Wednesday, July 9, 2008

The Commuter Bonk

I have been riding to work consistently for a little over a year. My commute is 7 miles and it takes me around 25 min each way. With such a short ride I never gave much thought to the possibility of bonking. It's only 25 minutes and bonking is something that happens 2 hours into an epic ride or during a race with 8 miles left to go. Bonking is about being ill prepared, it's what happens when you don't think your ride through before you do it or forget to bring that extra cliff bar. Things that don't enter my mind before I head off to work.

This morning I bonked. I suffered almost all the way through my 7 little miles and now feel like I just did my 3 am lap at a 24 hour race. My regiment hadn't changed yesterday or this morning. I ate the same breakfast I have eaten for years (bowl of cereal with a cup of yogurt on top), and had nothing spectacular for dinner. So what is so special about this morning that in this 25 minutes I actually began to long for the comfort and ease of an automobile? WTF? Have I taken the blessing of bike commuting for granted? Was this the cycling god's way of telling me to stop and smell pavement? Or maybe I just had some bad chicken last night. Either way I think I will pay a little more attention to this my shortest of rides but perhaps my most significant.

Have you ever bonked on a short ride?


1 comment:

Fat Lad said...

Myslef and tow riding buddys put in 82 miles on the road bike yesterday (Fat Lad post to follow) and all three of us came very close indeed to bonking at different stages of the ride.

Believe me it was tough, so you have my total sympathy!

Fat Lad