The worst hunger flat/bonk that I’ve ever had: 2 days before my birthday last year, I decided to complete my first century, with about a week on the bike before hand. Felt like I crushed the first 60 miles, then around mile 63, I completely broke when I realized I still had the biggest climb I’d ever attempted just ahead. I was still ~40 miles from my home, so I was not going to call a ride, so I pedaled up the climb about 10 meters at a time. When I finally crested the big climb, there was still a small climb to go, feeling deflated, I sat for a bit, mixed feelings of success, defeat, and disappointment in myself filled my head. I continued on after some rest, and my vision started to darken and narrow as I made it to the final crest. Continuing on the descent I saw a sign for a fruit stand just as I hit my complete limit. I pulled off the road, but couldn’t even dismount, just fell over I was so gone. This kind lady working the stand took my bottles, got me some water, exchanged some small bills for some cold fruit, and was offered a chair from their home so I could get myself together again. This was at about mile 67. Continued on when I was feeling stronger, only to crack again at mile 84, where I was saved by a man coming off his houseboat. Said he saw me roll into the parking lot in bad shape, so he brought me a banana for my cramping and some water and a packet of salt. At mile 98, I was mentally broken. I had nothing in me, my stomach felt like it was eating me from the inside. I stopped at a gas station and practically drowned myself in a Gatorade. Finished out my century with one thought in my head, eat more on the bike because I never want to go through that again.
I couldn't let a good video go to waste, so I hope you guys enjoy watching how I prepared for the TDF. I'm not there this year, but that's all part of being a Pro Cyclist and obviously no hard feelings at all. Looking forward to getting stuck back into racing with the team after a short break!
I can vouch for the recipes in this episode! YUM!!!! Harry made them for his hungry mother and father and they were ‘Perfecto!’ Nothing better than having our ‘Harry boy’ cooking for us in his new abode in Andorrà! Xxx
I had my worst hunger flat when I first started cycling. Together with a friend we decided to do our first 100km+ ride from Freiburg where I lived to the French border and back. The sun was scorching down on us and we did't know a thing about fueling. This meant we only took a banana with us on a ride that ended up being more than 6 hours. Unsurprinsingly we bonked completely. After like 4 hours we were cooked. We turned our pedals with painfully slow turns, rocking from side to side while families on their citybikes passed us with what seemed to us unachieveable speed. The heat finnished the rest of the moral off and you can't imagine how happy we were to finaly get home. My friend never really rode his bike again.
Haha I did the same thing a few weeks ago. I decided to challenge myself to a 60 mile ride which is right around 100 km and it was 95+ degrees f (35 c). I did not fuel up the whole time and the only thing I had was water. Not the best time at the end 😂.
Best Hunger Flat story..... I had 4 hours with some efforts. I planned my food for the ride and went for it....I met my mate halfway through the workout and he said: Lets go for this little loop with that one little climb. Little I know it was a 29km climb through the alps in 33 degrees....ma mate and I, we were cooked so we stopped and tryed to stop a car to ask for anything eat or drinkable. An old lady stopped and she was so kind to go down the climb, got us two slices of cake and went back up. She told us that she ownes a caffee with selfmade cakes and till that day we get one free cake everytime we come. Thanks for the video Harry...good luck this season👊🙌
Worst bonk/ hunger knock story: One May evening i decided to ride home from a week-long university field trip (250km across Ireland). I had to present my research project and so didnt get to leave until the afternoon. After about 20 minutes, what was previously a gorgeous tailwind completely turned 180° to become a 35kmph headwind. I quickly realised i only had about half the amount of food i needed and sunlight was limited. It was a bank holiday and a lot of the shops were closed early. I passed into Northern Ireland and finally found a shop that was open. I went in and as i was about to pay for and delve into a massive pack of haribos, biscuits and a can of coke i realised i didnt have the correct currency as Northern Ireland uses british pounds (£). When i tried my card it was declined, i tried to ring my bank but they were closed because of the bank holiday. The cashier wouldnt exchange my euros so i had to leave the food and ride another 80km into a henous headwind towards the next shop. That 80km took me 3.5hrs (with little elevation). During that time i got 2 punctures, my phone died, and i ended up falling into the ditch 3 times due to lack of energy. On the third time, an elderly woman saw me fall off my bike into the ditch and got her husband to carry me into their house and gave me dinner. I was so embarrassed and thick (angry with myself), instead of using their phone to ring my parents to collect me, i rode the last 70km in the dark with a hi-vis jacket and a couple handheld torches (that the elderly couple gave me) taped to my handlebars as it was pitch dark at this stage. I got home at about midnight, had a feast and went straight to bed. And guess what, it gets better. The next morning i woke up and found a £50 note (british pound) in my jersey pocket!!!! 😆💀💀
Love the channel and the insight, it’s top-tier stuff. I had a pretty bad hunger flat last year - although it doesn’t beat yours for drama (no car crashes involved…). I was leaving the UK to move abroad permanently and saying some goodbyes to friends - to say goodbye to two cycling pals, we organised a 2 day ride from Bath to (and around) Isle of Wight (220km), then back to Bath the next day (100km or so). I was pounding gels on the first day, legs felt fantastic for 7 hours or so. Stomach started grumbling. Had to drop the bibs and let’s just say the world fell from me in a field somewhere on the Isle of Wight. Limped back to the b&b, couldn’t take on any sort of nutrition that evening. Day two was one of the grimmest experiences of my life, the power meter was reading 25% of the power it should have for the effort. Calibrating it didn’t help and I couldn’t hold a conversation, let alone the wheel in front of me as my friends determinedly tried to coax me home. The day ended in me tanning a couple of litres of coke sitting on a pavement and then the shame of jumping on a train to not have to ride the last 40km back to Bath. Safe to say I was glad I was leaving the country the next day and wouldn’t have to face my pals reminding me of this too often.
My story is essentially quite typical. There is a hilly section of road about 30 km from me where I usually train. I generally only take a few energy bars with me for training, but this time I had nothing with me. I was just recovering from a collarbone fracture, and I was able to get back on the bike and move properly, so I felt everything would be fine. This fracture was my first, so I didn't know how severely my endurance could deteriorate. Around the 40th kilometer of the training, I felt something was wrong; I was getting tired. I was so exhausted that my legs literally stopped. I got off the bike and collapsed into the grass. This mountain road is essentially in the middle of nowhere, without even cell service. I think I lay in the grass for 30-40 minutes. I got up, thinking I would now have enough strength to ride home, but I was wrong. I started pushing my bike home, while strangers, going about their everyday lives, cycling past me, presumably rushing to the store or somewhere. Imagine, a man in his 60s or 70s riding past you uphill on his bike, while you struggle to trudge along... Eventually, I was able to get back on my bike and made it back to my town, but I was so weak that on a completely flat section, I somehow just fell. My helmet flew off my head, my bike chain fell off, and my rear derailleur broke. So I decided to push the bike again... I finally made it home; I don't know how long it took, but it felt like about half a day to me. At home, I was shivering so badly that it took me hours to recover while curled up in front of the fireplace.
Hunger flat story It was my first ride back after 2 months after being hit by a car and I thought that I could get away with ride 60 miles…in Florida. It was horrible. I reached the 1/2 way point on the trail and went to fill my bottle and blown water came out of the water fountain. Luckily there was a man riding a trike that had a cooler with cold bottled water and some snack he gave me to get me back home. Lesson learned…I pack enough for me and riding buddies (usually some homemade rice cakes).
Im a triathlete, and the worst hunger flat i have had was last year when I had to do 1h run and couple hours later a 3,5h ride. Last hour didnt have more food and was literally going 50w all out until i reached home.
started cycling again hard at age 40 never dieted ate correctly but doing it now what a difference it makes to life! i now am up to 40 mile cycles and pushing as much as i can ride to survive! now a lifestyle not a hobby top work on the vids gonna keep watching.
Forget the food content, I'm here for the espresso content. The Lelit looks great. I don't have any prize-worthy bonks, but the first time I rode 100k back in the day I bonked so hard I had to stop to buy food less than 1km from home. I just wasn't going to make it.
I went on a “easy” ride with my university team mate who had way better fitness than me at the time, didn’t eat enough or pack enough nutrition for the ride, 40 miles into a 60 miler I bonked hard. Got some fruit snacks and tuna of all things at a gas station and got a second wind…until I had to stop because my shoes were too small. Now I never go out without eating a bowl of oatmeal.
Have loved reading the hunger stories, thought I would share mine, my worst hunger flat: On the final leg of London to Paris, I got T-boned by a car coming out of town 5km into the start of the ride. One brief shouting match with a frenchman, some antiseptic, and a cry later and I was back on the road. However, my rear derailleur was no longer functioning from the impact, so I had 95km of french countryside on a single speed gravel bike between me and Paris. As the day drew on I tried to keep on top of the food but just could not, and the latter half of the ride was very much spent in grumpy silence with my girlfriend, lead entirely by my own "h-anger". Only when we get to the border of Paris do we realise there are strikes/riots currently ongoing, the give away was the third burnt out car that we saw, so now we're trying to alter the route mid ride. In my hungry haze I lead us onto a motorway without realising, and before I knew it we were throwing the bikes over the barriers to push them through the bushes alongside the river. It was at this point I admitted defeat, gave up, and got a train. To this day it is the only ride to have defeated me, but that shower and baguette at the end of the train ride changed my life. I met god that day.
My worst hunger flat story is not really about me. Back in 2014, they held a stage of the Arctic Race in my hometown. I had been into cycling for a few years by that point. A few days after the race had finished, I wanted to ride a part of the route that went around a small island (about 110-120 km). I didn’t want to do it all by myself, so I invited a friend to join me. This friend of mine had never ridden a road bike before. We started our ride and for the first 2-3 hours, everything went exceptionally well. I could tell he was starting to tire, and from this point, it all went sideways. We had severely underestimated how long the ride was going to be; therefore, we barely took any food with us. It was a Sunday, which meant that all the stores along the way were closed. We pushed on for a few more hours until my friend collapsed. He was completely empty and could not continue the ride. We had to call another friend to come to pick him up. At this point, I was also pretty bonked. Luckily, my friend brought some snacks with him. I finished the ride, and both my friend and I had learned a lesson: always bring more food than you think you need.
