Experienced A Bonk...Not Fun!

So, in preparation for my first HIM in August, I've been trying to dial in my nutrition during longer training sessions.  About 67 miles into my planned 60 mile ride which ultimately turned into a 71 mile ride today, I suddenly lost steam.  It took everything I had to not just stop the bike, get off, and lay down in the shade.  I was light-headed, nauseous, a little disoriented, and just out of it in general.  10 mph on the flat road I was on felt like a huge effort.  Even though I'd ridden on the same road many times in the past, I was suddenly having trouble remembering where it went.  It was a very scary feeling.

I had eaten a Power Bar, Clif Bar, Power Bar Gel, Power Bar Gel Blasts, a pack of fig newtons, and a bottle and a half of gatorade.  Before the ride, I had oatmeal with brown sugar and fresh raspberries.  I thought I had planned my nutrition pretty well.

Unfortunately, our ride took longer than planned, because some of the people who rode with us the first 3/4 of the ride were slower, and we had to keep stopping to wait on them, or double-back to get them.  On top of that, there were 1 or 2 wrong turns.  This caused me to finish the last of my water & Gatorade at around mile 65, and I had already eaten the last of my food around mile 55.  I wasn't too worried though, because I knew we only had a few miles to go.

Toward the end of the ride, 3 of us split off to climb one more hard hill that was part of the original planned ride.  After the hill, the 2 people I was riding with suddenly dropped me.  Fortunately, we train together all the time, and they realized right away that something was wrong, and stopped within a half mile to wait on me.  It was the longest half mile of my life.  When I finally got to where they stopped, I was able to get 4 gel blasts from them to limp the rest of the way back to the cars.

I think the problem is that I didn't eat enough yesterday, and went into this morning's ride not realizing that my reserves were slightly depleted.

I also learned to make sure that I always take along a couple extra bars and gels just in case the ride doesn't go as planned.