Ever forgot to eat/drink?

indysmith

The first day i got my bike it rained.

The second day was glorious sunshine - so i jumped out of bed and onto the bike for a ride. This ride was only meant to be a short ride, before i'd come home, eat, drink, have a shower etc. before going on a proper test-run of the new cycle.
Before I knew it I'd done 25 miles, and thus was feeling very thirsty, and quite hungry. I was also 25 miles from home...
I ended up stopping at an old family friend's house for a drink, and felt much better. However, by the time i got half way home the effects of not eating were setting in heavily. I felt extremely weak, achey, tired, light headed and I was heaving (as in puking, but with nothing to come out) quite badly. Some of this may have been due to the fact that I'd undertaken a 50mile ride on an unfamiliar bike after a long time without any exercise, but it's pretty obvious the main concern was the lack of nourishment. The last couple of miles i felt more ill than ever before, and I really wasn't sure if I'd make it home without fainting - my balance was going and a pint of water clearly was not enough to fuel me for the whole day. there was nobody i could call, as i hadn't brought a phone or even a wallet with me. Eventually i made it home (which annoyingly is at the top of Whiteleaf Hill in the Chilterns!) and had the best meal of my entire life. Never again will I do that - I think it was all in all a good experience as it taught me the value of good nourishment, and now I always eat before a ride (even if i'm not hungry) and take bananas, flapjacks, and plenty of water with me on every ride, even if it's only a short one.

Anyone else been the utter fool that i was?

Anonymous

oh yes, oh god yes! I've done that!
Riding from my house, then deciding, to go up snowdon, then realising three quarters of the way up that I hadn;t eaten anything that day!

or, years ago, waking up late for school, jumping on my bike without breakfast, and trying to race the school bus! I very nearly did faint then.

stumpyjon

Done it once, route was longer and harder than expected and I didn't have enough food. Last couple of miles were terrible (particularly because the missus was phoning me every 10 mins demanding I get home this instant, believe me if I could have got home faster I would as I really didn't enjoy the experience).

Think roadies call it the bonk or something.

Surf-Matt

Have done it once - never again.

Have the metabolism of the Challenger space shuttle and almost faint if hunger gets anywhere near me. Can be most inconvenient sometimes.

Max_Man

I didn't take the camelback the other day, thought it was going to be a short one on the track behind my house, 20 miles later and I was ready to suck the moisture out of rocks...

Had a banging headache for hours after.

Itsari

did a charity bike ride ages ago - was about 40 miles - powered by a single block of weetobix - plus what seemed to be a fairly large blue bottle!

I had never been so happy too see a mcdonalds in my life - which happened to be at the finish.

simonj1234

Surf-Matt wrote:

Have done it once - never again.

Have the metabolism of the Challenger space shuttle and almost faint if hunger gets anywhere near me. Can be most inconvenient sometimes.

I thought it was just me!! My girlfriend finds it strange that I won't leave the house without a monster breakfast that MUST contain meat, cereals last about 20 minutes before I'm hungry again. I don't trust people who skip breakfast though!!

I had to drop my car off at the garage and cycle the 4 miles back first thing yesterday morning. Despite what I wrote above, I missed breakfast and was absolutely shattered after about a mile!! I couldn't believe it!

jmeadows

nothing worse than bonking it out on your bike, lesson learned the hard way, like yourself

Mancunianfightingcat

not done it myself, but my mate set off with just 1 bottle of water and ended up doing the Mary Townley loop (nearly 50 miles)! He later found out he'd done it the hard way too!

punctureboy

thats what i call my endurance ride! ok maybe not so far as puking but that will be down to dehydration. i always take lots of water cos i sweat buckets.

dennisn

I always know when I have gone to long on the bike without eating. My brain keeps
telling me to "oh, just pedal for a little bit , then you can coast" and it does this over and over and.....

Dennis Noward

Dazzza

Opposite for me, i have the metabolism of a slug i have to be careful what i eat at times.

But water i do need to keep an eye on as does everyone else, but ive never let it get that bad, i have felt faint of a couple of occasions.

dunker

felt similar to that on todays ride though i was fully fueled up. 3 litres of water+salt+lime juice in my camelbak and lots of cake. i think the problem was it was just really humid and heavy even at 8am i was starting to sweat quite alot. 30miles later and 20miles from home (shortcut) it was 11am and i was dripping in sweat, it was just pouring off me and with drinking lots of water i started feeling really full and bloated and strangly light headed and slighty feeling sick. i stopped a few times on the way back for cake (stodgy banana cake) and the strength finally came back to my legs just as i got home heh

if i had'nt had that food i would have been in much worse shape, i think that's the most i've ever sweated maybe i could have done with more salt in there? or maybe some sugar too?
i drank about 2 1/2 litres over 4 1/2 hours, which i don't think was enough but i just could'nt drink anymore as it was making me feel sicker, weird.