BONKED

After a leisurely start to the day, i thought it would be a good idea to get some serious miles in. So i lubed up my bike and finally got on the road at 1. My plan was to do something different.

Yesterday Kathryn and i rode around the west side of the Susquehanna River, and noticed a bunch of hills, and some really decent terrain, so i figured i would incorporate that.

My plan was to head out to Columbia, down 441, then follow that until i could cross the Susquehanna again, and then head north back to 462. It was a great plan. However sometimes reality is cruel.

Not that i consider myself an athlete, but anyone who rides enough, or runs, or does any physical exertion, knows the concept of bonking.

The best way to know if your dehydrated on a bike is really simple:

If you see a plastic soda bottle laying on the ground, filled with what looks like urine, and you consider stopping and drinking it, well then your dehydrated.

While it wasn't exceptionally hot today, it was hot enough to ensure that you need to be drinking plenty of fluid. I was rolling really well into Columbia, hell I've ridden that enough that i could do that with my eyes closed, i crossed the bridge averaging over 18mph and didn't feel that i was really pushing. Now that is slower than my pace set last week, but there i was pushing it. Anyway i pulled really good along the river, and up and over Turkey Hill, and then headed south.

Now there was one fatal flaw to my plan, on any ride over 35 miles, i generally stop to get some Gatorade thus allowing my not to get dehydrated. Today by mile 30, i had exhausted my accleraide, and figured that sooner or later i would hit a gas station. Well it was later, much later. 16 miles later! (that is over and hour without any electrolytes) One of the things that helped to hold off the dehydration, was the fact that i did manage to find a hose outlet along side a baseball pavilion, and stupidly only took a little bit of water. I had it in my head that a gas station would be right around the corner. (Next time I'll fill both bottles)

Anyway i finally pulled into the gas station, legs cramping, head starting to ache, and really moving slow. Now to compound everything else on this ride, i figured that i did approx 7000 feet of climbing.

I went into the mini mart almost delirious, bought two large Gatorade's, a liter of water, a Hershey bar, and a rice crispy treat.

After getting some strange looks, i paid, and headed out to fill up the water bottles, and enjoy a snack.

The candy bars were like through dry pine boards on a roaring fire, they lasted all of about 20 minuets. I really need to figure out how to eat while riding (okay so i know how, i just need to do it, i just have a fear of barfing)

Anyway, I headed north, and finally climbed up and over cool creek road back into Wrightsville. Then back to the home.

You'll notice on the map, that my GPS bonked as well, so i calculated the mileage based on my average speed and the actual time i was on the bike.

Total for the day was 74.26 miles
Climbing 7000 feet
Average speed 13.8 (horrid)

What concerns me the most, is that with the elevation and the distance, that this ride closely resembles day one of the tour de pink.

So the conclusions that I've drawn are

• I'm still out of shape
• I need to eat better while riding
• Plan better stops or take more fluids

My knee is also the other concern, it really didn't handle the climbing as well as i had hoped. Apparently I'm going to need to invest in a compact crank as the knee isn't tolerating the low cadence on the climbs. I'm going to need some smaller gears to keep things spinning.


Just a note that the info below is not exactly accurate, but at least you'll be able to see the route.