In 15 years this was by far my worst day ever on a bike

[Dial_tone]

I feel like I almost died today. At 10AM I went out for a 45 mile bike ride...not really a big deal as I do that most every Saturday and sometimes again on Sunday. Usually I eat two meals before I go out or have one and a fairly large dinner the night before to top off my glycogen stores. I also add a scoop of Accelerade to each of my water bottles for another 40gm carbs. I usually end the ride feeling like I could have done another 20 miles easily.
Well, today didn't quite go as planned. I had next to nothing for dinner last night. This morning I had a bowl of cereal and some yogurt at 8:30am. The route is a simple out and back loop. The first 5 miles of the ride are mostly downhill which obviously means the last 5 miles are mostly uphill.
I got about 2/3 thru the ride and I'm realizing I'm not having a good day. I'm getting passed by people I can normally stomp pedaling with one leg. Even on the flat section it was all I could do to keep the pedals going around. I managed to draft behind two chicks for about 3-4 miles. They didn't really have great asses however the Buttman was desperate. I would've glued myself to Richard Simmons' onion if he had been there. Knowing the hills I have to climb to get back to my car I'm trying to conserve what nonexistent energy I have left.
The cardinal rule for fast recreational cyclsts (the leg shaving ones) is "never put your foot down during a ride....ever". Don't stop and rest...only punks get tired. Don't click out of your pedals at stop lights...do a trackstand and balance yourself like a real man. Chicks dig the trackstand. Just call me Girlie Man because I stopped twice on the hilly section even though I made it up at a pretty good clip. After that I was just an absolute zombie. On the final 2 miles which are virtually flat I stopped about every quarter mile and slumped over my handlebars completely exhausted. I didn't have the energy to do anything. One guy stopped to check on me and apparently I managed to say something legible. I was on the verge of hallucinating. I had to pee but there was nowhere private to go on this street. I seriously debated just peeing on myself standing right there.
On a few of those rest stops I think I actually went to sleep right there on my bicycle. The last time I stopped I was less than 150 yards from the finish. I could see the parking lot my car was in right in front of me and I was seriously contemplating thumbing a ride that little distance. You ever see the people wobbling like fools at the end of an Ironman or a marathon? I was about 5-10 minutes away from being that guy. Carbs are good. God bless the carb.

 

[sublime35]

damn that sounds pretty rough.
I wish I had some where around here that I could bike, even though I only have a bmx style bike, it'd still be fun though. Hell i'd probably even go out and buy a nice mountain bike. I think there is one national park that has some trials but i've never been there before and it probably sucks anyways.

 

[JayC9]

Usually have a power bar and a couple of carb energy gels stuffed away in the camel-back for those days when the reserves are empty. Those energy gels work fast and are enough to get you through when you're having a bad one.

 

[HiDnGoD]

I'm diabetic & take pills. If I go out for a ride without enough fuel in the tank, I get smacked in the face with a hypoglycemic wall. It comes on so fast, it's hard to tell, 'cause I'm already sweating & any shaking is hidden by the exertion. I always take some dextrose tabs to get me through.

 

[Dial_tone]

The thing for me is I didn't do anything 'that' much different than normal. Scary to think how close I may have been close to that every single week and not known it.

 

[Island Son]

ow.... man you gotta take some gels with you, always. You never know what's gonna hit in the middle of such a long ride.

 

[Devastation]

i go for a 45 mile bike ride every couple of weeks. except my bike has a v-twin motor on it

 

[fistfullofsteel]

fuck that, i got tired just from reading the thread. when i see cardio freaks, i look at them and say to myself, "that looks very tiring. yummy, this ice cream tastes good."

 

[Dial_tone]

ow.... man you gotta take some gels with you, always. You never know what's gonna hit in the middle of such a long ride.

45 miles isn't a long ride to me. Anything 50 & up and I definitely would take some food. I'm gonna get a couple 24-packs of gels though...Fig Newtons or banana work well too.

