Bonking

When I was at University the expression "bonking" was the same activity that President Clinton denied taking part in with Monica Lewinsky.  Nowadays bonking has a different and considerably less enjoyable but far more respectable meaning.  To bonk is to run out of energy when engaged in an endurance sport, and that is what happened to me this afternoon.

I spent most of the day working (on work related work), and finally managed to log off and reclaim what was left of my weekend at 3:30pm this afternoon. Cathy is away on a girls trip at the moment, so here was my chance to get out on two wheels in the afternoon sunshine.  I'm a reasonably experienced cyclist, so there is not much excuse for what happened next...

About 2 hours into my 3 hour ride, I realised that I probably hadn't eaten enough carbs at lunchtime.  In my defence, I had been rather busy dealing with work at the time. By the time I was 30 minutes from home I new that I was going to struggle if I did  not stop and eat something rather urgently.  I always carry an emergency "get out of trouble" kit on the bike, so I did stop and opened it up.  My spare inner tubes, tyre lever, mutlitool, wet wipes (don't ask), paracetamol, and emergency cash were all present and correct.  The "get me home" energy gel was however missing.  

It was at that point that I remembered using it up on my last ride and clearly I had not replaced it.  The last few miles of my journey were slow and dizzy, punctuated by low monotonous swearing about the idiot that hadn't checked his kit properly!  

Once home I managed to eat something and within 30 minutes was as right as rain.  I subsequently nipped back along my route with the DSLR and my 16-35mm lens to blip a signpost that I had seen earlier.