bonk vs fatigue
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Stop to eat. Not sleep or rest. Plenty of people on this thread have similar experience. Those that the post the most often? Not so much.
So, yes, I know something about bonking. Most riders try to alleviate fatigue by eating and drinking too much or blaming their leg issues on lack of fitness.
Food does not fix lack of fitness.
So, yes, I know something about bonking. Most riders try to alleviate fatigue by eating and drinking too much or blaming their leg issues on lack of fitness.
Food does not fix lack of fitness.
Last edited by GhostRider62; 07-07-21 at 06:01 AM.
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#127
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IME people are far more likely to eat and drink too little during a hard endurance ride. It’s really hard to over-eat if you are riding at a strong pace. Maybe you are thinking more of the coffee and cake cruisers? Obviously if you ride at recovery pace and eat a ton of sugary biscuits and soft drinks then it becomes a very different balance.
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Stop to eat. Not sleep or rest. Plenty of people on this thread have similar experience. Those that the post the most often? Not so much.
So, yes, I know something about bonking. Most riders try to alleviate fatigue by eating and drinking too much or blaming their leg issues on lack of fitness.
Food does fix lack of fitness.
So, yes, I know something about bonking. Most riders try to alleviate fatigue by eating and drinking too much or blaming their leg issues on lack of fitness.
Food does fix lack of fitness.
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IME people are far more likely to eat and drink too little during a hard endurance ride. It’s really hard to over-eat if you are riding at a strong pace. Maybe you are thinking more of the coffee and cake cruisers? Obviously if you ride at recovery pace and eat a ton of sugary biscuits and soft drinks then it becomes a very different balance.
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Same here. I rarely stop and usually go straight through feed-stations on events. I just fuel on the go. I might stop for a quick pee, usually quite early on in a ride. Then I'm usually good for 6-7 hours non-stop except for topping up bottles mid-ride
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Solo, I can only recall a couple instances where I've stopped at a cafe/restaurant during a ride. More trouble than they're worth - they didn't so much give me a break as they take me out of rhythm; I'd rather have some snacks on the go and leave anything resembling a proper meal for after I'm done. With the group, mid-ride stops happen, but not all that often. The character of the ride often changes after a stop, too, usually much more casual, 'cause no one wants to work with all that **** in their belly.
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Solo, I can only recall a couple instances where I've stopped at a cafe/restaurant during a ride. More trouble than they're worth - they didn't so much give me a break as they take me out of rhythm; I'd rather have some snacks on the go and leave anything resembling a proper meal for after I'm done. With the group, mid-ride stops happen, but not all that often. The character of the ride often changes after a stop, too, usually much more casual, 'cause no one wants to work with all that **** in their belly.
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I have bonked several times in my life. To me it varies from fatigue in that I experience an altered level of consciousness when I bonk. In some ways it's as if I have been drugged.
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When I bonked, I felt like my ability to think had been dialed way, way down. I don't know if I'd have been able to carry on a conversation. Probably not, at least not coherently.
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Climbing something steep right after a lunch break will give you a lactic acid burn in the quads.
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See, that's the advantage of riding alone - with no friends along to watch my bike while I go into the bakery, I can't stop and overindulge!
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What I said isn't pointless, it's the truth...I eat by feel and I know exactly how much food my body needs to give me enough energy to do what I need to do and still maintain a lean body. I am not the only one like that, there are millions of people in this world who never count calories and are healthy and never been overweight. It's laughable that people will deny themselves enough food and then complain about bonking and lack of energy to keep going.
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What I said isn't pointless, it's the truth...I eat by feel and I know exactly how much food my body needs to give me enough energy to do what I need to do and still maintain a lean body. I am not the only one like that, there are millions of people in this world who never count calories and are healthy and never been overweight. It's laughable that people will deny themselves enough food and then complain about bonking and lack of energy to keep going.
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What I said isn't pointless, it's the truth...I eat by feel and I know exactly how much food my body needs to give me enough energy to do what I need to do and still maintain a lean body. I am not the only one like that, there are millions of people in this world who never count calories and are healthy and never been overweight. It's laughable that people will deny themselves enough food and then complain about bonking and lack of energy to keep going.
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Wow, this is so WRONG.
Bonking is when your glycogen reserves are GONE. The marathon runner guys call this "hitting the wall" and this is a good analogy because when this happens it's close to a hard stop because your body shuts down.
For me it takes about 2 hours of intense riding.
I used to have a regular riding route that was 50 miles and at about the 37 mile point I've bonked several times. Fortunately, there was a store near this point and I would stop buy and grab a coke or two and chug them, which almost immediately restored my energy and allowed me to make it home. Yes, I was an idiot for allowing myself to get to that level but I was just learning about such matters back then. Anyway, there is no amount of "training your body" that can get you through a hard bonk once your glycogen levels are depleted.
