Another Fine Bonkride

by Aaron

No class until late in the day on Tuesdays, thus permitting me journey westward from Cambridge to my heart’s content. Today I made an elongated Harvard, MA-Harvard Uni loop for approximately 90 miles. Entertaining visions of the CT Stage Race in May and tomorrow’s easy day, I sought to hammer for a significant portion and emulate hard surges and pace change. It felt really good and engaging… for a while.
Of the numerous skills I lack on the bike, one of the silliest is that I not only forget to eat but also don’t really possess the handling ability to access and consume food when I do remember. So around mile 75, I realized that I was slowing way, way down and that my stomach was an angry, ravenous maw. Darn it. I did it again. After pulling over, I found only a packet of fig newtons in my pocket. Sad. In conclusion: 90 miles. 300 calories. I saw some crazy, unspeakable things on Mass Ave. in the last three miles. The shadows were animate.
Really, I think I need to consciously train my eating skills.

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This entry was posted on Tuesday, March 10th, 2009 at 5:55 pm and is filed under training . You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

5 Responses to “Another Fine Bonkride”

  • Jason Says:
    March 10th, 2009 at 6:02 pm

    I find that drinking my calories is a good way to avoid the bonk. It isn’t hard to remember to drink (or maybe it
    is for some, but you can make you take a good sip every 15 minutes). I tend to take 600 calories in through drink when going out for 4 hours or more.

  • Aaron Says:
    March 10th, 2009 at 8:44 pm

    I am marginally better at drinking while riding. What mix do you use to get to 600 calories?

  • jason.g Says:
    March 11th, 2009 at 7:09 am

    I use Powerbar Endurance. It is very high is sodium, which makes for a pretty extreme taste (but one I’ve gotten used to since I’m a huge salt sweater). Leo has his monkey cum concoction which I believe is a mix of whey protein and malto (1:7 I think). Hammer nutrition makes a nice product called Perpetuem, which can be mixed to a crazy amount of calories per bottle. Not enough electrolytes for me though.

  • boston.bike.g Says:
    March 11th, 2009 at 8:40 am

    … don’t forget that you can get those electrolyte pills from hammer as well. those things solved a years-old headache problem for me when on long rides in the heat. and regarding not having the skills to eat while riding, thats just a skill you have to train. if going fast on the bike were the only thing you worked on, how would you have enough style to face your peers?

  • Cory Says:
    March 11th, 2009 at 8:56 am

    Takes practice bud…train it. You certainly don’t have any trouble eating OFF the bike…hollow legs :-)

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