Mayor of Bonktown

From Blog Pictures

(I was so weak and frustrated that Andrew pushed my bike for me while I walked.)

Finally some pictures!

This last Saturday was the worst bonk I've had in quite some time. I'd put it up there with the first time I ever did Blackstar-Motorway and the first time I ever did Harding-Motorway. It was terrible.

The planned route was Blackstar-Troy Lee-Eagle-Motorway, which I was very excited for. I made it down Troy Lee ok and then on the ascent up Eagle I fell apart. I had started to space out while riding over to the bottom of Eagle and unfortunately I got to a place physically that was not easy to recover from.

The problem was that I made an incorrect diagnosis of what was hurting me on the bike. I knew the riding was harder than normal for me, but I figured that was because I was a little out of shape. I didn't think it was because I was sick. So I pushed harder to work myself back into shape. What I was really doing was burying myself deeper and deeper as the ride went on.

The bonk was so bad that I stopped talking. I'm known for talking a lot and you always know something is wrong with me if I'm not talking. Things are _really_ bad when I stop laughing at jokes. Both of those things happened Saturday.

Thankfully Matt and Andrew saved the day. Matt rode back down into Corona with me and Andrew finished the ride and then drove back to pick me up. There was no room for Matt in Andrew's car so he had to ride back up Skyline to get to his car. Haha. Sorry dude!

I suppose this is just another lesson to learn in regards to mountain biking. I thought I had most things figured out, but I need to be more careful in the future with how my body is feeling. There is a difference between healthy fatigue (from training hard) and unhealthy fatigue (from being sick, neglecting food, water, sleep). I now have a better idea of what unhealthy fatigue is like and hopefully I'll be able to _not_ ride when I feel it set in.

The last few days I've been feeling better (recovering from stomach flu) and the generous amounts of fluids, food and sleep are making me feel stronger. I plan to ease myself back in on Thursday night and Saturday during the afternoon. Hopefully by Sunday I'll be feeling good and can do a bigger ride on Sunday after church.

Another picture from my week long bonkfest (from Wednesday):

From Blog Pictures

(Walking my bike in the snow. Should have been riding! Haha. In fairness everyone but one guy walked the section I was walking.)