My worst hunger flat was actually on a hike in my vacation near berchtesgaden germany I was hiking up the hochstaufen which is quite a serious mountain and decided not to have breakfast that morning so after hiking to the mountain and then taking the long route up near the peak and 4 hours in to the hike I completely exploded from one minute to the next my heart rate skyrocketed and my legs turned to lead… I had to still hike back without food to town (direct route) for another 2 hours down the mountain because I was just so dead energy wise… yeah don’t bonk on top of a mountain on a trail path with only your 2 feet to carry you back 🤮
Worst hunger flat happened on a group ride and my first 100km. Chose a group too fast for me and fell off the back over 5 times, brought a cereal bar and sandwich for fuel. On the way home had to get off my bike and sit in the grass before I fainted. Ofc didnt let on on Strava 😎 needed that amacx fuel
Hunger Flat Story… Moved from Aus to LA in 2017. Went for a ride in the mountains thinking I could handle the heat. Rode up a super steep berg and bonked so hard that I sat on the side of the road and fully lost my vision. Two guys stopped their car and approached me and had to wait until I could see again. They drove me back down the mountain and sat at a gas station with me while I pounded cokes. Yeah, the heat got me.
were you hydrating? I drink every half an hour when I cycle in the heat in LA. If it's in the hills, I plan accordingly where I can get my bottles filled up. Also I carry celtic salt with me in a tiny bag. I put a grain or two under my tongue every hour or so. It has 90+ minerals and much better than table salt.
Hunger flat is when you want to buy anything to eat but there's nothing to buy 300km around! That's what you can expect in Patagonia - South America, where the only "shops" are within the "estancias", that is huge haciendas whree the employees work and live. That's what happenned in a self-supported bike trip of 2200kms along the Carretera Austral and Tierra del Fuego in 2011. Thanks for your daily life videos!
The unexpected rescue in Italy During my cycling vacation in Italy, I set off on a sunny Saturday morning on an ambitious 150-kilometer bike ride. The first 100 kilometers went smoothly, but at kilometer 125 the hunger pangs hit me with full force. My legs felt heavy, my head was spinning and I had nothing left to eat. Every pedal stroke was agony and I felt like I was about to keel over. I stopped desperately at the side of the road, out of breath and drenched in sweat. The Italian sun was burning mercilessly and I had no more food with me. With shaking hands, I searched for anything edible in my pockets, but they were empty. Suddenly I heard a strange ringing. An old, rickety ice cream van came around the corner. The driver, an elderly man with a white beard, stopped and asked in Italian if I wanted an ice cream. I told him about my hunger pangs and he laughed heartily. He gave me not just one, but six scoops of ice cream in a huge cone and said: "This will help you." With renewed energy and a big smile on my face, I continued my journey. The ice cream gave me a much-needed energy boost and I managed the remaining 25 kilometers.
Best hunger flat story: This was with a bigger group. We drove into this valley to have a intervall session of 6*8minutes. I was a head of the group feeling great, but I didn’t get that we was going to turn around midway trough the intervall. I was continuing the intervall, wondering where the rest of the guys where. It was steaming hot, and I was pushing absolutely max. 20 minutes after the last effort, stil not seeing the others, I realised I f*cked up. Everything was in the team bus, so I had no phone, no water, no energy, and had to go back to the city alone. 2 hours after the last intervall effort, my coach picks me up realising i’m missing. Damn I was tired😮💨
hunger flat story This was before I ever heard about gels and such. There was a mountain bike group near my village with which I was riding for the first time. I did not know the pace or length of the ride, I was young and naive. It turns out these guys ride really hard and I only had 1 bowl of cereal to eat and took just one jam sandwich with me. Needless to say I was gone. I said to the group that I would leave early and take a shorter route home but half way up that road I had the urge to sit. I got of the bike and found a bench, then the urge to lay down came. I hid my bike in some bushes and then just laid in a ditch on the side of the road. About 1 hour later I woke up, after having fallen asleep. Got on the bike and struggled to go even 10 mph. When I saw a cafe up the road I got off again and stumbled into the seating area and completely fell over a table and some chairs. People came to me with some bananas and coke and after eating those I just quietly left and went home, which I eventually did.
After a full week of being a dad for the first time, i had so little sleep. I had a big ride planned out because 'you need to keep your fitness' No motivation then pure; you need to. After 10k's in was broken already. After 50k's i was full broken but then i realised i was halfway and did not made a mature decision to go back earlier but went with the plan. I made it home, that actually gives me to this day the feeling i can do anything in life. i felt so terrible after the 50k but i will never forget that ride🤣
Bonk. Met my wife in a bar (seattle) was 12 tequila deep. Both cyclists so agreed to do a ride the next day. Turns out she is a pro downhiller. Picks me up to go mountain biking with her, cos I'm a roadie has me riding to the top of berg in the cascades while she gets in the back of a fan. I bonk... have to ride down the scariest shit I've ever seen. Silent drive home until she offers to get me taco bell. Still married
It was a scorching July afternoon, and I ambitiously set out for a 100-mile ride with just a couple of energy gels and a bottle of water. By mile 70, I hit the dreaded hunger flat. My legs turned to jelly, vision blurred, and nausea set in. Stranded on the side of the road, I had no energy to continue. Just as hope dwindled, a farmer on a tractor stopped, took pity on me, and handed over an apple and a cheese sandwich. That simple meal was a lifesaver, giving me enough strength to crawl the remaining 30 miles home. Lesson learned: never underestimate the power of proper nutrition and the kindness of strangers.
My worst hunger flat is pretty embarrasing. I could’t see nor ride straight anymore, wich made me ride into the canal 😅. It helped me to be well awake again, but unfortunately I have never seen that bike again (luckily it was just an old mountainbike).
My worst hunger flat story happened during a long cycling trip a few years ago. I was on a solo ride through a rural area, tackling a challenging route with a mix of steep climbs and rolling hills. I had underestimated the duration and intensity of the ride, bringing along only a couple of energy bars and a small bottle of water. Around the 50-mile mark, I started feeling the first signs of hunger. I ate one of my energy bars and drank some water, thinking it would be enough to get me through. However, the climbs were relentless, and the energy from the bar quickly evaporated. By mile 70, I was in full-blown bonk mode. My legs felt like lead, and my speed dropped to a crawl. I was dizzy, my vision was blurry, and I felt a crushing fatigue that made every pedal stroke a monumental effort. With no food left and miles away from the nearest town, I had no choice but to keep going. I tried to distract myself by counting down the miles and focusing on my breathing, but the hunger was overwhelming. Eventually, I reached a small village and stumbled into a local bakery. I must have looked like a man who hadn't eaten for weeks because the baker gave me a concerned look and offered me some bread and pastries. I ended up eating six pastries and spending 30€ at the bakery, absolutely devouring everything in sight. That experience taught me a valuable lesson about the importance of proper nutrition and preparation. Since then, I've never gone on a long ride without adequate food and hydration.
I am quit new to cycling so hunger became a problem just once. But it was on a gravel ride in February and I didn’t understand it at first. I felt fine, but I couldn’t produce any power what so ever.
Probably my worst hunger flat: at the time I had only been cycling for like a month. Did 80k on a very windy day, was absolutely cooked after 50k because I had no clue about fueling, I just drank some water and had maybe a biscuit. So as you can imagine, completely imploded and my mates had to push me up every hill for the last 30k, which was made worse on the last climb as there was this oldtimer parade, so it truly was the climb/ride of shame. Then at the finish we had just one beer and I swerved home on my bike, half drunk on a Saturday afternoon from one beer because of the hunger flat. Seven years later I still get laughed at for it sometimes.
Hunger Flat Story - Day 1 of bike packing across Europe , we set off from the ferry in Cherbourg - I for some reason negated all of my previous knowledge of cycling nutrition and thought that 3 meals a day would suffice , its easy z1 after all....... ( wrong ). We were fuelled on vibes and excitement and I absolutely ran myself into the ground - maybe 9 hours on the bike later we called it quits with camping - and got an airbnb , I physically couldn't push on the pedals. I sat in the airbnb shower on max temp shivering - then crawled into the bed and continued to shiver. The next 3 weeks of bike packing I ate religiously and had the absolute fear of bonking.
I was watching this on my aunts tv the other day after spending the night on her couch and she gen up exclaimed "wtf did he just call roast potatoes" it folded me
great video guys! my bonk story: I decided to do a 50km "fun ride" out in west texas last year that happened to fall on the same day as the north american solar eclipse. my first time riding anything close to that distance (which also had 1500ft of elevation) so I only had a small breakfast just bc of the nerves and got out on the road with just a pack of gummies. 16 miles to the aid station and the heat is getting to me: vision's getting blurry, headache coming in, stopped sweating...there wasn't a cloud in the sky, no animal sounds, no wind, and at totality it briefly went dark. it felt totally surreal, and just added to the bonk feeling. finallyyyy make it to the aid station and down a bunch of electrolytes and bars, and somehow made it through to the end! it's funny bc my friend did the ride with me, and thought we were racing so she was booking it to finish before me, thinking the whole time that I was chasing her down. meanwhile i'm pushing along at 8mph, counting all the individual rocks i'm passing, with no thoughts on my mind except finishing so i could get our free bbq and beer afterwards haha good times!
"Amacx: Tame the T-Rex of Road Hunger!" When I finished the Mallorca 312 this year, I felt as hungry as a T-rex on a raid at every refreshment station. I hope I win the Amacx goodie so that I never become a t-rex again! 😂 🦖
First of all thanks for another look into the life of a pro cyclist, love every vlog! 2019 this 59 year old cycled 5000 miles in and around Kansas feeling good about myself. Due to extreme cold cycling is limited in first couple of months of the year. As the months passed I was low on energy and always tired which I put down to turning 60. Also my left leg would swell after a ride and stay that way for a couple of days. After turning 60 in May went on a lumpy 55 mile ride with a friend which I usually dominated but struggled considerably to where I had to rest in the car afterwards before driving home, The usual swelling remained all weekend resulting in me going to Urgent Care after 3 days. The result was being told I had AFIB which I didn't have a clue about. In addition a clot was found in my left leg. Was told to go straight to the emergency room. The result was an ablation a couple of months later and 3 years later I'm back on course for 5000 miles. Not going to urgent care would probably have ended in a stroke or worse.
bonk story: Did an afterwork loop in Summer (90km), and decided that plain water is enough for carb intake. After 60km i stumbled into a kiosk and was starving for chery-chocolate-bombs (that´s what we call it in AUSTRIA). Seeing stars and tunnelvision was all on board.
Worst bonk story : I was like 1h away from home when I started bonking hard. (big mistake as I didn't eat a good meal before the ride and end up with nothing to eat for the last 2h). At one point, it was so bad that I started day dreaming or something, it was so weird. I wanted to go to my parent's house so that my mother could prepare me hot coffee and bakery. (It was like 4 years since I moved in my own house). Then when I finally come home, I had to lay down in my sofa for like 1h, couldn't move, drank a redbull, ate everything I could, like eating an entire jar of honey but also eating cooked meat with mayonnaise at the same time. I started to get really cold even with a blanket on me. Finally kicked my ass to go to the shower, I just couldn't stand on my feet and had to turn the bin down so I can put it in the shower and sit on it while putting the hottest water possible. It was bad. Found the strenght to go the restaurant with some friends after that but I was def not the most funny guy that night lol.
