the knock ...

bam49

I have been a keen roadie for about the last 7 years or so, definitely a mamil I only got into cycling when I turned 39 . In these 7 years I think I have truly experienced the 'knock' just the once - but this was on the Cormet de Roseland on a High Alps tour some 6 years ago so it was a hell of place to feel it.... At the morning stop half way up it I foolishly didn't eat anything .. I thought everyone was just having coffee but they were nibbling on bars or nuts & dried fruit or something.. So we set off again and after just 2 miles i started to go off the back, could not hold the wheel of the two fella's in front... At that point I thought, ' what the hell am i doing here - i feel empty and i'm rubbish on the climbs - and I'm on the 3rd day of a 2 week supported trip - I'll never last the distance ' :? Anyway I limped to the top some 15 minutes or more behind the others , said I was feeling like crap and a bit hungry.. The guys said get a tin of Coke in you and a few bars of chocolate and you will be fine.. Sure enough I was soon over it and went really well for the rest of the trip and I loved every minute of it ( thinking of doing it again this year), but for that brief period on the Col I was in a very dark place and it was a powerful lesson or warning on the dangers of the knock !
anyone else got any v vivid or memorable, funny ? instances ?
cheers,
bam

Zendog1

I've never bonked on a bike - mainly because the first two times I ran out of gycogen were lesson enough!

The first was 300ft under the Medips - well past sump 1 in Swildons for any cavers followed a few years later about 50 metres short of the summit of Scafell Pike. Getting back to the car was well memorable in both cases Not something you want to repeat.

cyco2

I have 'bonked' on several occasions simply because I've not got the food intake right. Its easily done and makes it very important to provide yourself with some back-up stock of bars etc.. Some riders I've taken out training after breakfast seem to make the mistake of having a normal breakfast. It's not easy to eat more than you want at that time. That's why I always ate porridge or a fruity finely chopped muesli. It doesn't take long to settle in the stomach. If you're a cornflakes person then crush it up small with dried fruit and you will eat twice as much.
The idea is that you eat for you and then you eat for the bike.
I have had the opposite of 'bonk' which is insulin lock. I was nervous about a race and while waiting for the start sucked on glucose tablets. I must have sucked on too many because during the early part of the race I got in a break, was caught and went straight out the back. When you eat too much sugar you produce insulin which locks it into the muscles and it cannot be used as fuel. You get weak without the sensation and hence drop off the back.
P.S. Please give willing to somebody who has 'bonked'.
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