3 years back i was riding my mountainbike around 10 miles from home. i was at the top of a climb and i had to decide whether to go back down (obviously very easy, pretty much only flat/downhill) or go the other way down.
problem is, when youre down there, the only good way back is a 10 mile climb with approx. 2,500 ft vertical plus another 15 miles downhill until home.
so i decided to go for it, it was like 5 in the evening. felt good for the first part of the climb, but at some point, somewhere in the middle, i just felt my energylevel going down. seconds later i had to shift into the easiest gear (normally you can use the 6-9th gears up there) and was pretty much "standing" there. thought its a bad idea to take a real break (it was cold), and just kept on. 1,5 miles and easily half an hour later, a car was about to pass me by. i thought "fuck it" and stopped it (it was the first car for a long long time, prolly one of the last ones that day).
now these complete strangers (young couple) gave me cookies, cuz thats the only thing they had to eat. pretty good in that situation, lots of sugar. they were so nice, asked if they could do something else (my bike didnt fit in their car).
i ate the cookies and i could feel the power coming back. great feeling. maybe 1 mile of climb was left. wasnt nice, but manageable. its definitely possible that i missed a collapse by a few minutes. i felt so empty and numb. didnt even think about calling for help with my cellphone. shit is more dangerous as i thought.
BOTTOM LINE: went mtbing, strangers passing by in a car helped me out with cookies when i experienced a hunger knock.