Worst hunger flat.. out tearing it up on the grav. Corrugations got me all wild and both bottles go flying out of the cage. I bust out a hero skid to return from whence I came to retrieve said bottles. Alas the skid was so powerful and with the ripple strips I proceed to roll the tyre off the rim an hours walk from the car where I have left any form of tyre inflation device.. literal HUNGER FLAT..
I think that’s the forth place you’ve lived in since you started the channel? How about a video where you talk about all the different countries you’ve lived and trained in? Would love to hear how you find it in Andorra compared to the Cote d’Azur
Saw purple, saw stars, hit the deck! Racing a 70.3 I was 3km from the finish line and bonked so hard I collapsed! Was flying out the front of the age group in 1st place on the run, all I wanted to do was collapse over the line but things went pear shaped and collapsed 3km from home, everything went blurry and purple! Stood up straight away, and collapsed again, litterally couldn't stand, gave it a couple of minutes and could hardly get onto all 4s, dropped in a cup of coke and a water and walked it home after about 15 minutes! Lessons learnt, always keep a gel spare!
I did the London marathon one year and was going well until the 16 mile point when I started to feel funny light headed and needed food there were porta loos at the side of the road so I nipped in there and whilst sat there having a rest saw this unopened gel on the floor desperation and fear of not making it I picked it up and had the gel “chocolate of all flavours” 🤮 but hey I made it to the end just 🥵
Your videos again 🎉 A bad flat story? Are there good ones? Here we go…. 4h over pouring rain and…. a double flat. No mobile (Wet) so 20km pump every 500m. At least it stoped to rain!!
Bonk storytime. I trained as a rower for a whole summer while under fueling the whole summer and struggled so badly and even wondered why the easy workouts were hard. Looking back I definitely had zero fuel in for what my output was. Lesson learned.
So mine happened two years ago during autumn, I was out gravel riding with a couple of older fellas, one being an ex pro rider. They go insanely fast through the forest and because I kept up with them on prior rides I told myself I’d be alright, but felt spent worried already after an hour. I guess they never heard of Z2, as they do race pace each time they ride. Anyhow, at the last moment after nearly hanging in we turn up to a roadside cafe/bakery for a break. Desperate I stuffed myself with a pulled pork tortilla which another rider also had. The others had sweet stuff like cakes instead. 20 mins after the stop and I start having these disgusting burps coming which made me feel even worse, I started joking and the other guy who had the same said he also felt massive burps hitting him haha. After close to three hours I was really hitting the bonk wall, getting dropped on climbs and feeling like an anchor when they had to wait for me. One of them was clearly also spent and asked if anyone had gels to spare. In my irrational state I hadn’t fed myself properly after the tortilla and still had two gels in my back pocket which I gave the dude instead of taking the moment to reflect and have them myself, his question could’ve been a wake up call. I handed them over, watching him slurp BOTH down in the same moment and ride off. After 10 mins I told them to go ahead without me, and rode back home in snail pace for an hour or so. Stopped at a roadside place and had a sausage roll and soda, absolutely disgusting and didn’t help at all. Came home broken and caked in mud, wife giving me a loving look and said “you need a good shower and lay down on the couch”. She’d made an amazing Caesar salad which was light and brought me back to life. Bonus: get yourself a good knife sharpener! The work smart line is awesome. Their “guided field sharpener” model is tiny but full of functions and also works on large kitchen knives. 🤞 fingers crossed
Hunger flat story 16 year old me thought it would be a good idea to do a ~180k ride in Austria, including 3 big climbs. I knew SFA about nutrition at the time, and thought one bidon with a salt tab every hour and a bar or gel once in a while would be enough. About 100k in I stopped for a pancake lunch, already on my hands and knees at the time. Fast forward past the lunch and about 40k and a big climb later I was completely f’ed and practically crawling home with one climb to go. The situation got so bad I nearly fainted twice and with grandpa having to pick me up halfway up the final climb with ~6k to go. Still pissed I didn’t finish it 🤣
Worst bonk story: I was very young maybe I was about 13 years old. I lived at the bottom of a mountain valley about 1500 metres away. That day was my first outing after the winter when I was only cross-country skiing. My goal was to start from the valley floor, take a ride to the plains and get home. In the plain there were unforeseen events with the wind, I had caught the strongest wind against my life for about 1 hour and I had arrived at the beginning of the climb totally destroyed. However, my goal was to get home by bike so I started the 30km valley all uphill. After a while I realised that the fuel was gone and I started to work so hard. At that age I didn't know it depended on food so I didn't even think about stopping to buy food. It took me about two hours longer than usual to get home and while I was going up every about 5 minutes I had to stop because the effort I was doing was really a lot.
One time during a long bike ride, I totally underestimated how much food I'd need. I hit a massive hunger flat about 20 miles from home and felt so dizzy and weak. Had to call a friend to bring me some snacks! Learned my lesson: always pack extra food! (preferably Amacx) :)
Worst hunger flat: Was completely done and just wanted to rest a couple of minutes in a bus stop before attempting the climb to my house. Felt asleep and snoozed for roughly an hour.
Worst one for me was in south Spain, in and around Alicante region. I had taken the train with my friend down from Valencia to explore a different part of the country. The day before I had created the strava route on my computer which as climbing as possible so it was a big day out. It was great weather but really hot, 30 or so degrees, unsurprisingly. The views were great though, as we crossed through the mountains and through remote villages. At the halfway point we hit an obstacle. My expert route building had led us to a tiny walking path surrounded by a small river and a steep hill to the right. Only thing we could was walk for about 30mins, and then we got to a gravel section which we were able to ride without any flats. After about 1.5 hours of having to find an alternative route and then walking, we finally got to a rideable road. That was an adventure we thought but glad it was behind us. I was already very poor at fueling at this point, maybe 40g/hr and we were going pretty full all day. As we got to 10ish km to go, we took a right turn up a wall of a climb, starting out as poorly surfaced with tonnes of bumps but after 500m, gravel started appearing and it got deeper and deeper until we had to both stop on a really steep hairpin. At this point, he was able to get back on and ride up but I just didn’t have the bike handling to do that. Attempt one, as I tried to use the outside part of the bend to get momentum, I put my foot out just in time as getting momentum with the stones was almost impossible. Attempt two, still thinking I could do it, I am able to pedal for one or two strokes and then bang, I tip over onto my right side, breaking the front chip of my saddle which still stands today. I had no major damage but was fed up, and was getting hungry and thirsty with no fuel or hydration. I texted him but no reply so I had no choice but to start trekking up and pushing my bike. After 15 minutes of that, it levelled off but was still gravel so I slowly rode and followed the route I had clearly planned very well. I reached him at a point where it was sending us down a steep mountain bike path down the side of a mountain. We both weren’t interested in doing that. And with no service, we decided to follow our path back to the main road we were previously on. At this point, I was gone. No energy, we were both out of fuel, I could hardly pedal. Thankfully it was all downhill to the train station but I was gripping my brakes so hard going down the gravel I thought I was going to tip over the front. At the end there was a flat section of about 5km and I don’t think I’ve ever gone so slow on the flat, I was pedalling squares, any small rise felt like a wall. After what felt like ages, and some wrong turns in the town, we arrived back at the train station and my friend bought me some juice and snacks from the cafe. Never been so empty and hopefully never will be again. If there’s one thing I learnt it’s to not plan strava routes that say they are unidentifiable or dirt roads
Hunger flat story: more a story of how I semi-rescued a friend from a terrible hunger flat I was doing an 85km MTB race and came across one of my friends about 100m from the top of the last climb before a big descent to the last aid station. My friend was sitting on the side of the trail with his head between his knees. I chucked him a gel, told him how close to the aid station we were and continued on - knowing there was someone close behind walking as he'd had a mechanical and since I was racing for 3rd in the women's race. At the aid station I warned them to look out for my friend when he arrived. I eventually found him after the finish and it turned out that he had been taken back to the start in an ambulance and told us that on the descent to the aid station he had been 'drifting in and out of consciousness'. The following day he was totally fine and came 3rd in the Enduro race
Makes it like a smoothie - much creamier + thicker consistency, almost like melted ice cream. Highly recommended. Can add ice for a similar effect but frozen banana / fruit does an even better job.
I have a good story. Went on trainingcamp in Calpe, Spain for two months. Firstly the appartement I stayed in was full of cockroaches, that was a great start. This problem got never fixed so I just continued like they were not there. After that my car got broken into and my spare gear was all stolen. It didn't end there because I crashed my bike and broke it and was full of battle scars after that. After the bike got fixed (approx. 1 week) I still had one week to go and in this week I got food poisoning and had to go to the hospital in Denia. Oh yeah, I almost forgot, on the last day I tore my muscle while riding so I was out for 2 weeks after the camp. Great experience. After this I never was able to find a good position on the bike which led me to stop completely. Now I can't ride more than 30 minutes pain-free.
When L’etape Australia was cancelled I did the ride with two mates, bonked out bad on the climb out of Kangaroo Valley, bonked so bad my brain stopped working, only think keeping me going was the heckling and “kind” words from those utes with P plates 😂 raided the Robertson pie shop at the top
BONK story. Was doing a gravel race in Canada, and the start went well, but 10km in I lost both my bottles going over a section of loose gravel/washboard. This left me with less carbs than I would have preferred but I continued without them (someone gave me a bottle of water later on so I still had some water). The race from that point in included a crash, several punchy climbs and a constantly high pace leaving little time for eating. By the time I was 70km in I had eaten barely anything and couldn’t see straight. My vision was blurry, colours looked funny, and I was being passed by riders left and right. What felt like a max effort to try to get into riders wheels was only barely 200 watts. The final straightaway was an endless 2ish km, and I could see a mush of coloured jerseys from quite a ways from the line, but those last few hundred meters took minutes. Ended up lying on the ground army crawling to the granola bars for 20 minutes after the finish before I could stand up again. Lost a solid 10 minutes in those last 15ish kilometres. Not fun.
Worst hunger flat: 10years ago I still thought that fueling in zone 2 training is a sign of weakness, so at the end of a 3hour ride I bonked so hard that at home I inhaled a whole package of Haribo gummie bears
hey great vid, ppl increte, at least the oldschool ones drink some olive oil before a feast to prevent getting too drunk by the wine and raki/tsikoudia (40%++ alcohol)
As an EF fan I am saddened that you did not make the team. We are extreamely strong however. Richard looks really good after stage two! Any change you are going to the vuelta???
