a week. Probably not enough for an 80 mile jaunt through Idaho back roads. On top of my lack of miles, we had no sag wagon. As I traveled Sunday I became very aware of why a sag is helpful. The sag not only gives you extra food, gatorade and water, but keeps communication going well and the most important duty- keeping a rider optimistic that they can keep going. We had no sag and no matter how much I wanted to quit Sunday, I couldn't even if I wanted to.

The ride started out great. I love this ride and Donna and I where able to keep a good pace of 15-18 miles per hour. We talked a lot about bicycling and how to ride longer distance. We where quite a bit behind the group of guys on this ride but we knew the route and Donna had a map and trip summary from the website. This proved to be a real help for me later. It's always a good idea to have mileage key for a long ride. A rider can tally how far they've gone, when the next stop will be and what to expect of the turain. As we where seperated most of the day from the front group the milage notes helped a lot.

Our first break for lunch was in Ferdinad ID. just 5 miles short of halfway. We had a convenience store lunch and a chance to regroup. A stop for food and rest is key to cycling long distance. After our break we where off again. I felt better, but could feel my quads complaining and an occasional cramp began. The miles ahead included a few real climbs and I was beginning to get more then a little concerned about the ride. Another mistake for me, was to neglect a refresh on gatorade. I thought I had full bottle but really it was mostly melted ice.

Donna promptly headed out and quickly got way ahead of me. I was beginning to really slow down on the rollers and getting more and more discouraged. At least there was no heat.
We managed to get to Harvard and our the last leg towards Deary, but a mega hill loomed ahead. It was here that the rest of our group had stopped for a much needed rest. By this time I was beginning to get foggy and my legs where starting to not only cramp but simply refused to keep going. Corrie said they where just waiting at the local store. Donna was cruising along way ahead and unfamiliar with the route and I could hardly see straight. I knew I would have take a rest soon.

Doug and Dave cruising on Deary to Deary

The last 15 miles of this ride starts with a long steep climb followed by a series of rollers. I stopped about half way up the first climb and realized that was it, no more climbing for me. I rested for awile and started to walk. The only option short of hitch hiking. The walk helped my legs quite a bit and one way or another I made it up that *$%#@ hill. At the top of the climb the road leveled out and I was able to get the legs moving. I managed to get through the rollers and finally caught up with Donna. I asked her to tell me when we had less then 10 miles to go. She said we had 9 miles left. She gave a cheer and said "We can do it!!" I was a bit less enthusiastic, but I felt like I might be able to gut it out. It was about here that I found myself day dreaming and getting more and more discouraged. I needed something, mostly I wanted a flat old fashioned Coke. This was what had worked the last time I bonked. But loh and behold I jumped about 10 feet when Doug casually hollared something behind me. The adrenalin that comes with a good scare seems to be almost as good as a caffiene/sugar jolt. So, thanks Doug, I never appreciated a good scare as much as I did that afternoon. He said we where way ahead of the others, as they had waited quite awhile for us at Harvard. We only had a few miles to go and we where in front of the guys.

Finally we made the last turn towards Deary. Only a half a mile or so to go. The park and the shady trees where so close. If it hadn't been for Donna and Doug's scare and companianship I'm not sure I would have finished the ride on Sunday... well on second thought I would have one way or another. Even if I bonked, there wasn't any option, I had to finish.

So, to answer the question what does it mean to bonk? I'd say I learned a lot this weekend. I also took a few minutes to research the science a bit behind a bonk. So, take a few minutes to read about bonking and a coke really would have helped.