Alcohol

Peddle Up!

So, do you, should you, drink alcohol the night before a big ride? :?

giant_man

Why would you want to? To jeopardise the ride? Fine if drink doesn't have any effect on you, but I couldn't do it ....

brucey72

When I was younger I could quite happily go out on a Friday night for 6-7 pints then get up for a club run on the Saturday with no ill effects. If I was to do that now though I would be sweating like a fat lass at a disco and blown out the back of the group before we even reached the 2 mile mark! So in reply to your question I don't drink the night before and if doing a sportif I won't drink for a week or so before, in fact during the summer I drink very little.

MrChuck

Maybe a pint but definitely not a big session.

I was never really a big drinker but as I've got older and I'm drinking less I really can't take it and even 2 pints can make their effects known the next day!

neilo23

After looking at this site today I will not drink before posting, let alone before a ride

Anonymous

One of the best hangover cures is a good blast up a steep hill.

RowCycle

I don't drink normally, so of course I voted no.

anto164

Oops, should have read the topic before voting.

Beer is fine as long as it's not the day before (If drank in moderation) or two days before (If out on the lash) a big ride.

Alcohol affects me a lot the day after with performance. I've never had a hangover, but i feel lethargic the day after. Because of this, i hardly drink wheether i'm riding or not.

carl_p

Depends what you mean by "big"? A long solo/club ride, or a sportive/race? If it is an important ride, then no I wouldn't get hammered the night before, but if a unimportant leisure ride, then if I had reason to have a few beers I would. Today I'm not riding as I'm hungover from a wedding yesterday. I love cycling, but it doesn't rule my life.

Duffer65

As I've got older (45) my hangovers have got worse, even after drinking a very small amount of booze! If I drink the night before a ride I feel sh*t and I am liable to sleep in rather than get up and get on my bike. So, sadly drink looks like a no, no, for me these days

MountainMonster

I don't have a big session the day before a ride, but can handle about up to 4 pints the next day without having ill effects. I find the mid-run beer stop before descents has an actual positive effect on the riding

fludey

Oops another should have read first before voting :oops: never ever before a planned ride....however when out the....ahem mtb...sometimes have one along the way.

andy46

I voted no, as I don't drink. If I did drink though I wouldn't have one before a big ride.

Big Hairy Wallapers

+1 for the above comments, I'd kinda like to be able to but just can't handle it.
A mate however swears by it, is proud to be "fueled by Stella" I've known him to turn up to a 4 hour MTB race still drunk from the night before, he said it took him about 30mins of the race to get into it but done well, beat me and plenty of others!
What a git! Made me want to spit into my pre race pasta!!

petemadoc

OK so I read this before I voted and chose "mine's a pint"

However I would normally choose not to drink the night before a big ride. Recently me and a mate met up for a biggie on a Sunday morning, loads of Welsh hills, something like 5000ft of climbing. Halfway through the ride he admitted to having a few drinks the night before . . . headache sets in, runs out of water, starts to look seriously rough.

It's not big and it's not clever

I wouldn't worry if it was a MTB ride

neilo23

In the interests of scientific research I got rat ars§d last night.

Got up today feeling rotten, puked, waited an hour, had a coffee and went for a 2 hour ride.

Strange results: felt decidedly wobbly on the bike, dizzy, but just put my head down and got on with it. Due to having only half of the brain cells which I had yesterday morning I found myself in a braindead haze which enabled me to ignore the queasiness telling me to stop. Wasn't up to doing any decent hills, but was pleased with my performance, ended up bombing along and had to force myself to go home and eat something.

Not sure I'd recommend this as good preperation for a race, but I was pleasantly surprised (and sweated 3 bottles of wine out of my system).

petemadoc

neilo23 wrote:

In the interests of scientific research I got rat ars§d last night.

Got up today feeling rotten, puked, waited an hour, had a coffee and went for a 2 hour ride.

Strange results: felt decidedly wobbly on the bike, dizzy, but just put my head down and got on with it. Due to having only half of the brain cells which I had yesterday morning I found myself in a braindead haze which enabled me to ignore the queasiness telling me to stop. Wasn't up to doing any decent hills, but was pleased with my performance, ended up bombing along and had to force myself to go home and eat something.

Not sure I'd recommend this as good preperation for a race, but I was pleasantly surprised (and sweated 3 bottles of wine out of my system).

