Getting started with long distance rides...

the couple of times i've really bonked have been very long or hard rides, but im not actually sure it was bonking;more extreme fatigue and feeling the need to either not stop untill i get home, or actually having to get off the bike and jsut rest.

As they say, if you're not sure whether you've bonked, you haven't. I got the bonk on the 2004 Dunwich Dynamo by trying to tag along with a group that was way too fast for me. It was really quite a feeling--luckily, it wasn't far to the feed station, but I remember riding through Sudbury barely being able to see, let alone turn the pedals. I'd never known it before and have not had it since.