Bonking is no fun in a cycling sense
Share
Many of you may be wondering how we came up with the idea of cycling from London to Spain over 10 days to raise money for Shelter.
BEN THOMPSON: DIRECTOR OF MORTGAGES LEGAL & GENERAL
Almost a year ago I felt we should do something for charity, specifically cycling. As with all the best ideas it came about after a few beers and we decided we should aim for Santander in Spain.
So after talking ourselves into a ride of around 800 miles we decided to do it over 10 days starting in Surrey on May 19.
Learning about cycling has taught me new meanings for two words - cadence and bonking. Cadence is a dull but important phenomenon to do with how many times you can pedal per minute, greatly assisted by proper gear selection and fancy cycling shoes which I don’t own nor want.
And then there’s bonking. Stop sniggering - it’s not what you think. Unless you fill up with the right food such as glycogen and carbohydrates on a long ride you could spend the last bit bonking, which is not good.
If you hit the bonk everything fails in your body and you can’t continue as your legs turn to jelly and you are struck with mental fatigue and extreme hunger.
I reckon I almost tasted it a couple of weekends ago after 70 miles in the freezing cold with numb feet and hands. And that was just one day, not 10 in a row.
Please show your support by donating what you can for a great cause at www.justgiving.com/Ben-thompson
