Hitting the wall / bonking - any tips to prevent?

Can't believe it took so long for malt loaf to come up!

Also, it may be worth seeing if it's the type of gel you're using, personally I found the torq ones a bit too sweet (although tasty), High5 Isogel makes me feel ill, High5 standard gels are ok but my preferred gel is SiS as theirs seem to work best for me.

Definitely mix it up on long rides with flapjack / malt loaf etc - gives your taste buds (and your guts) some variety!

Malt loaf and bananas do me a treat.
I find I have to make a concious effort to eat and even have a time related reminder on my computer to help

I'm an advocate of trying to use normal foods instead of gels and energy bars. I've found the Feed Zone Cookbook extremely useful.
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Feed-Zone-Portables-Cookbook--Go/dp/1937715000/r...
The rice cakes and baked eggs are so simple but also filling and kind on the stomach.

Graeme Obree broke the hour record, and did the training for it, on jam sandwiches. Two types of sugars, the jam for the quick hit, the bread for slower release.

Now, should say, I'm not suggesting you eat just jam sarnies but my point is that there's a lot of quack science and quack foods out there that promise the sun and the moon but normal foods can give you everything you need.

Posted this link before but here it is again. Ditch the carbs, replace with good fats and train your amazing body back to working the way it should. Has been working well for me but it does take time to adapt. Also echo the lower water requirement messages, most of the "hydration science" is there to sell you sugar water that you don't need.

http://www.samiinkinen.com/post/86875777832/becoming-a-bonk-proof-triath...

On the similar lines of others but a bit more pointed.

You are doing sportives, not races. Back off, enjoy the ride and focus more on getting to the finish. So what if after 4-6 hours riding you are 10 mins slower than you think you should be. We've all done it at some point, gone off far too quickly, put ourselves into red and never had chance to recover.

Interesting about the hydration as their seems to be more evidence coming to light that we can go just as hard whilst "dehydrated" http://trailrunnernation.com/2013/03/dr-tim-noakes-are-we-waterlogged/ the chap can be a little "sensationalist" but raises some interesting points. I have been thinking more about how much fluid I take out with me. I haven't listened to the clip for a while but it's interesting to hear that Haile Gebrselassie lost nearly 10% of his starting weight on a marathon, but did also consume 2l during a race http://www.runnersworld.com/drinks-hydration/haile-gebrselassies-world-r...

I would not stop for more than 5 mins to rest, maybe these should be at the food stations if doing sportive or half way if solo rides. Ideally you want really long distance rides to be done at zone 2 heart rate/power. The more you train the faster you will go at zone 2 whether that be 15mph or 20 mph. Vary your training by doing short rides at high pace for long as you can. Do intervals training aswell. This type of training boosts power, threshold capacity and gives you a greater capacity to go further aswell.

As mentioned above, fig rolls are brilliant. They are the right dimensions to stick in a tri-bag, are an easy size to eat and have similar calories to gels but at a fraction of the cost.

However, again on long rides you get sick of sweet. I remember doing the Tour of the Black Mountains one year which was 120+ miles of fun in the Welsh hills. Got to the second feed stop and they had cheese rolls. Necked about 5 of these as I was sick of fig rolls.

all good but also would add simply get fitter. I used to bonk at 60K or so and now can ride a straight 100K sportive without the need to stop and min gels (maybe 3 and a couple of other bars). the lower your HR is then the less energy needed.

Just concentrate IMHO on getting that HR down !

You need to stay behind the nutrition curve. Trial and error on a given route, will get you the experience you need to know what, and when you need to eat, on a given ride, in order to make sure that your body is producing fuel, at least as quickly (preferably a bit more quickly) than you are using it. Once you get in front of the curve, you will be in trouble. The only way out is to stop, eat and drink properly, then wait until you are back behind the curve. I'd never resort to energy gels, unless I was miles away from anywhere I could sort it out. Even then, I'd go for cashew nuts, and jelly babies.

I did see something last year, where a chap cycled 300 ish miles i think on only coconut oil, he did record it on strava but I can't find it a the moment

Lots of good tips here. I find fig rolls great, you can wrap 3 or 4 of them up in foil and munch them on the move.

I've gradually weaned myself off the energy "products" - gels and bars etc; I always take a couple but save them for emergencies. Eat normal food, and eat a little and often. It doesn't have to be sweet - in the deluge of RideLondon last year, I had a mini pork pie with about 15 miles to go, it tasted brilliant!

Remember if you actually feel hungry you've left it too late, you need to be eating for 30-40 minutes time.

Do you stop at all? I find if I stop for 5-10 minutes every 120-150 minutes it makes a huge difference to me.

The best long ride I've had was fuelled by bacon and egg ricecakes. I felt great from start to finish - 160km with 2500m climbing.

Every year I hit the wall and it never gets any nicer. I once inched my way along my (flat) high street barely able to turn 34x28 before lying on my living room floor scoffing chocolate chip cookies.

Eat little, often, and early. Find what your body likes - personally I swear by honey roasted peanuts, raisins and peanut butter sandwiches, all of which are sweet enough but reasonably slow-release so you don't get a big sugar whoosh, go like a train and then blow up. And don't forget to drink, because your body needs liquid in order to absorb food.

As SteppenHerring said I find on longer rides 100 + miles that i cannot manage on gels, energy drinks etc I have to have proper food, I found lard cake fantastic, but it is a suck it and see approach really what works for one doesn't work for another. But bananas, peanut butter and Marmite sandwiches, ham and cheese sarnies seem to work for me. I use the Zero tabs for hydration.

A good deal could be to do with your heart rate (by which I mean the effort at which you are working - each persons heart will be different, and so do more/less than the next man for the same exertion). If your are working in the 'red' or at threshold for too long then there is nothing you can do. The bonk is inevitable. This is why the pros try not to sit in the wind and work less through drafting.

Other factors include fitness and training - the more you do the more your body will lay down glycogen stores, so if you are only cycling at the weekend try to doing some midweek rides too (or some other activity).

Even a pro can only do 2.5-3 hours working hard without bonking IF they do not take on calories, some gel manufacturers suggest a gel every 20 minutes. I would not go down that route, but regular sips of energy drink and nibbles on food on a regular basis will keep the wolf from the door.

Working hard closes down the GI tract and so if you eat and work too hard you'll bonk from that too. Pace yourself and your eating.

Less gels more basic foods, like flapjacks jam sandwiches and bananas. These type of foods will fuel you better, gels are for emergency fuel. If you can get to 80 with feeling Ok. Then 100 miles is easily achievable. Your energy drink should contain salts aswell as energy elements.

It is hard to get down a load of sweet stuff. I remember the first time I did a 100 mile time trial and by the end of it, I was sick of sweet things and also feeling quite knackered.

These days, for hard rides, maltodrextrin (which is barely sweet) plus a salt type tablet (High 5 zero) or two depending on temperature and a hint of squash to make it palatable. Tastes awful when you begin but when you are hitting the limit, it tastes like nectar.

Also don't go off too fast.