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@Greenbank
As I said, that's exactly what used to happen to me. But with some work you can train your fat metabolism to allow you to go further and further and use less of your glycogen stores in doing so. Long slow distance rides. Morning rides on an empty stomach.
I'm not advocating bonking, I'd never suggest doing that on purpose. I never go out on a ride longer than 20km without some form of food with me, just in case.
You do. Everyone does. Anything under 10% of body fat in an average person (i.e. not a professional athlete) is unhealthy bordering on dangerous.
Every 1lb of fat is worth 3500kcal.
So even a 10 stone weakling with a relatively low body fat percentage of 10% will be a minimum of 14lbs of fat. 14lbs of fat is 49,000kcal of energy.
Even with 6% reserved as 'essential fats' that still leaves a minimum of 4% giving 5.6lbs of fat == 19600kcal. No way to exhaust that with 'steady cycling' which is about 400-500kcal an hour.
Lower than 10% of body fat (for blokes) and it's unhealthy or you're an endurance/pro athlete anyway.
Personally I'd start off by ditching the energy drinks/gels. Refined sugars are not what your body needs on a long ride. Reliance on them is usually a sign that you've messed up your nutrition intake in the couple of hours preceeding needing them. They're ok in high paced rides like Sportives where the faster pace will deplete glycogen stores earlier but (IMHO) they should be used sparingly in proper long distance rides.