It happened to Grand Tour winner Alberto Contador, and he lost 3 minutes and the race lead in the process. Cyclists call it “bonking”, but “bonking” can mean many things. I’m not going mad – even Lance Armstrong knows what I mean: “Bonked” basically means running out of fuel. Happens to us all.

It’s the point where you simply feel so wasted, so tired, that all form and much forward motion is lost. You aren’t injured, you simply have no energy. Physiologically you can increase your endurance and stave it off, but you still must eat as you ride if you are to avoid it. For me personally it usually happens around the 80-90km mark, but only if I don’t eat. If I eat something – anything – every 25-30km I’m OK.

But I wondered – how did it get this name? So let’s look for clues from a few online sources…

1. First definition – To strike or cause to come into contact It’s close – like ‘hitting the wall’ in marathon running, which is a nice image until you experience it
2. Or perhaps to have sexual intercourse No, I don’t think that’s it – is it? Not on a bike, anyway
3. Paul Beale tentatively connects it to bonk ‘a short, steep hill’ I don’t think so, although short hills become mountains when you have bonked
4. Eric Partridge in his Dictionary of slang (not online, sadly) suggested the same, a short sharp hill, from about 1840. He also suggested that it was circus slang and gave an attribution. Hmmm. No cycling connection, at least not that far back
5. More recently Fergusson, Partridge and Beale dropped the circus slang and the hill reference and went for ‘a resounding hit’ (citing a verbal usage in 1919, and as a noun in 1920). They also agree with sexual intercourse (who wouldn’t?) and eccentric behaviour; and if the former was performed on a bike it would certainly constitute the latter in my book!
6. More pertinently, a sudden attack of fatigue or light-headedness sometimes experienced by racing cyclists and other athletes is spot on, and is dated 1952 – but why a bonk??
7. I felt myself start the unstoppable downward spiral that leads to what we Americans call “bonking” Nice description but I think the English made it up first – but again, where’s the proof?
8. From left field: Bonking is a card game for 4 players that is played with one deck of cards. Everyone plays for themselves. In total 11 rounds are played, in which every round has its own goal. The goal of the game is to score as many points as possible. The player who scores the most points is declared the winner. I haven’t thought of playing this game whilst riding, but it may be possible…
9. And of course: Bonkers “crazy,” 1957, British slang, perhaps from earlier naval slang meaning “slightly drunk” (1948), from notion of a thump on the head. Now we are making some sense.

I think I’ll stop here as I’ve hit the wall on this one. There’s an onomatopoeic (is that how its spelled?) element here, I reckon. My theory being that “bonking” was originally an approximation of the sound of hitting or colliding with something – perhaps even something like a human head! If it was a human head (and it would be a suitably muffled bonking sound, surely?) then it’s possible to acquire a brain injury, which would lead to “bonkers”, or a form of madness, hopefully temporary. In a less drastic fashion it may be more like a wobbly, drunken state, as suggested by the naval slang. From there it’s a short hop to the exhausted, similarly wobbly and slighty incoherent state of the cyclist’s “bonk”.

Thus I blame the British Navy circa 1950 allowing drunken sailors to ride home on shore leave, possibly falling off their bikes and “bonking” themselves silly. Actually I see the other popular definition coming into play as well, with those same sailors involved, but with bikes purely optional!

It happened to Grand Tour winner Alberto Contador, and he lost 3 minutes and the race lead in the process. Cyclists call it “bonking”, but “bonking” can mean many things. I’m not going mad – even Lance Armstrong knows what I mean: “Bonked” basically means running out of fuel. Happens to us all.

It’s the point where you simply feel so wasted, so tired, that all form and much forward motion is lost. You aren’t injured, you simply have no energy. Physiologically you can increase your endurance and stave it off, but you still must eat as you ride if you are to avoid it. For me personally it usually happens around the 80-90km mark, but only if I don’t eat. If I eat something – anything – every 25-30km I’m OK.

But I wondered – how did it get this name? So let’s look for clues from a few online sources…

1. First definition – To strike or cause to come into contact It’s close – like ‘hitting the wall’ in marathon running, which is a nice image until you experience it
2. Or perhaps to have sexual intercourse No, I don’t think that’s it – is it? Not on a bike, anyway
3. Paul Beale tentatively connects it to bonk ‘a short, steep hill’ I don’t think so, although short hills become mountains when you have bonked
4. Eric Partridge in his Dictionary of slang (not online, sadly) suggested the same, a short sharp hill, from about 1840. He also suggested that it was circus slang and gave an attribution. Hmmm. No cycling connection, at least not that far back
5. More recently Fergusson, Partridge and Beale dropped the circus slang and the hill reference and went for ‘a resounding hit’ (citing a verbal usage in 1919, and as a noun in 1920). They also agree with sexual intercourse (who wouldn’t?) and eccentric behaviour; and if the former was performed on a bike it would certainly constitute the latter in my book!
6. More pertinently, a sudden attack of fatigue or light-headedness sometimes experienced by racing cyclists and other athletes is spot on, and is dated 1952 – but why a bonk??
7. I felt myself start the unstoppable downward spiral that leads to what we Americans call “bonking” Nice description but I think the English made it up first – but again, where’s the proof?
8. From left field: Bonking is a card game for 4 players that is played with one deck of cards. Everyone plays for themselves. In total 11 rounds are played, in which every round has its own goal. The goal of the game is to score as many points as possible. The player who scores the most points is declared the winner. I haven’t thought of playing this game whilst riding, but it may be possible…
9. And of course: Bonkers “crazy,” 1957, British slang, perhaps from earlier naval slang meaning “slightly drunk” (1948), from notion of a thump on the head. Now we are making some sense.

I think I’ll stop here as I’ve hit the wall on this one. There’s an onomatopoeic (is that how its spelled?) element here, I reckon. My theory being that “bonking” was originally an approximation of the sound of hitting or colliding with something – perhaps even something like a human head! If it was a human head (and it would be a suitably muffled bonking sound, surely?) then it’s possible to acquire a brain injury, which would lead to “bonkers”, or a form of madness, hopefully temporary. In a less drastic fashion it may be more like a wobbly, drunken state, as suggested by the naval slang. From there it’s a short hop to the exhausted, similarly wobbly and slighty incoherent state of the cyclist’s “bonk”.

Thus I blame the British Navy circa 1950 allowing drunken sailors to ride home on shore leave, possibly falling off their bikes and “bonking” themselves silly. Actually I see the other popular definition coming into play as well, with those same sailors involved, but with bikes purely optional!