Hunger flat story: Deep winter training ride 5 hours endurance with some mates. Rode the first 3 hours with a horendous headwind to reach the turning point and have a tailwind back home. Decided to get a midride snack in the form of some fried fish next to the beach. 10 minutes after we got back on the bike we all bonked. The tailwind ride home took us longer than the headwind part, one of my mates even crashed because he was so empty. Learned some lessons that day
snapped my chain 130k into a ride where i dropped 2 bars on the ride, had to get the bus stopped at a shop, smashed a whole pack of digestives, got the next bus home with people just looking at me disgusted and sweaty
Saw purple, saw stars, hit the deck! Racing a 70.3 I was 3km from the finish line and bonked so hard I collapsed! Was flying out the front of the age group in 1st place on the run, all I wanted to do was collapse over the line but things went pear shaped and collapsed 3km from home! Stood up straight away, and collapsed again, litterally couldn't stand, gave it a couple of minutes and could hardly get onto all 4, dropped in a cup of coke and a water and walked it home! Lessons learnt, always keep a gel spare!
Did a bike-marathon last year; 1st day 150 km, second day 250 km with lots of climbing. Second day, at km 200 i got left alone by my mates because i startet to hunger flat. 5 km later, in a downhill curve, i lost control at about 70 km/h an landed in a fence. crawled back to the street with broken collarbone and ended in hospital for surgery. i‘m doing the marathon again in 2 weeks so i could really need these supplements to finish this story:)
Another fantastic video from you. We are lucky to have an authentic athlete sharing their journey! If one day you could share a day-to-day video talking about nutrition (along with other topics, of course) during a training camp or a one-week race (like the Dauphiné), it could be interesting to see how you handle eating a lot, how the team supports you to eat, how do you ensure you fuel enough and well, etc!
Χαιρετισμους απο Ελλαδα, Harry στειλε προπονηση για βελτιωση στην ποδηλασια, κυριως ανηφορα ! Translation Greetings from Greece, Harry send training segments to improve in cycling, especially uphill !
Hunger flat story... Many years back when i went to do training session (cross-country skiing) here in Finland. My goal was just to do 30km (2 hours) quite easy pace, but it felt so good so that continued training and decided to do about 3 hours and 50km. That was quite (brainfart) and then everything started went downhill from that point on. At point 40km i started to feel bonking and that time i had one half litre energy/caffeine drink with my and i noticed that that was light drink so no sugar so another (brainfart). So i decided turnaround because it was 10km back to car and when there was 3-4 km left i was so bad state that i have to stop every 100 metres and i was sure that im not going get back to car. Maybe 50km is not so long at cycling but in cross-country skiing it is quite long. But luckily i managed to get back to car somehow and went inside car and offcourse put heating on because it was -10c outside. I was just shivering inside my car and texted to my girlfriend to put sauna on. Here in Finland almost every apartment has a sauna. When i was in the car my shape was pretty awful so decided to rest couple minutes before heading out to home. But then i woke up when some old guy knocked at my car window and asked is everything allright, he had noticed that the car is on and i was sleeping there. I just say that yeah everything is allright and started drive back to home and my memories is pretty foggy from that trip back to home, (notice, if you feel that bad don´t drive) . When arrived back to home i went immediately to fridge and started to eat everything. After that i was still shivering and went straight to sauna. After sometime my girlfriend came to sauna check up on me because it was so quiet there and about 30-40 minutes had passed. So offcourse i was sleeping there and when she woke up me i felt pretty sick and headed to toilet to vomit almost everything i had just eaten. This took me about one week to recover from that. Now my rule of thumb is take allways one gel or something with me. Nice videos and quite funny too with Jacob. Like Beavis and Butt-head 🤣
I was finishing a collegiate road race in central California and had cramped out in both legs and bonked. I had to walk across the finish line since my legs were locked up. After that I was riding back to the cars and I got clipped by a horse trailer and crashed hard. I had to get driven to the nearest hospital in my kit still and cramping/bonking. Eventually I got out and was clear minus a separated shoulder and road rash and then I went back to meet the team for dinner. At dinner, I had an allergic reaction to the large amount of ibuprofen I took and started breaking out in hives for the whole 6 hour car ride back to San Diego. Not a great day.
Well that was a touhg one,but I still remeber it,I was pretty new to cycling riding for kadets and we have been on holydays about 60km from hometown and we had a clib training,so I went on bike to my hometown 60km and than went out for a clib training another 40-50km,dont remeber if I have eaten something but probably not I nearly manage training which was wery hard by coincidence,when cool down about 7km from home I bonk extremely knock on the door of a friend of my mum (with blired vision) to lift me back home,I came home knocked get a hot bath (ate 2small bagettes 60-80g) and fell a sleep in the bath,woke up for shaking from cold water sommust have been ther 1-2 hours,lucky that I survive 🤷♂️💪😂🙌 Thx for reading Fazy183 😉 (hunger knock is still my biggest fear on the bike,probably at least once a year it happens to me or nearly happens that a smash the petrol station 😂)
Bonk Story: To set the stage, it was my first ever "long ride" of 40 flat miles. As a former college athlete and clearly uneducated cyclist, the ol ego blinded my judgement and I set out with 2 protein bars and 2 bottles of water. It's an out and back route and I was FLYING for the first half, unknowingly enjoying a steady ~10-15 mph tailwind. I pedal hard as I see my speed at crazy personal highs and I'm passing clearly experienced guys. "Man I'm pretty good at this"... I hit the end, pee on a bush, "fuel up" (lol) and head back. That's when I realize the wind... straight into my stupid face, relentlessly wearing me down. I can barely hold half my speed from before so I push harder until legs burn out. Took a 5 minute break and got going again, only for this to happen every 10 minutes all the way back. The true ego-dagger came during one of the last of these rests, I'm bent over catching my breath, stretching my legs and chugging the end of my water bottles with less than a happy look on my face. A little girl with training wheels was riding next to her dad, as they slowly yet comfortably pass by she says "daddy what happened to him?" No idea what he said, but the crystal clear answer is "stubborn arrogance, sweetheart..."
Tried to follow my pro conti friend for a big ride 5-6hrs ish. Only 2 of us and the first half of the ride I felt strong af and didn't even eat during a pit stop bcos I saw him not eating. Felt so good until a rolling section full of DOGS chasing like 20 of them + sudden surge of heat. Coming up to a climb and I cant even push 100 watts🤣. Descended back down the other side and he even made me stop again and let me eat a plate full of rice. Continue our ride back home but the pace keeps on getting faster and faster (i felt like it hahaha) because his wahoo is dying and we need to go back home before it died. I end up letting him go home alone and called my other mates to pick me up at a random petrol station HAHAHAHA. Ever since that day I learned to NEVER EVER SKIP YOUR FOOD!!
"My Hunger Flat" One of the first nice early spring Saturdays in Minnesota, USA and I was going out to get some base miles. The plan was 60-70 miles at a steady pace. I went through my 'onboard' food quicker than expected. All gone by mile 40 and I felt an horrible bonk coming on. A few more miles and I was getting desperate. I was looking for apple trees or anything edible on this long gravel road. Then I saw it. A discarded 32-ounce bottle of Gatorade in the ditch. It was about half full. Disgusting, but perfect. Looked like 'lemon-lime' flavor. Nice. I stopped, unclipped, and picked it up. When I grabbed the bottle, it looked like it had been baking in the sun for a couple days. The color was darker than the typical neon yellow. Whatever, it was a solution to my problem. I twisted off the cap and gulped down the entire bottle. I'll skip to the end here. Turned out to be a "trucker bomb". In the US, guys who drive trucks for a living save time by pissing into bottles and throwing them out the window rather than stopping to pee. Makes sense. I knew immediately that I had just chugged a sun-baked trucker bomb. I screamed in horror like a madman. Then shrugged and soft pedaled home. The urine did nothing for my bonk unfortunately. When I got home, I washed out my mouth with a garden hose, sat in my backyard and sent a group chat to my friends to let them know what I had done to myself. Lesson learned. Always pack more snacks than you'll need.
Worst hunger story: About 5 years ago, I was fairly new to road cycling, but I thought I was ready for my first 50 mile ride. Went with a group of about 4 experienced riders on a warm holiday here in Chicago. I was feeling pretty good 30 miles in, had a couple bars and gels with me and my bottles, thought it was gonna be a breeze. But as the day progressed, it got hotter around mid 20 degrees C and humid. At about mile 40, everyone was suffering. One guy asked if anyone had any extra food. I decided to be a sport and give him my last gel...Well, the last 10 miles were hellish. No more liquids, no more food. Legs were shaky and we were on a bike path with no options to stop. Just had to push through it. I swear the last 3 miles I was about to pass out. I remember being so light headed and dizzy I swear I was ready to collapse lol. Kinda funny now that I think about it, but I made it! Enjoy your holiday Harry!
Worst hunger flat story… I had only been cycling for a year when I decided to do a long day out with my mate, who behold, has nearly double my FTP at that time. I’d only done 60k before, but this would be 170k. I figured, about 1l of plain water und 5 energy balls, would last me the day. It turns out, after 1/3 of the way (with us cycling way too fast for me), I found myself in his slipstream with my eyes closing repeatedly. It was really hard to keep them open, whilst on the bike pedalling. A little while after, we had to reduce the speed to a snail’s pace, at 2/3 of the way, we stopped at a supermarket for 30mins, I still only having one pastry and a little juice. Made it home somehow - a lesson now learned, always overestimate your energy needs or get them right in the first place.
The worst hunger flat/bonk that I’ve ever had: 2 days before my birthday last year, I decided to complete my first century, with about a week on the bike before hand. Felt like I crushed the first 60 miles, then around mile 63, I completely broke when I realized I still had the biggest climb I’d ever attempted just ahead. I was still ~40 miles from my home, so I was not going to call a ride, so I pedaled up the climb about 10 meters at a time. When I finally crested the big climb, there was still a small climb to go, feeling deflated, I sat for a bit, mixed feelings of success, defeat, and disappointment in myself filled my head. I continued on after some rest, and my vision started to darken and narrow as I made it to the final crest. Continuing on the descent I saw a sign for a fruit stand just as I hit my complete limit. I pulled off the road, but couldn’t even dismount, just fell over I was so gone. This kind lady working the stand took my bottles, got me some water, exchanged some small bills for some cold fruit, and was offered a chair from their home so I could get myself together again. This was at about mile 67. Continued on when I was feeling stronger, only to crack again at mile 84, where I was saved by a man coming off his houseboat. Said he saw me roll into the parking lot in bad shape, so he brought me a banana for my cramping and some water and a packet of salt. At mile 98, I was mentally broken. I had nothing in me, my stomach felt like it was eating me from the inside. I stopped at a gas station and practically drowned myself in a Gatorade. Finished out my century with one thought in my head, eat more on the bike because I never want to go through that again.
Shoot me an email if you can, we will sort you out harry.sweeny98@gmail.com
@@HarrySweeny98 email sent!
@@HarrySweeny98 Email sent!
I couldn't let a good video go to waste, so I hope you guys enjoy watching how I prepared for the TDF. I'm not there this year, but that's all part of being a Pro Cyclist and obviously no hard feelings at all. Looking forward to getting stuck back into racing with the team after a short break!
we love you and appreciate your efforts, of course, in any situation!
