BONK-PROOF YOUR FUELLING

Shaken by a personal experience of that dreaded running-on-empty feeling, fuelling Anita Bean goes in search of experts to find out what 'bonking' really means and how to avoid it 

- Anita Bean

It was a route I'd done plenty of times before. Normally, I'd stop halfway to have a drink and snack but this time I pushed on. After an hour and half of riding at a brisk pace, I wasn't expecting my legs to feel so tired but I put it down to lack of recovery from a weights workout the previous day. Then, suddenly, without warning, I felt like I was cycling through treacle. Despite mustering up every bit of strength remaining, I had nothing left - the road ahead was starting to blur and I was barely holding a straight line.

What was going on? I felt angry and emotional with myself, the traffic, the potholes, other cyclists that overtook me. My heart rate was through the roof although I was barely moving. Was I having a heart attack? I pulled over and, with shaking hands, called my husband for help, something I had never done before. It went to voicemail. Tears were running down my face now. Not wanting to attract attention, I got back on my bike and attempted pedalling but managed only a few more metres. My legs felt like jelly. I pulled over again and tried to calm my breathing. That's when I realised what was happening: I was suffering a 'bonk'. Worse still, I had no fuel with me and needed to get home.

'Bonking' - sometimes called 'hitting the wall', 'blowing up' or the 'hunger flats - is something that every cyclist dreads. One minute you're riding high, the next you're falling hard, your tank empty and your muscles feeling shot to pieces. In a race, bonking certainly means game over-eating or drinking at this stage will not be enough to return you to previous levels of effort. It can also ruin a ride or workout - as I found out. But what is really going on in the body, and how can we steer clear of this horrible experience?

What is bonking?