Bonking is when your glycogen reserves are GONE. The marathon runner guys call this "hitting the wall" and this is a good analogy because when this happens it's close to a hard stop because your body shuts down.
For me it takes about 2 hours of intense riding.
I used to have a regular riding route that was 50 miles and at about the 37 mile point I've bonked several times. Fortunately, there was a store near this point and I would stop buy and grab a coke or two and chug them, which almost immediately restored my energy and allowed me to make it home. Yes, I was an idiot for allowing myself to get to that level but I was just learning about such matters back then. Anyway, there is no amount of "training your body" that can get you through a hard bonk once your glycogen levels are depleted.
I did a lot of running when I was younger and heard the phrase ‘hitting the wall’ quite often and it always referred to simply running completely out of energy during a run.
But it never referred to the other symptoms I have heard when someone references bonking.
When you hit the wall running you didn’t experience things such as dizziness, disorientation, or anything that would be considered a medical issue.
You simply could not make your legs move one bit faster.
It only happened to me a couple times while racing and it was a bit embarrassing as I knew in my case it had been caused by me going too hard in the early stages of the race.
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I can’t speak to the science you reference in your post but I believe your marathon runner analogy is incorrect, if it makes any difference.
I did a lot of running when I was younger and heard the phrase ‘hitting the wall’ quite often and it always referred to simply running completely out of energy during a run.
But it never referred to the other symptoms I have heard when someone references bonking.
When you hit the wall running you didn’t experience things such as dizziness, disorientation, or anything that would be considered a medical issue.
You simply could not make your legs move one bit faster.
It only happened to me a couple times while racing and it was a bit embarrassing as I knew in my case it had been caused by me going too hard in the early stages of the race.
I did a lot of running when I was younger and heard the phrase ‘hitting the wall’ quite often and it always referred to simply running completely out of energy during a run.
But it never referred to the other symptoms I have heard when someone references bonking.
When you hit the wall running you didn’t experience things such as dizziness, disorientation, or anything that would be considered a medical issue.
You simply could not make your legs move one bit faster.
It only happened to me a couple times while racing and it was a bit embarrassing as I knew in my case it had been caused by me going too hard in the early stages of the race.
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I never once heard of that happening with the large amount of runners I knew.
Not saying it might not have ever happened.
Just pointing out that it’s not the same imo
Last edited by downhillmaster; 07-08-21 at 05:08 AM.
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Bonk = acute
Fatigue = chronic
Bonk is a more immediate metabolic state you get into. Fatigue is a physiological situation driven by your training choices in the days/weeks leading up to it.
That's about all there is to it for me.
Fatigue was me driving my TSB way way way negative while family was out of town and I just rode all the time. Bonk was that time I didn't eat breakfast and rode too high a zone for too long and got to hour 3 and was hunting for a gas station ASAP.
Fatigue = chronic
Bonk is a more immediate metabolic state you get into. Fatigue is a physiological situation driven by your training choices in the days/weeks leading up to it.
That's about all there is to it for me.
Fatigue was me driving my TSB way way way negative while family was out of town and I just rode all the time. Bonk was that time I didn't eat breakfast and rode too high a zone for too long and got to hour 3 and was hunting for a gas station ASAP.
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IME people are far more likely to eat and drink too little during a hard endurance ride. It’s really hard to over-eat if you are riding at a strong pace. Maybe you are thinking more of the coffee and cake cruisers? Obviously if you ride at recovery pace and eat a ton of sugary biscuits and soft drinks then it becomes a very different balance.
I did a 400km brevet in just over 13 hours and ate an average of 150 calories per hour and a little less per hour for 600K in under 24 hours.
It has been my observation that randonneurs who try to eat as much as you suggest end up with nausea and/or puking. I think hyponatremia is at least as common as dehydration and far more damaging. Probably a better place for information on eating and drinking on long events would come from ultra marathoners in the mountains.
If you are talking about a dinky 2-3 hour ride, why bother eating.
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When I think of cafe legs, it means the rest stop was long enough for the peripheral vascular system to constrict and when you start back up, perfusion is impaired. Onset of lactic acid begins at a lower power level than when you rolled into the Cafe with legs all warm. As I get older, it takes longer to get going again.
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Only time I remember bonking was in my very first endurance road ride as a teenager. It was a 100 mile Sportive event at a fast pace and I simply didn’t eat or drink enough. About 70 miles in I just suddenly felt extremely weak and shaky. Went straight into the nearest shop and ate a couple of Mars bars, washed down with a full sugar coke. I didn’t fully recover, but it was enough to get rid of the shakes and keep on riding. I did the same event the following year and fuelled it much better. I’ve never had that feeling since. But I’ll always remember how easily those Mars bars went down and the almost instant energy boost. Normally I would be gagging on eating half a bar of that crap!