1st bonk, scared me sh***less

[Truth]

Only hit the wall once (on my bike) but never bonked cycling or running then . Hitting the wall was bad enough , it was like a mini breakdown !

 

[Pale Rider]

A member of my cycling group had a bonk-type incident a couple of weeks ago.

We were tackling a 30 mile loop from Masham in North Yorkshire, via Pateley Bridge.

Matchless scenery, but some brutal climbs, especially for middle-aged plodders on mountain bikes like us.

The bait stop was at Pateley Bridge, so we stopped for a regroup at the town sign to decide where we were going for food.

As the guy in question caught up, he came to rest and flopped off his bike.

The bike was in the road and he was starfished on the grass verge.

We were all a bit concerned because for a minute or two he was unable to speak or get up further than his knees.

A few minutes later, refusing all offers of help, he staggered to our chosen parking place around the next corner.

About an hour later he appeared to have made a near full recovery.

Perhaps unwisely, he was determined to complete the remaining 12 or 13 miles of the ride.

He managed that with no apparent ill-effects.

I'm guessing it wasn't a full bonk, but he was certainly thoroughly exhausted on arrival at Pateley Bridge.

 

[mustang1]

I get pins and needles in my toes. I just get off the bike and stamp my feet about for a few mins. Sometimes I have a wee sit down (and a flapjack while I'm there) and take my shoes off and do some toe wiggling. It's a cycling thing.

View: https://youtu.be/KUkjrWDv200

 

[biking_fox]

Purely anecdotal and from personal experience but having said that I may not be describing 'hitting the wall' at all but when running a long distance say a marathon I have had the experience shared by other runners and found it to be, in part, psychological. What this meant was that I could run though it and continue to the end. Bonking on the other hand is a total wipe out and like Ian says there is no way you could continue to ride your bike.

I've heard although I now can't find the source, that there's something about the energy demands of cycling that evades the bodies normal fatigue response. You've evolved to run, and the body knows just how far you can push yourself, and starts warning you a long way before that so there is always a little bit of reserve to evade the sabretooth even when you feel completely exhausted. Because the energy demands in cycling are different you can ride through these limits without getting the exhausted warnings, and hence reach a point where you actually don't have any energy left, rather than just feeling like it. This is the bonk.