Fuel the engine (you gotta eat)

Well, yesterday I had one of those rides...

Right out of the gate it was a sprint. Only I could tell that I wasn't able to really put down the hammer. I kept up alright, but was getting pretty tired by about 2mi into the ride. Great! Next comes more sprinting and a bit of DH, but not the kind that gives any rest. But enough to make keeping up and even gapping some of the pack though. Hit the bottom of that section and notice I am breathing harder than I should be. I am drinking water and sweating like a pig. As the trail goes on it is a mix of up and down with increasingly more up. The legs just don't want to put down any power. I am feeling more and more weak.

As the group fades away down the trail I realized that I am about 7-8mi into a 16mi ride. I pulled the plug. I am familiar enough with bonking to know when the conditions are right for an epic failure. So I turn back and hit the connector trail, a straight up the mountain hike a bike. Fortunately I was only a mile or so past it. As I hike along I marvel at the fact that I am really feeling it, totally tired and expended.

As I am moving slow I have plenty of time to think. It hits me. I have been abusing myself. I am not on a diet or anything at the moment. But I have been burning the midnight oil and getting by on 5-6hr of sleep. I also have not put any carbs besides beer and soda into my system in about 30 hours. No breakfast, just coffee. I had an early lunch, salad and a piece of pork tenderloin (left overs from dinner). At around 3pm I drank about 1/2 can of soda. No wonder why I am worked over. I forgot to put gas in the tank

Take it from me, if you want to have a good ride you do actually need to eat something that will fuel your muscles. Hopefully this little ramble will be of use to someone else.