Bad Week – Great Ride – Bad Bonk
The weather looked to be better than normal for early March – temps in the low 60s and light winds. So, my friend and teammate Ray was kind enough to drive up to my house last Sunday. I’ve had a couple really tough weeks at work (too many hours, switched engagements/clients, etc.), so I was up for a longer, easy ride.
We left the house at about 12:30pm to repeat a ride I had last done on Nov 5, 2008 (a few months ago). It was still in the low 50s, so we had to wear full gear, including tights.
Last time…I remember having a good, strong 55+ mile, 3h30min ride…although, in retrospect, this was coming off an awesome year of training – especially the 3 hour rides in Germany and the 6 hour rides in Spain.
As we started the long series of rolling climbs after the Covered Bridge (culminating in about 900 vertical feet over the next several miels), I noticed immediately that just like yesterday, I was having trouble climbing. Now, this is more than the “normal” trouble that I have as a 195-pound bicycle rider. But, in spite of my instincts telling me that I wasn’t going to have a good ride, I just relaxed and hoped that the longer we rode, the better I’d feel.
Ray is an amazing bike rider, and an even more amazing climber. So, I didn’t really want to crawl up the hills, even though I knew I was having a bad day. Anyway…I rode as easily as possible without totally crawling, but Ray still dropped me on each hill, then waited for me at the top. By the time we had hit the 25% climbs right outside of Moraine State Park, I had burnt alot of candles.
We took a break at about 30 miles, at the normal entrance to the North side of Moraine. We both had brought one bottle of water, and were just about empty with no water working at Moraine to refill. I should’ve just called Laurie to come and pick me up there…it had been 2 hours of good riding, and I felt comfortably tired. However, pride kicked in, and as Ray said, “it was time to put on the big boy bibs”.
The problem was that I felt like throwing up for most of the remaining 2 hours, and I started to bonk. I clearly remember day-dreaming about drinking a Coke, and about unwrapping a Reese’s Cup and eating it. For me, this semi-lucid fascination about eating/drinking is a SURE sign that a major bonk is on it’s way. And, it was. With over 1 hour left, I was thinking that I might be able to pedal for 60 seconds, but not 60 minutes.
Ray left me behind in yet one more “dig” (as he calls these hard surges) coming back in 956 to New Wilmington, and I found him leaning against a light-pole by Gilliland’s Market as I slowly pedaled up the main street.
Finally, as we gingerly crawled off our bikes in my driveway, the fatigue really set in for both of us. Ray leaned against his truck, while I staggered to the benches on our front patio. I tried to get Laurie’s attention, and ask her for help, but she was busy pumping up bicycle tires and helping Emily to ride a 2-wheeler without training wheels. All I knew was that I just wanted to lie down, and not move for the next couple hours.
I was in bad shape, but Ray was also feeling the 4 hours. I noticed that while walking between the Great Room and the kitchen, Ray had stop and take a break! After trying to eat some of the wonderful feast that Laurie had created for us, I ended up leaving Ray in the kitchen and heading up to the bedroom to lie down, and try not to puke. It took about 2 hours, but I finally recovered.
I can’t wait to try this loop again…as Ray said, we definitely “shook the rust off” today.
Filed under: Cycling
