Drinking and Cycling

[Crankin]

This is a subject that has often been a topic in my house. On both of the tours we did, the other participants not only drank ( a lot) at the lunch stops, but also drank copious amounts at the dinners. On the last day of my tour in Austria, several did a "beer tasting" crawl on the bike path.
My husband and I were like social outcasts. Now, I drink, but I see drinking and riding as the same as drinking and driving. I couldn't ride after one glass of wine. Plus, drinking is a horrible dehydrator for me. The next morning I have to over hydrate just to make up for 1-2 glasses of wine. So these people were able to deal with all of that and ride 30-50 miles a day on huge climbs.

We did not drink at least 2 of the 6 nights and were always the first to go to bed. I need sleep, good food and proper hydration to do streneuous riding. Perhaps I'm a wimp, but our friends we ride with all of the time are even worse.

[Python]

I'm not very keen on alcohol although I do like an occasional glass of wine so long as I'm not planning on driving or cycling. Just one thing. If I'm ever lucky enough to visit some of you in the future...please...keep me away from red wine. For some reason, once I start drinking red wine I just keep drinking it until I go splat. Doesn't happen with white wine, just red

[pooks]

Beer or wine make me sleepy. While I can appreciate the idea of a frosty mug of beer on a hot ride, I can't imagine doing anything after that mug except taking a nap!

[SadieKate]

I've certainly gone wine tasting on my bike. We used to take our mtbs over to the Napa Valley during crush (way before the commercial tours). Only way to do it when everyone else is in bumper to bumper traffic. However, we truly taste, we do not drink.

I just let people be. If they are drinking no more than they can metabolize, it's up to them. RUI or DUI, it's all the same.

[cosc]

None for me. I don't like the stuff, need all my senses to stay upright, and rather get my calories with other good food and drink.