Sorry to hear Harry thanks for sharing and being so open about it! Can’t believe how hard you work, keep it up!
You must have been (placed at least) on the TdF rider reserve list for EF.
I can vouch for the recipes in this episode! YUM!!!! Harry made them for his hungry mother and father and they were ‘Perfecto!’ Nothing better than having our ‘Harry boy’ cooking for us in his new abode in Andorrà! Xxx
Italian holiday sounds a lot more fun than grinding a tour de france
Easy to say that when you don't have the choice of the other option
@@vanechi Hey you don't know that he can afford an Italian holiday either lol
Where in Italy was he?
Highs and lows, keep the fire alive and on to the next one. Fantastic content as usual, most of your videos are highly re-watchable!
👌
I had my worst hunger flat when I first started cycling. Together with a friend we decided to do our first 100km+ ride from Freiburg where I lived to the French border and back. The sun was scorching down on us and we did't know a thing about fueling. This meant we only took a banana with us on a ride that ended up being more than 6 hours. Unsurprinsingly we bonked completely. After like 4 hours we were cooked. We turned our pedals with painfully slow turns, rocking from side to side while families on their citybikes passed us with what seemed to us unachieveable speed. The heat finnished the rest of the moral off and you can't imagine how happy we were to finaly get home. My friend never really rode his bike again.
Haha I did the same thing a few weeks ago. I decided to challenge myself to a 60 mile ride which is right around 100 km and it was 95+ degrees f (35 c). I did not fuel up the whole time and the only thing I had was water. Not the best time at the end 😂.
Best Hunger Flat story.....
I had 4 hours with some efforts. I planned my food for the ride and went for it....I met my mate halfway through the workout and he said: Lets go for this little loop with that one little climb.
Little I know it was a 29km climb through the alps in 33 degrees....ma mate and I, we were cooked so we stopped and tryed to stop a car to ask for anything eat or drinkable.
An old lady stopped and she was so kind to go down the climb, got us two slices of cake and went back up.
She told us that she ownes a caffee with selfmade cakes and till that day we get one free cake everytime we come.
Thanks for the video Harry...good luck this season👊🙌
I dont have any stories but you should give the starter pack to Cav
🫣🫣🫣
Noted.
@@amacxsportsnutrition could happily live with it going to Cav if you start selling your products in Canada?🤷🏻♂️ please and thank you 🙏🏻
Worst bonk/ hunger knock story:
One May evening i decided to ride home from a week-long university field trip (250km across Ireland). I had to present my research project and so didnt get to leave until the afternoon. After about 20 minutes, what was previously a gorgeous tailwind completely turned 180° to become a 35kmph headwind. I quickly realised i only had about half the amount of food i needed and sunlight was limited. It was a bank holiday and a lot of the shops were closed early. I passed into Northern Ireland and finally found a shop that was open. I went in and as i was about to pay for and delve into a massive pack of haribos, biscuits and a can of coke i realised i didnt have the correct currency as Northern Ireland uses british pounds (£). When i tried my card it was declined, i tried to ring my bank but they were closed because of the bank holiday. The cashier wouldnt exchange my euros so i had to leave the food and ride another 80km into a henous headwind towards the next shop.
That 80km took me 3.5hrs (with little elevation). During that time i got 2 punctures, my phone died, and i ended up falling into the ditch 3 times due to lack of energy. On the third time, an elderly woman saw me fall off my bike into the ditch and got her husband to carry me into their house and gave me dinner.
I was so embarrassed and thick (angry with myself), instead of using their phone to ring my parents to collect me, i rode the last 70km in the dark with a hi-vis jacket and a couple handheld torches (that the elderly couple gave me) taped to my handlebars as it was pitch dark at this stage. I got home at about midnight, had a feast and went straight to bed.
And guess what, it gets better. The next morning i woke up and found a £50 note (british pound) in my jersey pocket!!!! 😆💀💀
Winnner!
What a story!
I'll take a gel when you win lad
i like how diverse your diet is. i just eat the same thing everyday.
Nice video gutted for you not being on the tour. Good luck for the races ahead
Thanks 👍
Love the channel and the insight, it’s top-tier stuff.
I had a pretty bad hunger flat last year - although it doesn’t beat yours for drama (no car crashes involved…). I was leaving the UK to move abroad permanently and saying some goodbyes to friends - to say goodbye to two cycling pals, we organised a 2 day ride from Bath to (and around) Isle of Wight (220km), then back to Bath the next day (100km or so). I was pounding gels on the first day, legs felt fantastic for 7 hours or so. Stomach started grumbling. Had to drop the bibs and let’s just say the world fell from me in a field somewhere on the Isle of Wight. Limped back to the b&b, couldn’t take on any sort of nutrition that evening. Day two was one of the grimmest experiences of my life, the power meter was reading 25% of the power it should have for the effort. Calibrating it didn’t help and I couldn’t hold a conversation, let alone the wheel in front of me as my friends determinedly tried to coax me home. The day ended in me tanning a couple of litres of coke sitting on a pavement and then the shame of jumping on a train to not have to ride the last 40km back to Bath. Safe to say I was glad I was leaving the country the next day and wouldn’t have to face my pals reminding me of this too often.
Pro sport, ups and downs, swings and roundabout! Stay fierce. Cheering for you mate!!
My story is essentially quite typical. There is a hilly section of road about 30 km from me where I usually train. I generally only take a few energy bars with me for training, but this time I had nothing with me. I was just recovering from a collarbone fracture, and I was able to get back on the bike and move properly, so I felt everything would be fine. This fracture was my first, so I didn't know how severely my endurance could deteriorate. Around the 40th kilometer of the training, I felt something was wrong; I was getting tired. I was so exhausted that my legs literally stopped. I got off the bike and collapsed into the grass. This mountain road is essentially in the middle of nowhere, without even cell service. I think I lay in the grass for 30-40 minutes. I got up, thinking I would now have enough strength to ride home, but I was wrong. I started pushing my bike home, while strangers, going about their everyday lives, cycling past me, presumably rushing to the store or somewhere. Imagine, a man in his 60s or 70s riding past you uphill on his bike, while you struggle to trudge along... Eventually, I was able to get back on my bike and made it back to my town, but I was so weak that on a completely flat section, I somehow just fell. My helmet flew off my head, my bike chain fell off, and my rear derailleur broke. So I decided to push the bike again... I finally made it home; I don't know how long it took, but it felt like about half a day to me. At home, I was shivering so badly that it took me hours to recover while curled up in front of the fireplace.
Hunger flat story
It was my first ride back after 2 months after being hit by a car and I thought that I could get away with ride 60 miles…in Florida. It was horrible. I reached the 1/2 way point on the trail and went to fill my bottle and blown water came out of the water fountain. Luckily there was a man riding a trike that had a cooler with cold bottled water and some snack he gave me to get me back home. Lesson learned…I pack enough for me and riding buddies (usually some homemade rice cakes).
Im a triathlete, and the worst hunger flat i have had was last year when I had to do 1h run and couple hours later a 3,5h ride. Last hour didnt have more food and was literally going 50w all out until i reached home.
started cycling again hard at age 40 never dieted ate correctly but doing it now what a difference it makes to life! i now am up to 40 mile cycles and pushing as much as i can ride to survive! now a lifestyle not a hobby top work on the vids gonna keep watching.
Forget the food content, I'm here for the espresso content. The Lelit looks great.
I don't have any prize-worthy bonks, but the first time I rode 100k back in the day I bonked so hard I had to stop to buy food less than 1km from home. I just wasn't going to make it.
I went on a “easy” ride with my university team mate who had way better fitness than me at the time, didn’t eat enough or pack enough nutrition for the ride, 40 miles into a 60 miler I bonked hard. Got some fruit snacks and tuna of all things at a gas station and got a second wind…until I had to stop because my shoes were too small. Now I never go out without eating a bowl of oatmeal.
Have loved reading the hunger stories, thought I would share mine, my worst hunger flat:
On the final leg of London to Paris, I got T-boned by a car coming out of town 5km into the start of the ride. One brief shouting match with a frenchman, some antiseptic, and a cry later and I was back on the road. However, my rear derailleur was no longer functioning from the impact, so I had 95km of french countryside on a single speed gravel bike between me and Paris.
As the day drew on I tried to keep on top of the food but just could not, and the latter half of the ride was very much spent in grumpy silence with my girlfriend, lead entirely by my own "h-anger". Only when we get to the border of Paris do we realise there are strikes/riots currently ongoing, the give away was the third burnt out car that we saw, so now we're trying to alter the route mid ride. In my hungry haze I lead us onto a motorway without realising, and before I knew it we were throwing the bikes over the barriers to push them through the bushes alongside the river.
It was at this point I admitted defeat, gave up, and got a train. To this day it is the only ride to have defeated me, but that shower and baguette at the end of the train ride changed my life. I met god that day.
My worst hunger flat story is not really about me. Back in 2014, they held a stage of the Arctic Race in my hometown. I had been into cycling for a few years by that point. A few days after the race had finished, I wanted to ride a part of the route that went around a small island (about 110-120 km). I didn’t want to do it all by myself, so I invited a friend to join me. This friend of mine had never ridden a road bike before. We started our ride and for the first 2-3 hours, everything went exceptionally well. I could tell he was starting to tire, and from this point, it all went sideways. We had severely underestimated how long the ride was going to be; therefore, we barely took any food with us. It was a Sunday, which meant that all the stores along the way were closed. We pushed on for a few more hours until my friend collapsed. He was completely empty and could not continue the ride. We had to call another friend to come to pick him up. At this point, I was also pretty bonked. Luckily, my friend brought some snacks with him. I finished the ride, and both my friend and I had learned a lesson: always bring more food than you think you need.
My worst hunger flat was actually on a hike in my vacation near berchtesgaden germany I was hiking up the hochstaufen which is quite a serious mountain and decided not to have breakfast that morning so after hiking to the mountain and then taking the long route up near the peak and 4 hours in to the hike I completely exploded from one minute to the next my heart rate skyrocketed and my legs turned to lead… I had to still hike back without food to town (direct route) for another 2 hours down the mountain because I was just so dead energy wise… yeah don’t bonk on top of a mountain on a trail path with only your 2 feet to carry you back 🤮
Worst hunger flat happened on a group ride and my first 100km. Chose a group too fast for me and fell off the back over 5 times, brought a cereal bar and sandwich for fuel. On the way home had to get off my bike and sit in the grass before I fainted. Ofc didnt let on on Strava 😎 needed that amacx fuel
Hunger Flat Story…
Moved from Aus to LA in 2017. Went for a ride in the mountains thinking I could handle the heat. Rode up a super steep berg and bonked so hard that I sat on the side of the road and fully lost my vision. Two guys stopped their car and approached me and had to wait until I could see again. They drove me back down the mountain and sat at a gas station with me while I pounded cokes. Yeah, the heat got me.
