I rode 64.3 miles of the FWBA Decatur ride today. The main problem with that is that it’s a 66 mile ride. I cratered less than two miles from the finish, and had to be sagged in. A bonk seems most likely, though looking back, I suspect some dehydration may have been involved, too. I guess it’s a good reminder that if you try to do a 66 mile hilly and windy ride at a brisk pace, you should probably do a good job of preparing yourself.

I’ve been trying to teach myself to use a liquid diet when doing a long ride, like most who do long rides at a fast pace do, but I guess I need to work on that some more. The Accelerade/maltodextrin mix that I thought was enough for this ride, apparently wasn’t. I guess there’s something to be said for estimating high on nutrition, especially when there’s hills and wind involved. I had also ordered one of those small Bento Boxes to stash a couple of gel packs in, but it hasn’t arrived yet, and I forgot to put gel packs in my regular bag. When I ran out of my mix at 50 miles, I was out of nutrition. I thought I could finish fine, but I was mistaken.

My day-before-the-ride routine wasn’t very good, either. I left for Lake Fork at 4:30 am, and got home at 9:00 pm. My nutrition for the day wasn’t so good, and I must have dehydrated some too, because I weighed 190 pounds this morning, 3 pounds less than any other day this week. I also woke up in the middle of the night with a leg cramp, something that hadn’t happened in over two years. If I’m going to make these long, grueling fishing trips from March to May, maybe I should restrict myself to shorter rides the following day.

I felt fine most of the ride. The two lead riders had dropped me on some hills at 45 miles, but I reeled them in at mile 51, and they were drafting me down the next hill. When I started up the next hill, I didn’t seem to have much strength, and it worsened from there. Each hill after that, I struggled more to get up, until I finally had to stop and walk my bike up a hill. I rode down that hill, but as soon as I started up the next, both legs locked up with cramps, my right leg with a cramp on the front of my thigh, my left leg with a cramp on the back of my thigh. After stopping and waiting for the cramps to subside, I walked my bike up this hill, but when I reached the top and started to climb back on the bike, I realized I was too weak and dizzy to continue, classic bonk symptoms.

I sat down beside the road, and a horse wandered up to the fence right behind me to keep me company. One rider had passed me as I walked up the first hill, but after I stopped, it was over 15 minutes before the next rider showed up (even after walking up two hills!). As I explained to him that I couldn’t continue, I realized that my speech was slurred, and he said he’d be back for me. A rider gave me a Payday candy bar, and as I sat beside the road eating it, I had this inexplicable craving for a large bag of Fritos, and when I stopped for a subway sandwich after the ride, I did get the Fritos too. A fun sport, isn’t it?