First 35 miler but bonked out towards the end?

[jamin100]

I've been commuting on my bike now for about 18 months doing anywhere between 40 and 80 miles a week. My friend and I have recently started doing longer circuits of around 25 miles at a time.

Yesterday we went even further and ended up doing 36 miles. We had a stop half way at 18 miles for a cuppa and chocie bar.

However on the way back I completely lost all energy and was crawling along watching him disappear into the distance.

He is fitter than me in general anyway but has never been able to drop me that easy before.

Apart from putting more miles in (which I plan to do) is there anything else I can do to help me keep up / have more energy on longer rides?

I did go out without having any breakfast of that makes any difference ?

Here's the stats of the ride

 

[Banjo]

The no breakfast is what scuppered you.

.Cuppa and chocolate helped but not enough.

From your own stats above you burned up 2500ish calories .If that amount of energy wasnt in your body you simply ran out of fuel.

 

[mattobrien]

I imagine heaving some breakfast before you ride would be a good start and possibly taking a snack with you.

That said, I suspect that you calorie count might be a little optimistic, so you don't need to replace 2,400 calories during the ride. Without knowing your weight, I suspect that you might be burning around half of that.

The best way to get better at riding longer distances is to ride longer distances.

 

[T.M.H.N.E.T]

Proper low GI breakfast (porridge)

 

[Pikey]

Don't be disheartened by it, it could be anything, lack if breakfast as above, fighting off a virus, dehydration or just having a worse day than your mate.

Next week with a decent breakfast, he'll probably be worrying about the same thing as you burn off from him into the distance.

 

[Gravity Aided]

Better make sure you have plenty of carbohydrates in you as well, a little fruit wouldn't hurt. I always carry fig cookies when I do anything over 30 miles.

 

[stevey]

Always have breakfast even if i only go short 7-10 miles always have porridge with dates,banana and honey helps a lot

 

[tug benson]

surely you didn`t burn that amount of calories on a 35 mile ride...seems a lot of calories

 

[ianrauk]

You didn't bonk, you just ran out of energy.
If you bonked then you wouldn't have been able to continue riding the bike.
And agree with what another poster said. That's far too many calories burnt for the length/speed of ride.

 

[T.M.H.N.E.T]

You didn't bonk, you just ran out of energy.
If you bonked then you wouldn't have been able to continue riding the bike.
And agree with what another poster said. That's far too many calories burnt for the length/speed of ride.

Just the average useless app based estimate we've all come to expect.

 

[derrick]

A big bowl of porridge, as said above.

 

[jamin100]

Yeh the apps said that not me.
I don't input calories or my intake so guess it just guesses it from somewhere so ignore that.

I do have a stinking cold today too

 

[SWSteve]

Breakfast! There's a big difference when you have/haven't had breakfast. Have a bowl of porridge before you go and there'll be an obvious effect.
When I did a 100mile weekender with people who barely ride, day 1 everyone had had a big breakfast and made it to ~65 miles inc lunch stop (but weren't showing loads of fatigue after 35 miles). Day 2 where there was almost no breakfast, people were struggling to get to 20 miles as we didn't have a chance to fuel up properly.

 

[potsy]

Maybe you're just an unfit nacker Jamin?

 

[ColinJ]

Has anybody suggested a good porridge breakfast?

And yes, the calorie figure that the app gave is probably about double what you actually burned.

Still, if you are sensible and learn from the experience, you shouldn't make that mistake again for a while!