Holy shit
were you hydrating? I drink every half an hour when I cycle in the heat in LA. If it's in the hills, I plan accordingly where I can get my bottles filled up. Also I carry celtic salt with me in a tiny bag. I put a grain or two under my tongue every hour or so. It has 90+ minerals and much better than table salt.
Hunger flat is when you want to buy anything to eat but there's nothing to buy 300km around! That's what you can expect in Patagonia - South America, where the only "shops" are within the "estancias", that is huge haciendas whree the employees work and live. That's what happenned in a self-supported bike trip of 2200kms along the Carretera Austral and Tierra del Fuego in 2011. Thanks for your daily life videos!
rode so well at the Dauphine, love the mindset Harry. Got robbed on the tour selection!
The unexpected rescue in Italy
During my cycling vacation in Italy, I set off on a sunny Saturday morning on an ambitious 150-kilometer bike ride. The first 100 kilometers went smoothly, but at kilometer 125 the hunger pangs hit me with full force. My legs felt heavy, my head was spinning and I had nothing left to eat. Every pedal stroke was agony and I felt like I was about to keel over.
I stopped desperately at the side of the road, out of breath and drenched in sweat. The Italian sun was burning mercilessly and I had no more food with me. With shaking hands, I searched for anything edible in my pockets, but they were empty.
Suddenly I heard a strange ringing. An old, rickety ice cream van came around the corner. The driver, an elderly man with a white beard, stopped and asked in Italian if I wanted an ice cream. I told him about my hunger pangs and he laughed heartily. He gave me not just one, but six scoops of ice cream in a huge cone and said: "This will help you."
With renewed energy and a big smile on my face, I continued my journey. The ice cream gave me a much-needed energy boost and I managed the remaining 25 kilometers.
Best hunger flat story:
This was with a bigger group. We drove into this valley to have a intervall session of 6*8minutes. I was a head of the group feeling great, but I didn’t get that we was going to turn around midway trough the intervall. I was continuing the intervall, wondering where the rest of the guys where. It was steaming hot, and I was pushing absolutely max.
20 minutes after the last effort, stil not seeing the others, I realised I f*cked up.
Everything was in the team bus, so I had no phone, no water, no energy, and had to go back to the city alone.
2 hours after the last intervall effort, my coach picks me up realising i’m missing.
Damn I was tired😮💨
hunger flat story
This was before I ever heard about gels and such. There was a mountain bike group near my village with which I was riding for the first time. I did not know the pace or length of the ride, I was young and naive. It turns out these guys ride really hard and I only had 1 bowl of cereal to eat and took just one jam sandwich with me. Needless to say I was gone. I said to the group that I would leave early and take a shorter route home but half way up that road I had the urge to sit. I got of the bike and found a bench, then the urge to lay down came. I hid my bike in some bushes and then just laid in a ditch on the side of the road. About 1 hour later I woke up, after having fallen asleep. Got on the bike and struggled to go even 10 mph. When I saw a cafe up the road I got off again and stumbled into the seating area and completely fell over a table and some chairs. People came to me with some bananas and coke and after eating those I just quietly left and went home, which I eventually did.
you are a superstar on and off the bike mate, best of luck with the rest of the season, good things ahead of you fella!!!
After a full week of being a dad for the first time, i had so little sleep. I had a big ride planned out because 'you need to keep your fitness' No motivation then pure; you need to. After 10k's in was broken already. After 50k's i was full broken but then i realised i was halfway and did not made a mature decision to go back earlier but went with the plan. I made it home, that actually gives me to this day the feeling i can do anything in life. i felt so terrible after the 50k but i will never forget that ride🤣
Bonk.
Met my wife in a bar (seattle) was 12 tequila deep. Both cyclists so agreed to do a ride the next day. Turns out she is a pro downhiller. Picks me up to go mountain biking with her, cos I'm a roadie has me riding to the top of berg in the cascades while she gets in the back of a fan. I bonk... have to ride down the scariest shit I've ever seen. Silent drive home until she offers to get me taco bell.
Still married
It was a scorching July afternoon, and I ambitiously set out for a 100-mile ride with just a couple of energy gels and a bottle of water. By mile 70, I hit the dreaded hunger flat. My legs turned to jelly, vision blurred, and nausea set in. Stranded on the side of the road, I had no energy to continue.
Just as hope dwindled, a farmer on a tractor stopped, took pity on me, and handed over an apple and a cheese sandwich. That simple meal was a lifesaver, giving me enough strength to crawl the remaining 30 miles home. Lesson learned: never underestimate the power of proper nutrition and the kindness of strangers.
My worst hunger flat is pretty embarrasing. I could’t see nor ride straight anymore, wich made me ride into the canal 😅. It helped me to be well awake again, but unfortunately I have never seen that bike again (luckily it was just an old mountainbike).
Another great video by the way, I love your content.
Welcome back on TH-cam Harry great video great food 😀
I do my best! Glad you enjoyed it
My worst hunger flat story happened during a long cycling trip a few years ago. I was on a solo ride through a rural area, tackling a challenging route with a mix of steep climbs and rolling hills. I had underestimated the duration and intensity of the ride, bringing along only a couple of energy bars and a small bottle of water.
Around the 50-mile mark, I started feeling the first signs of hunger. I ate one of my energy bars and drank some water, thinking it would be enough to get me through. However, the climbs were relentless, and the energy from the bar quickly evaporated. By mile 70, I was in full-blown bonk mode. My legs felt like lead, and my speed dropped to a crawl. I was dizzy, my vision was blurry, and I felt a crushing fatigue that made every pedal stroke a monumental effort.
With no food left and miles away from the nearest town, I had no choice but to keep going. I tried to distract myself by counting down the miles and focusing on my breathing, but the hunger was overwhelming. Eventually, I reached a small village and stumbled into a local bakery. I must have looked like a man who hadn't eaten for weeks because the baker gave me a concerned look and offered me some bread and pastries. I ended up eating six pastries and spending 30€ at the bakery, absolutely devouring everything in sight.
That experience taught me a valuable lesson about the importance of proper nutrition and preparation. Since then, I've never gone on a long ride without adequate food and hydration.
chatgpt ahh response
@@marshallmoussavi9843 is your comment available in English?
Goodluck on your next exploits. Waiting for your next races and uploads. 💯 New fan of yours.
I am quit new to cycling so hunger became a problem just once. But it was on a gravel ride in February and I didn’t understand it at first. I felt fine, but I couldn’t produce any power what so ever.
Thanks for taking the time to make this kind of video, appreciate the opennes and hope you are well post those sketchy Dauphine crashes.
Legend 👌
Thankfully you didn’t pitch it. Quite a few of us out here waiting for the next episodes. Cooking is great. Y’all are funny
Probably my worst hunger flat: at the time I had only been cycling for like a month. Did 80k on a very windy day, was absolutely cooked after 50k because I had no clue about fueling, I just drank some water and had maybe a biscuit. So as you can imagine, completely imploded and my mates had to push me up every hill for the last 30k, which was made worse on the last climb as there was this oldtimer parade, so it truly was the climb/ride of shame. Then at the finish we had just one beer and I swerved home on my bike, half drunk on a Saturday afternoon from one beer because of the hunger flat. Seven years later I still get laughed at for it sometimes.
Hunger Flat Story - Day 1 of bike packing across Europe , we set off from the ferry in Cherbourg - I for some reason negated all of my previous knowledge of cycling nutrition and thought that 3 meals a day would suffice , its easy z1 after all....... ( wrong ). We were fuelled on vibes and excitement and I absolutely ran myself into the ground - maybe 9 hours on the bike later we called it quits with camping - and got an airbnb , I physically couldn't push on the pedals. I sat in the airbnb shower on max temp shivering - then crawled into the bed and continued to shiver. The next 3 weeks of bike packing I ate religiously and had the absolute fear of bonking.
I was watching this on my aunts tv the other day after spending the night on her couch and she gen up exclaimed "wtf did he just call roast potatoes" it folded me
For the twice baked potatoes - if you add a bit of baking soda to the water while boiling they’ll be even crispier. Thanks for all the great content!
👌
I would say a good grinder is the most important part of making good other than using good coffee.
this is a cooking channel and im here for it
great video guys!
my bonk story:
I decided to do a 50km "fun ride" out in west texas last year that happened to fall on the same day as the north american solar eclipse. my first time riding anything close to that distance (which also had 1500ft of elevation) so I only had a small breakfast just bc of the nerves and got out on the road with just a pack of gummies. 16 miles to the aid station and the heat is getting to me: vision's getting blurry, headache coming in, stopped sweating...there wasn't a cloud in the sky, no animal sounds, no wind, and at totality it briefly went dark. it felt totally surreal, and just added to the bonk feeling. finallyyyy make it to the aid station and down a bunch of electrolytes and bars, and somehow made it through to the end!
it's funny bc my friend did the ride with me, and thought we were racing so she was booking it to finish before me, thinking the whole time that I was chasing her down. meanwhile i'm pushing along at 8mph, counting all the individual rocks i'm passing, with no thoughts on my mind except finishing so i could get our free bbq and beer afterwards haha good times!
here for the cooking content
Knew there would be a few
same here … that relish tho ❤
"Amacx: Tame the T-Rex of Road Hunger!" When I finished the Mallorca 312 this year, I felt as hungry as a T-rex on a raid at every refreshment station. I hope I win the Amacx goodie so that I never become a t-rex again! 😂 🦖
Gutted for you to miss selection, stoked to see your video.
First of all thanks for another look into the life of a pro cyclist, love every vlog! 2019 this 59 year old cycled 5000 miles in and around Kansas feeling good about myself. Due to extreme cold cycling is limited in first couple of months of the year. As the months passed I was low on energy and always tired which I put down to turning 60. Also my left leg would swell after a ride and stay that way for a couple of days. After turning 60 in May went on a lumpy 55 mile ride with a friend which I usually dominated but struggled considerably to where I had to rest in the car afterwards before driving home, The usual swelling remained all weekend resulting in me going to Urgent Care after 3 days. The result was being told I had AFIB which I didn't have a clue about. In addition a clot was found in my left leg. Was told to go straight to the emergency room. The result was an ablation a couple of months later and 3 years later I'm back on course for 5000 miles. Not going to urgent care would probably have ended in a stroke or worse.
Would have loved to see u at the tour, just as u said.. thats pro sport 🥺 next year!! ☺️
bonk story:
Did an afterwork loop in Summer (90km), and decided that plain water is enough for carb intake.
After 60km i stumbled into a kiosk and was starving for chery-chocolate-bombs (that´s what we call it in AUSTRIA).
Seeing stars and tunnelvision was all on board.
Worst bonk story :
I was like 1h away from home when I started bonking hard. (big mistake as I didn't eat a good meal before the ride and end up with nothing to eat for the last 2h).
