Keep getting the 'bonk'

[MacLean]

If you are selecting gears that are giving you a high resistance (you're pushing really hard and turning your legs/cranks really slowly) you could be tiring your legs out too early in the ride.

If this is the case, drop down a gear or two and spin your legs a bit faster.

Hahaha, once I bonked (I love saying that lol) I was in the lowest granny gear I had at some bits and still struggling. For the steep uphill even the granny gear wasnt low enough and had to walk.

Thanks for your advice, when I am cycling in future I will pay more attention to this and try and maintain a rather busy 90rpm. But on the proper steep downhills, I cant help but crank it to top gear and go for top speed!

 

[Tigerbiten]

The only other advice I can think of is take it easy for the first 5 miles or so if your doing a long ride.
Use that distance to warm/loosen the muscules in the legs, try and hit the cadence you want to keep for the whole ride, etc, etc.
Even if your an mph or 2 slower for the first five miles, I find you make up the speed later in the ride as you don't get as tired as quickly.

Luck ........

 

[jimboalee]

Just to add to the previous good advice - another thing to look at is your cadence; put very simply, this is the speed you are turning your legs/crank/pedals at.

If you are selecting gears that are giving you a high resistance (you're pushing really hard and turning your legs/cranks really slowly) you could be tiring your legs out too early in the ride.

If this is the case, drop down a gear or two and spin your legs a bit faster. You may feel like you're not working hard enough doing it this way, and that you're a little more out of breath (it's more aerobic), but it's better for your legs and will likely allow you to go much further than by grinding (pushing really hard as above).

If you want to monitor your cadence you should be able to pick up a bike computer with a cadence sensor on for around the £50 mark (that's complete guesswork BTW as I haven't browsed the web for prices!! ) which tells you how many revolutions per minute you are turning your cranks at.

The often quoted figure for a good cadence is 90 RPM, although it's different for everyone and this shouldn't be set in stone for your training!!

If you do fit one, let us know what your RPM is on your next ride out.

Cheers,
Shaun

Maclean, read the other thread entitled "Gears".

You will find your natural cadence soon enough. I say on that thread no-one can tell you your natural cadence.
You can either spend weeks riding around, or get a free day at a health club.
What 'feels' good for one person might be agonising torture for another.

Most new cyclists ( at junior school ) ride at their natural cadence straight off without someone telling them to spin the cranks like fury.

Take a look at the gearing on a single speed kid's bike. It's engineered to have the youngster pedal at 75 - 85 rpm to achive a speed relative to their power.
I've still got a Moulton Mini. It has a 49" single gear ( 52 x 15 ). With it's 14" wheels, that's 11 mph for 90 Watts at 77 rpm. At 12 mph, the seven year old will need to find 95 Watts at 82 rpm.
This bike was designed by Dr Alex and it's first user was my cousin Sandra at seven years old. If cyclists are 'supposed' to spin, why hasn't it got a 46T crankset?

 

[on the road]

Could you be trying too hard?

 

[jimboalee]

Could you be trying too hard?

It depends how he's dressed.

In this weather, with not the appropriate clothing, he'll lose more energy riding slowly.

The harder he 'trys', the LESS kCals per MILE he'll expend.

 

[MacLean]

Again, thank you all for your input and help.

I am going to do another 50 miler this weekend, the main differences are I will bring more food than I need, rather than the two cerial bars which I think was way too little way too late. I will also look into some kind of sports drink or something to add to my water to give me a bit of an energy top up. Ill update how I get on this time round

I dont think my cadence was too bad, I naturally kept it in quite a fast spinning gear appart from the brief downhill sections, but I will conciously pay attention to it this time round.

Regarding my dress, I was wearing long cycling trousers with a normal t-shirt and hoody lol (I know this is probabbly wrong but it honsestly felt comfy considering it was quite cold)

 

[Crankarm]

You should really be eating decently the day before and keeping yourself properly hyrdrated. If you are bonking it is because your level of fitness may be poor. Try doing some running to build leg strength and stretching. If there are any steep hills nearby practice riding up them 3, 4 ,5 ,6 ..... times in succession to build stamina. Ride until you puke. Next time when you come to ride them a few days later or a week later you will be able to ride harder and quicker, your power output and stamina will be higher. Do lots of squat thrusts as well.