Yes, strangely I think you can sweat out a hangover. But you need to drink sh1tloads of water :!:

neilo23

PeteMadoc wrote:

neilo23 wrote:

In the interests of scientific research I got rat ars§d last night.

Got up today feeling rotten, puked, waited an hour, had a coffee and went for a 2 hour ride.

Strange results: felt decidedly wobbly on the bike, dizzy, but just put my head down and got on with it. Due to having only half of the brain cells which I had yesterday morning I found myself in a braindead haze which enabled me to ignore the queasiness telling me to stop. Wasn't up to doing any decent hills, but was pleased with my performance, ended up bombing along and had to force myself to go home and eat something.

Not sure I'd recommend this as good preperation for a race, but I was pleasantly surprised (and sweated 3 bottles of wine out of my system).

Yes, strangely I think you can sweat out a hangover. But you need to drink sh1tloads of water :!:

I think that I could have got drunk again from licking my sweaty lip. My ride tomorrow should be less of a challenge :-)

mouth

Reminds me of a story I was telling my bro-in-law last night. 12 or 13 years ago me and a few mates went out on a typical Saturday for a few quiet drinks. Sunday morning I had trials for the Midlands regional inline hockey team.

Needless to say a few quiet beers turned in to many loud ones and tbh I can't even remember going to the trials. Despite all this I still made the team as no.1 goalie.

Of course these days a couple of beers kills me even on the short ride to work never mind a long club run of sportive. I drink about 4 pints a month and if I had planned something big next day I wouldn't drink.

Mr Dog

Drink wine most nights... little effect.. but don't get hammered. 8)

MountainMonster

Well, i'm going to test the legs today and see if they function well after a faiirly heavy night drinking. I've got a nice 80km, route 2 very large climbs planned.

I feel fine though,lets hope muscles do too!

neeb

In moderation I find it is completely fine, but by that I mean no more than 2-3 units of alcohol, i.e. a pint of strongish beer or a medium-sized glass of wine.

Any more than that and I can usually feel it the next day. These days I simply can't function the next day (never mind go on a long ride) if I get seriously plastered, and even 3 pints (slightly less than 8 units of alcohol) will affect me pretty badly and make me feel very lethargic.

It's interesting that from several of the comments above this seems to be a common experience among slightly older cyclists. I wonder if it's something to do with low body mass or metabolic adaptations associated with exercise.

neilo23

MountainMonster wrote:

Well, i'm going to test the legs today and see if they function well after a faiirly heavy night drinking. I've got a nice 80km, route 2 very large climbs planned.

I feel fine though,lets hope muscles do too!

You're still young enough to get away with it. The hangovers will get worse as the years go by, believe me.

Tom BB

I never drink the night before a proper ride-I did a race early in the year after having 2 glasses of wine the night before (I'm not really a drinker so that is quite a bit for me) it was my worst performance of the year quite comfortably I'm 25 fwiw-

neeb

Tom BB wrote:

I never drink the night before a proper ride-I did a race early in the year after having 2 glasses of wine the night before (I'm not really a drinker so that is quite a bit for me) it was my worst performance of the year quite comfortably I'm 25 fwiw-

Depending on the glass size, 2 glasses of wine can be quite a lot, as much as 2/3 of a bottle, which with a 14% wine would be 7 units of alcohol! That much would seriously affect me too, and I drink fairly regularly.

Richa1181

If you wake up with your tongue stuck to the roof of your mouth then a big ride is never going to be fun!

The trend here seems to be that it's OK to get wasted and ride a mountain bike and I have to agree. Me and a friend have done several week long MTB rides carrying camping gear etc across Wales and we got wasted every night, didn't do us any harm. On a road bike however being on the drops and constantly hitting last nights kebab with your thighs might be what causes the discomfort

thiscocks

Not if I have a longer ride planned. one pint maybe max otherwise my head will feel it in the morning.

however a short ride is a great hangover cure.(thinks of short route to do later!)

lvquestpaddler

I had 4 Magners the night before the Corrieyairack duathlon this year, felt fine the next day as I got to bed early with 2 further pints of water and did it in a time I was very pleased with. One of my team mates stayed on for a further 2-3 pints and a pizza....and was utterly wrecked once the race started and it was stifling hot, not a breeze either....
Moderation is ok I reckon, but in saying that on next years I won't be drinking at all the night before, as I now know what a mother of a mountain needs to be crossed from the start!

WilsonHW

3 pint maximum for me.