At one point, it was so bad that I started day dreaming or something, it was so weird. I wanted to go to my parent's house so that my mother could prepare me hot coffee and bakery. (It was like 4 years since I moved in my own house).
Then when I finally come home, I had to lay down in my sofa for like 1h, couldn't move, drank a redbull, ate everything I could, like eating an entire jar of honey but also eating cooked meat with mayonnaise at the same time.
I started to get really cold even with a blanket on me.
Finally kicked my ass to go to the shower, I just couldn't stand on my feet and had to turn the bin down so I can put it in the shower and sit on it while putting the hottest water possible.
It was bad. Found the strenght to go the restaurant with some friends after that but I was def not the most funny guy that night lol.
Worst hunger flat.. out tearing it up on the grav. Corrugations got me all wild and both bottles go flying out of the cage. I bust out a hero skid to return from whence I came to retrieve said bottles. Alas the skid was so powerful and with the ripple strips I proceed to roll the tyre off the rim an hours walk from the car where I have left any form of tyre inflation device.. literal HUNGER FLAT..
I think that’s the forth place you’ve lived in since you started the channel? How about a video where you talk about all the different countries you’ve lived and trained in? Would love to hear how you find it in Andorra compared to the Cote d’Azur
Good shout that!
Saw purple, saw stars, hit the deck!
Racing a 70.3 I was 3km from the finish line and bonked so hard I collapsed! Was flying out the front of the age group in 1st place on the run, all I wanted to do was collapse over the line but things went pear shaped and collapsed 3km from home, everything went blurry and purple! Stood up straight away, and collapsed again, litterally couldn't stand, gave it a couple of minutes and could hardly get onto all 4s, dropped in a cup of coke and a water and walked it home after about 15 minutes! Lessons learnt, always keep a gel spare!
I did the London marathon one year and was going well until the 16 mile point when I started to feel funny light headed and needed food there were porta loos at the side of the road so I nipped in there and whilst sat there having a rest saw this unopened gel on the floor desperation and fear of not making it I picked it up and had the gel “chocolate of all flavours” 🤮 but hey I made it to the end just 🥵
I'm here for the recipes!
Your videos again 🎉
A bad flat story? Are there good ones?
Here we go…. 4h over pouring rain and…. a double flat. No mobile (Wet) so 20km pump every 500m. At least it stoped to rain!!
Bonk storytime. I trained as a rower for a whole summer while under fueling the whole summer and struggled so badly and even wondered why the easy workouts were hard. Looking back I definitely had zero fuel in for what my output was. Lesson learned.
So mine happened two years ago during autumn, I was out gravel riding with a couple of older fellas, one being an ex pro rider. They go insanely fast through the forest and because I kept up with them on prior rides I told myself I’d be alright, but felt spent worried already after an hour. I guess they never heard of Z2, as they do race pace each time they ride. Anyhow, at the last moment after nearly hanging in we turn up to a roadside cafe/bakery for a break. Desperate I stuffed myself with a pulled pork tortilla which another rider also had. The others had sweet stuff like cakes instead. 20 mins after the stop and I start having these disgusting burps coming which made me feel even worse, I started joking and the other guy who had the same said he also felt massive burps hitting him haha. After close to three hours I was really hitting the bonk wall, getting dropped on climbs and feeling like an anchor when they had to wait for me. One of them was clearly also spent and asked if anyone had gels to spare. In my irrational state I hadn’t fed myself properly after the tortilla and still had two gels in my back pocket which I gave the dude instead of taking the moment to reflect and have them myself, his question could’ve been a wake up call. I handed them over, watching him slurp BOTH down in the same moment and ride off. After 10 mins I told them to go ahead without me, and rode back home in snail pace for an hour or so. Stopped at a roadside place and had a sausage roll and soda, absolutely disgusting and didn’t help
at all. Came home broken and caked in mud, wife giving me a loving look and said “you need a good shower and lay down on the couch”. She’d made an amazing Caesar salad which was light and brought me back to life.
Bonus: get yourself a good knife sharpener! The work smart line is awesome. Their “guided field sharpener” model is tiny but full of functions and also works on large kitchen knives.
🤞 fingers crossed
Hunger flat story
16 year old me thought it would be a good idea to do a ~180k ride in Austria, including 3 big climbs. I knew SFA about nutrition at the time, and thought one bidon with a salt tab every hour and a bar or gel once in a while would be enough. About 100k in I stopped for a pancake lunch, already on my hands and knees at the time. Fast forward past the lunch and about 40k and a big climb later I was completely f’ed and practically crawling home with one climb to go. The situation got so bad I nearly fainted twice and with grandpa having to pick me up halfway up the final climb with ~6k to go.
Still pissed I didn’t finish it 🤣
Sorry to hear about not making to cut but love the positive mindset & enjoy your family vacation! Cheers from Dallas, TX
Worst bonk story: I was very young maybe I was about 13 years old. I lived at the bottom of a mountain valley about 1500 metres away. That day was my first outing after the winter when I was only cross-country skiing. My goal was to start from the valley floor, take a ride to the plains and get home. In the plain there were unforeseen events with the wind, I had caught the strongest wind against my life for about 1 hour and I had arrived at the beginning of the climb totally destroyed. However, my goal was to get home by bike so I started the 30km valley all uphill. After a while I realised that the fuel was gone and I started to work so hard. At that age I didn't know it depended on food so I didn't even think about stopping to buy food. It took me about two hours longer than usual to get home and while I was going up every about 5 minutes I had to stop because the effort I was doing was really a lot.
One time during a long bike ride, I totally underestimated how much food I'd need. I hit a massive hunger flat about 20 miles from home and felt so dizzy and weak. Had to call a friend to bring me some snacks! Learned my lesson: always pack extra food! (preferably Amacx) :)
Always bring some (Amacx) Snacks!🤤
Worst hunger flat: Was completely done and just wanted to rest a couple of minutes in a bus stop before attempting the climb to my house. Felt asleep and snoozed for roughly an hour.
Worst one for me was in south Spain, in and around Alicante region. I had taken the train with my friend down from Valencia to explore a different part of the country. The day before I had created the strava route on my computer which as climbing as possible so it was a big day out. It was great weather but really hot, 30 or so degrees, unsurprisingly. The views were great though, as we crossed through the mountains and through remote villages. At the halfway point we hit an obstacle. My expert route building had led us to a tiny walking path surrounded by a small river and a steep hill to the right. Only thing we could was walk for about 30mins, and then we got to a gravel section which we were able to ride without any flats. After about 1.5 hours of having to find an alternative route and then walking, we finally got to a rideable road. That was an adventure we thought but glad it was behind us. I was already very poor at fueling at this point, maybe 40g/hr and we were going pretty full all day. As we got to 10ish km to go, we took a right turn up a wall of a climb, starting out as poorly surfaced with tonnes of bumps but after 500m, gravel started appearing and it got deeper and deeper until we had to both stop on a really steep hairpin. At this point, he was able to get back on and ride up but I just didn’t have the bike handling to do that. Attempt one, as I tried to use the outside part of the bend to get momentum, I put my foot out just in time as getting momentum with the stones was almost impossible. Attempt two, still thinking I could do it, I am able to pedal for one or two strokes and then bang, I tip over onto my right side, breaking the front chip of my saddle which still stands today. I had no major damage but was fed up, and was getting hungry and thirsty with no fuel or hydration. I texted him but no reply so I had no choice but to start trekking up and pushing my bike. After 15 minutes of that, it levelled off but was still gravel so I slowly rode and followed the route I had clearly planned very well. I reached him at a point where it was sending us down a steep mountain bike path down the side of a mountain. We both weren’t interested in doing that. And with no service, we decided to follow our path back to the main road we were previously on. At this point, I was gone. No energy, we were both out of fuel, I could hardly pedal. Thankfully it was all downhill to the train station but I was gripping my brakes so hard going down the gravel I thought I was going to tip over the front. At the end there was a flat section of about 5km and I don’t think I’ve ever gone so slow on the flat, I was pedalling squares, any small rise felt like a wall. After what felt like ages, and some wrong turns in the town, we arrived back at the train station and my friend bought me some juice and snacks from the cafe. Never been so empty and hopefully never will be again. If there’s one thing I learnt it’s to not plan strava routes that say they are unidentifiable or dirt roads
Hunger flat story: more a story of how I semi-rescued a friend from a terrible hunger flat
I was doing an 85km MTB race and came across one of my friends about 100m from the top of the last climb before a big descent to the last aid station. My friend was sitting on the side of the trail with his head between his knees. I chucked him a gel, told him how close to the aid station we were and continued on - knowing there was someone close behind walking as he'd had a mechanical and since I was racing for 3rd in the women's race. At the aid station I warned them to look out for my friend when he arrived. I eventually found him after the finish and it turned out that he had been taken back to the start in an ambulance and told us that on the descent to the aid station he had been 'drifting in and out of consciousness'. The following day he was totally fine and came 3rd in the Enduro race
Great vid Herry. Why would you use frozen banana in the smoothy, not a peeled banana
Texture is much nicer!
Makes it like a smoothie - much creamier + thicker consistency, almost like melted ice cream. Highly recommended. Can add ice for a similar effect but frozen banana / fruit does an even better job.
You da man harry!!
You did some nice work in the dauphine. Good luck with the rest of the season.
Good vid! Carbs FTW!
ps: careful leaning on glass windows brother.
I have a good story. Went on trainingcamp in Calpe, Spain for two months. Firstly the appartement I stayed in was full of cockroaches, that was a great start. This problem got never fixed so I just continued like they were not there. After that my car got broken into and my spare gear was all stolen. It didn't end there because I crashed my bike and broke it and was full of battle scars after that. After the bike got fixed (approx. 1 week) I still had one week to go and in this week I got food poisoning and had to go to the hospital in Denia. Oh yeah, I almost forgot, on the last day I tore my muscle while riding so I was out for 2 weeks after the camp. Great experience. After this I never was able to find a good position on the bike which led me to stop completely. Now I can't ride more than 30 minutes pain-free.
Great content, upbeat and positive, and no cheeeeesy music. Thanks for taking the time! Good luck w/rest of the season.
When L’etape Australia was cancelled I did the ride with two mates, bonked out bad on the climb out of Kangaroo Valley, bonked so bad my brain stopped working, only think keeping me going was the heckling and “kind” words from those utes with P plates 😂 raided the Robertson pie shop at the top
BONK story. Was doing a gravel race in Canada, and the start went well, but 10km in I lost both my bottles going over a section of loose gravel/washboard. This left me with less carbs than I would have preferred but I continued without them (someone gave me a bottle of water later on so I still had some water). The race from that point in included a crash, several punchy climbs and a constantly high pace leaving little time for eating. By the time I was 70km in I had eaten barely anything and couldn’t see straight. My vision was blurry, colours looked funny, and I was being passed by riders left and right. What felt like a max effort to try to get into riders wheels was only barely 200 watts. The final straightaway was an endless 2ish km, and I could see a mush of coloured jerseys from quite a ways from the line, but those last few hundred meters took minutes. Ended up lying on the ground army crawling to the granola bars for 20 minutes after the finish before I could stand up again. Lost a solid 10 minutes in those last 15ish kilometres. Not fun.