 

[hanselthecaretaker]

I feel like I almost died today. At 10AM I went out for a 45 mile bike ride...not really a big deal as I do that most every Saturday and sometimes again on Sunday. Usually I eat two meals before I go out or have one and a fairly large dinner the night before to top off my glycogen stores. I also add a scoop of Accelerade to each of my water bottles for another 40gm carbs. I usually end the ride feeling like I could have done another 20 miles easily.
Well, today didn't quite go as planned. I had next to nothing for dinner last night. This morning I had a bowl of cereal and some yogurt at 8:30am. The route is a simple out and back loop. The first 5 miles of the ride are mostly downhill which obviously means the last 5 miles are mostly uphill.
I got about 2/3 thru the ride and I'm realizing I'm not having a good day. I'm getting passed by people I can normally stomp pedaling with one leg. Even on the flat section it was all I could do to keep the pedals going around. I managed to draft behind two chicks for about 3-4 miles. They didn't really have great asses however the Buttman was desperate. I would've glued myself to Richard Simmons' onion if he had been there. Knowing the hills I have to climb to get back to my car I'm trying to conserve what nonexistent energy I have left.
The cardinal rule for fast recreational cyclsts (the leg shaving ones) is "never put your foot down during a ride....ever". Don't stop and rest...only punks get tired. Don't click out of your pedals at stop lights...do a trackstand and balance yourself like a real man. Chicks dig the trackstand. Just call me Girlie Man because I stopped twice on the hilly section even though I made it up at a pretty good clip. After that I was just an absolute zombie. On the final 2 miles which are virtually flat I stopped about every quarter mile and slumped over my handlebars completely exhausted. I didn't have the energy to do anything. One guy stopped to check on me and apparently I managed to say something legible. I was on the verge of hallucinating. I had to pee but there was nowhere private to go on this street. I seriously debated just peeing on myself standing right there.
On a few of those rest stops I think I actually went to sleep right there on my bicycle. The last time I stopped I was less than 150 yards from the finish. I could see the parking lot my car was in right in front of me and I was seriously contemplating thumbing a ride that little distance. You ever see the people wobbling like fools at the end of an Ironman or a marathon? I was about 5-10 minutes away from being that guy. Carbs are good. God bless the carb.

An off day is bound to happen with anything. You bike quite a bit on weekends to begin with though so hell I'd say you're still doing good regardless of it.

 

[Phaded]

damn bro be careful ..

 

[bdog527]

The dreaded bonk. It's happened to me once as well, now I take a gel-pak or two everytime just in case.

 

[Dial_tone]

It was a rough day. I have done 100-mile rides and not felt 20% as shitty as I felt yesterday. I have played with fire for a while. Generally, I should carry food for any ride over 2 hours, yet I've been doing 3 hour rides taking nothing but energy drink.
Now that it's over I think its a good thing. I know what my limits are and how to avoid hitting them. I must have been really dehydrated even beforehand. Even now I've had about 1.5 gallons of water since and I still haven't had a decent pee.

 

[Synpax]

Pussy.

---

But what is a trackstand? I always clip out at intersections. Most of the intersections I am at are on an incline/decline.

 

[solidspine]

Can you talk more about the carb jels, and where you can get them,

thanks.

 

[fullyhedged]

The dreaded bonk. It's happened to me once as well, now I take a gel-pak or two everytime just in case.

What's weird is that the poster seems to have a high level of fitness, and a bonk on a 40-miler seems odd. Just chalk it up to a bad day. I remember bonking at mile 90 of a solo century once. Those last 10 miles took over an hour and I couldn't look at a bike for a week afterwards. Everyone is different, but in my racing days I could hammer out a 50-miler and not think about brining food.

 

[Synpax]

This is an old post.

The track stand thing is mistaken bravado. Yes, stop and snap out at traffic lights. Your'e really unstable on a track stand and you also make it harder for drivers to determine that you are stopped. FUCK CHICKS - I'm not out there for them and don't care what impresses them.

When I am in serious training for Iron distance, I eat 600 calories an hour while I am on the bike. This is two Accel Gels every 20 minutes. I ride on a loop so I pass my 'aid station' every 3 miles with plenty of cold water/gatorade and gels.

Accel Gel is the best and the flavor is the best - they have many but I prefer strawberry kiwi. So much better than Gu and hammer and all the other trash out there, and it has a 4-1 carb-protein ratio.

 

[Gymgurl]

I should post my huge bruise from flying over the handlebars on my Mt bike last week....OUch

 

[Synpax]

I should post my huge bruise from flying over the handlebars on my Mt bike last week....OUch

can I kiss it and make it better?

Seriously, 6 hours a day? Are you a pro?

 

[Gymgurl]

Please it still hurts LOL

 

[squatmonkey]

My worst day on the bike included frontal impact from a Honda accord,a trashed $500 campy wheel and road rash from ankel to shoulder. Does that make you feel any better, I hope so, than it wasnt for nothing.....Your Welcome......