Hill Reps and Bonking

Unfortunately there's been no racing this week, the MK Bowl is closed for a concert. So unfortunately there will be no race report tomorrow, and although there was a TT available, after yesterday's hard ride I feel I need a rest day.

Elevation Gain - Ivinghoe Beacon Followed by Eleven Tom's.

The week kicked off with the inaugural hill-rep club ride. On which I was the sole rider. It was a good ride in the end, I put in eleven (ten plus one for luck) repeats of 'Tom's Hill', a short but steep climb in Aldbury, near Tring. I chose Tom's as it's the closest thing locally to the Alps, in terms of gradient and style. The hill itself winds upwards for about 900 metres, before a hairpin right-turn, the summit is then another 50 metres up the road. Not wanting to exhaust myself to soon, the first few repeats were at a steady pace, I picked up the pace up in the middle before inevitably slowing towards the end. It was quite nice surprise to find that I'm not the only one with a taste for the hills; another rider by the name of Mark, I think? Was there also. He was using Tom's as training for the Alps later this year, lucky bugger!

I had only brought a single gel with me, which I'd consumed after the seventh rep. On the way home with about 7 miles to go, I bonked. Now, if you've never heard of the term before or you've never experienced 'The Bonk' then you probably don't know what I mean. 'Bonking' is a term used by cyclists to describe completely draining your body of energy. It results in the rider becoming very weary, usually very disorientated and it becomes extremely difficult to pedal. Bonking differs greatly from 'Cracking', which is when your muscles give out and the pain experienced from a hard effort becomes too much, this can usually be rectified simply by stopping or slowing down and taking a few minutes to recover and allow the lactic acid to subside. Bonking occurs when your body uses up the entirety of it glycogen supply and the only when to prevent it is to take in more energy.

Even more Alpine in the snow.

The issue most cyclist encounter is that your body can only process a certain amount of energy, usually about 60 grams of carbohydrates per hour. More often than not, when you're training hard, you're actually burning more energy than your body can process. So even if you down energy gels, you will inevitably run out, the best way to avoid it is to pre-loaded your body with energy. This is why some professional athletes choose to carbo-load, ensuring their body had plenty of glycogen before the start of an event. Normally when you bonk the best option is to find a cafe or shop and buy something sugary, taking half an hour or so to recover and let your body process the food. I had no such luxury however, as it was quickly getting dark and I had no light to guide me home. I made it back with about 10 minutes to spare before it got to the point where I would have felt uncomfortable riding without lights.

It's hard to explain what it feels like to run completely dry, but never before have I had to lie on the floor immediately after walking through the front door. Still, lesson learnt, and I wont be making that mistake again...at least not for a while.