Worst hunger flat: 10years ago I still thought that fueling in zone 2 training is a sign of weakness, so at the end of a 3hour ride I bonked so hard that at home I inhaled a whole package of Haribo gummie bears
hey great vid, ppl increte, at least the oldschool ones drink some olive oil before a feast to prevent getting too drunk by the wine and raki/tsikoudia (40%++ alcohol)
As an EF fan I am saddened that you did not make the team. We are extreamely strong however. Richard looks really good after stage two! Any change you are going to the vuelta???
Heck yeah! More Harry content 🙌
Hunger flat story: Deep winter training ride 5 hours endurance with some mates. Rode the first 3 hours with a horendous headwind to reach the turning point and have a tailwind back home. Decided to get a midride snack in the form of some fried fish next to the beach. 10 minutes after we got back on the bike we all bonked. The tailwind ride home took us longer than the headwind part, one of my mates even crashed because he was so empty. Learned some lessons that day
snapped my chain 130k into a ride where i dropped 2 bars on the ride, had to get the bus stopped at a shop, smashed a whole pack of digestives, got the next bus home with people just looking at me disgusted and sweaty
Saw purple, saw stars, hit the deck!
Racing a 70.3 I was 3km from the finish line and bonked so hard I collapsed! Was flying out the front of the age group in 1st place on the run, all I wanted to do was collapse over the line but things went pear shaped and collapsed 3km from home! Stood up straight away, and collapsed again, litterally couldn't stand, gave it a couple of minutes and could hardly get onto all 4, dropped in a cup of coke and a water and walked it home! Lessons learnt, always keep a gel spare!
Did a bike-marathon last year; 1st day 150 km, second day 250 km with lots of climbing. Second day, at km 200 i got left alone by my mates because i startet to hunger flat. 5 km later, in a downhill curve, i lost control at about 70 km/h an landed in a fence. crawled back to the street with broken collarbone and ended in hospital for surgery.
i‘m doing the marathon again in 2 weeks so i could really need these supplements to finish this story:)
Another fantastic video from you. We are lucky to have an authentic athlete sharing their journey!
If one day you could share a day-to-day video talking about nutrition (along with other topics, of course) during a training camp or a one-week race (like the Dauphiné), it could be interesting to see how you handle eating a lot, how the team supports you to eat, how do you ensure you fuel enough and well, etc!
Χαιρετισμους απο Ελλαδα, Harry στειλε προπονηση για βελτιωση στην ποδηλασια, κυριως ανηφορα ! Translation Greetings from Greece, Harry send training segments to improve in cycling, especially uphill !
Australian sprinter with green jersey? - Robbie McEwan?
Hunger flat story... Many years back when i went to do training session (cross-country skiing) here in Finland. My goal was just to do 30km (2 hours) quite easy pace, but it felt so good so that continued training and decided to do about 3 hours and 50km.
That was quite (brainfart) and then everything started went downhill from that point on. At point 40km i started to feel bonking and that time i had one half litre energy/caffeine drink with my and i noticed that that was light drink so no sugar so another (brainfart). So i decided turnaround because it was 10km back to car and when there was 3-4 km left i was so bad state that i have to stop every 100 metres and i was sure that im not going get back to car. Maybe 50km is not so long at cycling but in cross-country skiing it is quite long.
But luckily i managed to get back to car somehow and went inside car and offcourse put heating on because it was -10c outside. I was just shivering inside my car and texted to my girlfriend to put sauna on. Here in Finland almost every apartment has a sauna. When i was in the car my shape was pretty awful so decided to rest couple minutes before heading out to home.
But then i woke up when some old guy knocked at my car window and asked is everything allright, he had noticed that the car is on and i was sleeping there. I just say that yeah everything is allright and started drive back to home and my memories is pretty foggy from that trip back to home, (notice, if you feel that bad don´t drive) .
When arrived back to home i went immediately to fridge and started to eat everything. After that i was still shivering and went straight to sauna. After sometime my girlfriend came to sauna check up on me because it was so quiet there and about 30-40 minutes had passed.
So offcourse i was sleeping there and when she woke up me i felt pretty sick and headed to toilet to vomit almost everything i had just eaten.
This took me about one week to recover from that. Now my rule of thumb is take allways one gel or something with me.
Nice videos and quite funny too with Jacob. Like Beavis and Butt-head 🤣
Will you go to la veuelta instead ? Great video
After the oats, how many hours will you wait before getting on the bike for an effort like that?
I was finishing a collegiate road race in central California and had cramped out in both legs and bonked. I had to walk across the finish line since my legs were locked up. After that I was riding back to the cars and I got clipped by a horse trailer and crashed hard. I had to get driven to the nearest hospital in my kit still and cramping/bonking. Eventually I got out and was clear minus a separated shoulder and road rash and then I went back to meet the team for dinner. At dinner, I had an allergic reaction to the large amount of ibuprofen I took and started breaking out in hives for the whole 6 hour car ride back to San Diego. Not a great day.
Nice machine I have same the paddle is nice feature , where could I get some of that Greek olive oil tnx ? Bummer on TDF but could be all for luck 👍
I watch the channel expecting to see rides lol 27:31 "There's popeyes" hahaha
Well that was a touhg one,but I still remeber it,I was pretty new to cycling riding for kadets and we have been on holydays about 60km from hometown and we had a clib training,so I went on bike to my hometown 60km and than went out for a clib training another 40-50km,dont remeber if I have eaten something but probably not I nearly manage training which was wery hard by coincidence,when cool down about 7km from home I bonk extremely knock on the door of a friend of my mum (with blired vision) to lift me back home,I came home knocked get a hot bath (ate 2small bagettes 60-80g) and fell a sleep in the bath,woke up for shaking from cold water sommust have been ther 1-2 hours,lucky that I survive 🤷♂️💪😂🙌 Thx for reading Fazy183 😉 (hunger knock is still my biggest fear on the bike,probably at least once a year it happens to me or nearly happens that a smash the petrol station 😂)
Bonk Story:
To set the stage, it was my first ever "long ride" of 40 flat miles. As a former college athlete and clearly uneducated cyclist, the ol ego blinded my judgement and I set out with 2 protein bars and 2 bottles of water.
It's an out and back route and I was FLYING for the first half, unknowingly enjoying a steady ~10-15 mph tailwind. I pedal hard as I see my speed at crazy personal highs and I'm passing clearly experienced guys. "Man I'm pretty good at this"... I hit the end, pee on a bush, "fuel up" (lol) and head back.
That's when I realize the wind... straight into my stupid face, relentlessly wearing me down. I can barely hold half my speed from before so I push harder until legs burn out. Took a 5 minute break and got going again, only for this to happen every 10 minutes all the way back. The true ego-dagger came during one of the last of these rests, I'm bent over catching my breath, stretching my legs and chugging the end of my water bottles with less than a happy look on my face. A little girl with training wheels was riding next to her dad, as they slowly yet comfortably pass by she says "daddy what happened to him?" No idea what he said, but the crystal clear answer is "stubborn arrogance, sweetheart..."
Tried to follow my pro conti friend for a big ride 5-6hrs ish. Only 2 of us and the first half of the ride I felt strong af and didn't even eat during a pit stop bcos I saw him not eating. Felt so good until a rolling section full of DOGS chasing like 20 of them + sudden surge of heat. Coming up to a climb and I cant even push 100 watts🤣. Descended back down the other side and he even made me stop again and let me eat a plate full of rice. Continue our ride back home but the pace keeps on getting faster and faster (i felt like it hahaha) because his wahoo is dying and we need to go back home before it died. I end up letting him go home alone and called my other mates to pick me up at a random petrol station HAHAHAHA. Ever since that day I learned to NEVER EVER SKIP YOUR FOOD!!
"My Hunger Flat" One of the first nice early spring Saturdays in Minnesota, USA and I was going out to get some base miles. The plan was 60-70 miles at a steady pace. I went through my 'onboard' food quicker than expected. All gone by mile 40 and I felt an horrible bonk coming on. A few more miles and I was getting desperate. I was looking for apple trees or anything edible on this long gravel road. Then I saw it. A discarded 32-ounce bottle of Gatorade in the ditch. It was about half full. Disgusting, but perfect. Looked like 'lemon-lime' flavor. Nice. I stopped, unclipped, and picked it up. When I grabbed the bottle, it looked like it had been baking in the sun for a couple days. The color was darker than the typical neon yellow. Whatever, it was a solution to my problem. I twisted off the cap and gulped down the entire bottle. I'll skip to the end here. Turned out to be a "trucker bomb". In the US, guys who drive trucks for a living save time by pissing into bottles and throwing them out the window rather than stopping to pee. Makes sense. I knew immediately that I had just chugged a sun-baked trucker bomb. I screamed in horror like a madman. Then shrugged and soft pedaled home. The urine did nothing for my bonk unfortunately. When I got home, I washed out my mouth with a garden hose, sat in my backyard and sent a group chat to my friends to let them know what I had done to myself. Lesson learned. Always pack more snacks than you'll need.
Worst hunger story:
About 5 years ago, I was fairly new to road cycling, but I thought I was ready for my first 50 mile ride. Went with a group of about 4 experienced riders on a warm holiday here in Chicago.
I was feeling pretty good 30 miles in, had a couple bars and gels with me and my bottles, thought it was gonna be a breeze. But as the day progressed, it got hotter around mid 20 degrees C and humid. At about mile 40, everyone was suffering. One guy asked if anyone had any extra food. I decided to be a sport and give him my last gel...Well, the last 10 miles were hellish.
No more liquids, no more food. Legs were shaky and we were on a bike path with no options to stop. Just had to push through it.
I swear the last 3 miles I was about to pass out. I remember being so light headed and dizzy I swear I was ready to collapse lol. Kinda funny now that I think about it, but I made it!
Enjoy your holiday Harry!
Worst hunger flat story…
I had only been cycling for a year when I decided to do a long day out with my mate, who behold, has nearly double my FTP at that time. I’d only done 60k before, but this would be 170k. I figured, about 1l of plain water und 5 energy balls, would last me the day. It turns out, after 1/3 of the way (with us cycling way too fast for me), I found myself in his slipstream with my eyes closing repeatedly. It was really hard to keep them open, whilst on the bike pedalling.
A little while after, we had to reduce the speed to a snail’s pace, at 2/3 of the way, we stopped at a supermarket for 30mins, I still only having one pastry and a little juice.
Made it home somehow - a lesson now learned, always overestimate your energy needs or get them right in the first place.
Water is moving across the cell membrane through osmosis, not the sodium/potassium pump. Just to clear up the misinformation