25 May, 2008: Reminder To Self--Don't Bonk!
110 miles and 11,000 feet of climbing today. My friend Jeff, a better cyclist than myself, was hammering the glycogen out of Adam and I, up Old La Honda, down Highway 1, over Swanton, and then we started up Bonny Doon. At that point, we had covered 55 miles-exactly halfway--in about 3.5 hours. Not too bad.
Going up Bonny Doon, I decided to give Jeff a rest and to set the pace for a bit. About halfway up, I noticed that my own stentorian respiration was the only breathing that I heard. I looked over my shoulder--Adam was still in range, but Jeff was gone. "Uh oh," I thought. "Jeff has bonked."
Bonking, for the uninitiated, is something to be experienced rather than explained. If you're curious, go do some sort of physical activity for three to five hours. Don't eat anything during that period. At some point, you'll notice that you can't see straight and your thoughts turn suddenly to laying down in the middle of the road next to a splattered pile of road kill. Which choice of location is dictated not just by the fact that you're tired and can't see straight, but also by the real temptation to take a bite out of that week-old skunk carcass.
After several stops and about 3,000 calories, we managed to drag Jeff--strong-cyclist, good-climber, faster-than-me Jeff--home. But the last half of the ride took nearly twice as long as the first.
If that happens to me during the Tour, bonne nuit et bonne chance. The chances of me finishing the stage, and therefore the course, will be minimal.
The lessons: Don't hammer. And eat, eat, eat. Then eat some more.
