"Menopausal" symptoms causing issues with exercising

[emily_in_nc]

I typically have to stop to pee about an hour into a morning ride, and have attributed that to my morning coffee habit, not menopause (I am post-menopausal at age 54), but could be a bit of both. Once I pee once, I'm good for the rest of the ride, typically, even if it lasts 3-4 hours. It's a pain to have to plan rides around that one pee stop. DH never has to stop that soon, it seems. We especially had a problem last summer when we were in Walla Walla, WA for 2.5 months. Most of the routes we came up with had a pee stop 1.5 to 2 hours in, and there was very little privacy/cover along the way to stop before that. I did finally locate one port-a-john, which saved me several times. But often I'd have to change up the route to get to one of the very few rest rooms (at a city park) that was even a possibility in the largely rural area in a timely fashion.

I just wish there were more public rest rooms everywhere!

[OakLeaf]

I just wish there were more public rest rooms everywhere!

Hear, hear!

About a mile from me there's an elementary school, and a community baseball league plays there, so from April through September there are a couple of portajohns set up between the road and the school building. There are ALWAYS people using those toilets - semi drivers, people in company cars driving on business, even cops. I don't know what all those people do when it isn't baseball season. Even the parks close their restrooms out of season, since they're unheated; one of the municipal parks in a neighboring town sets up a portajohn in winter, but just that one.

[Crankin]

My friend Brant has a whole Facebook album devoted to porta potties. Really. Me, I am not fascinated and I have no problem going behind a bush. However, most of the riding I do is not that rural. There are lots of porta potties around here. However, there is one playground in Acton that is no longer used for baseball and last year they did not put the porta potty there. This was a stop on our bike rally ride... we called the town and they brought it out. It's not back yet this year, though.
I limit my coffee on days that i have a long ride. Usually I pee every hour, all morning, and obviously, can't do that on a ride. However, as I said before, something happens to my body on long rides. Yesterday, I rode for over 3 hours, almost 50 miles and I only went once, at the lunch stop. I barely went when I got back. I am not dehydrated, it's clear and all that, but it takes about 2 hours after I get home, and then I start going more. It's like my system shuts down.