The Bonk?

Went out for a 50 miler on Sunday with Capt and Purser. We were having good fun up until Purser's route took us up the hill at Cliffe Pypard - crikey it's a steep one! We were about 20 miles in at this point and the hill went on and on. Trouble was I couldn't get my bike into gears 1-7, so three quarters of the way up I had to stop. Capt was behind me as well and having gear jumping probs so he dismounted too.

I managed to get the chain into the lowest front cog and into 1st gear. At this point, going the other way, were loads of 'professional' looking cyclists, looking at poor old Capt and I with a touch of disdain. So, I tried and set off in 1st gear, but with the torque the front wheel lifted off and I almost wheelied into a cyclist going the other way! I tried again and ended up trying to ride up the bank by the side of the road! So, with a touch of disappointment, Capt and I walked the last 20 yards.

Trouble was, unknown to us, I had punctured my tyre when wheelieing up the bank. A mile or so further on Purser spotted it so we stopped for 10 mins while I changed the inner tube.

The new inner tube was a touch dodgy to say the least! It was like riding a circus bike, I was bouncing up and down caused by a bulge in the inner tube/tyre. I managed to get to Avebury but then we noticed that the tyre was deflating again! Oh woe. I was getting quite tired by now, perhaps psychological, perhaps physical with the amount of tyre friction on the road. So we pumped again, another couple of miles, and it had gone down again :(. Luckily Capt had another tube, so we put that on, and life was much better. Trouble was I was shattered, and still with about 20 miles still to go!

I struggled on, but I had no energy at all. Just running on empty. We managed to get to Devizes where I got a choccie bar and an energy drink and felt much better, but still I was out of gas. Got home about half an hour later and fell asleep for about half an hour after a long soak. Was it the famous 'Bonk'? Not sure, but I was definitely out of energy.

Thing is, later in the day I felt fine. A bit tired, but fine. I decided that I need to build my stamina, so Monday eve I went out for a 10 miler round the three peaks, and then this morning another 13 miler, three peaks plus Bromham and Spout Lane. That's it, cycle every day from now on unless I have a *really* good reason not to.

Not sure if I mentioned the date of the charity ride - I'll post that in a mo...