Long Distance Competition/Ultracycling, Randonneuring and Endurance Cycling - How does your mood changes when you are exhausted

I rode with a friend of mine yesterday from New York City to New Paltz. It was only over 118 miles, but it was the slowest century I ever did. It took me 12 hours to complete the ride. The terrain was rolling, but it was very windy 20 mph headwind the whole ride. My friend got so tired after a couple of hours, so he would not even talk to me and if I asked him something he would "bark" back and start blaming me for something for no reason. He did not finish the ride and on mile 80 he boarded a train to go back to NYC .

I am interested on how people act when are are beyond tired. On a 600 km ride last year when I could not move anymore I prefered riding alone-possibly I was afraid I would be nasty to the folks I was riding with?

there is definitely a correlation with lack of energy and a bad mood.

dunno about the actual science of it, but i've seen plenty of proof in myself when i get low on energy, and others as well.

I have been known to get grumpy depending on how uncomfortable I am. I can't remember ever "barking" at someone though. Usually other people cheer me up.

One of the stages of bonking is a lack of desire or ability to communicate. In other words, your brain just doesn't seem to have the energy to put together a sentence which can be understood by others. The result is very short (both curt and brief) responses which can be interpretted as a bad mood.

When I get like that Rowan suggest I eat something, and it usually helps.

But yes, exhaustion can also create a bad mood.

If I lack water or carbohydrates I get in a bad bad mood, I'm all ways telling people I ride along
that if I start getting bad moods to tell me, because I tend not to notice before it's to late.

It have taken me years to learn to drink every 15-20 minutes and eat a little every 30 minutes
but it helped when I learned it.

I usually get pretty quite and not really eager to talk when I am feeling low. And I am pretty to quite to begin with.

Putting a handle bar bag on my bike so I can easily access food at any point during the ride has helped big time with that.

When my blood sugar gets low, my mood goes down the tubes. I don't so much "bark" at folks as just clam up altogether. If somebody insists on conversing I'll growl a reply until the give up and leave me alone. Good sign it's time to stop for a Mtn Dew and a candy bar or donut. This usually happens when I'm so wrapped up in going fast that I forget to eat and drink, or the weather's so cr*ppy that I can't get to the food in my pockets for all the raingear I've got on.

SP

When i am dead exhausted i am more likely to want to hang back and chat. if not then i do my best to follow a wheel. if i have to be the front ( its not really pulling if your buddie behind you cannot hang on your wheel) then its all guts and determination.

my poor buddie when he bonks he no longer functions period. he doesnt talk. he has no idea where he is never mind know where he is going. he only replys with a grunt. one day he bonked at mile 55 so bad that he didnt remember the last 10 miles home. he didnt even remember that i had to talk him home the whole way cause he just wanted to stop and sleep where we were(this was in the middle of a gas station parking lot). we got home and he passed out on the lawn:lol:

I usually get pissy when I'm enduring non-self-induced suffering. For example, I'm usually pretty sanguine about going up a long, steep climb, no matter how bad the legs feel. But if it's cold, rainy and windy on the descent and I'm freezing my butt off, you can bet I'll be throwing out some choice words.

Usually if I get to the exhausted/bonk stage I'm not riding a consistent speed anyway and want to ride on my own. I've been trying to avoid that by learning proper fueling, but if/when it occurs I'm my own bad company, usually saying things to myself like "why the hell am I doing this anyway ?".

....... usually saying things to myself like "why the hell am I doing this anyway ?".
When I catch myself thinking this I know it will get worse for the next 15-30 min. when I can not think about anything at all, but then it will get better. I just have to keep pedaling through it.

fatigue = impatience!

I am interested on how people act when are are beyond tired. On a 600 km ride last year when I could not move anymore I prefered riding alone-possibly I was afraid I would be nasty to the folks I was riding with?

Like whether tiredness brings out a person's "true character"? Who knows...Once on the third day of a five day 700 mile ride, fighting a headwind all day on the California coast, I just broke down crying. I sat by the road forlornly studying my maps and found a way into the mountains, adding miles of climbing but escaping the wind.

Another time coming back from a century + ride I got hypothermic a few miles from home and couldn't balance on the bike anymore, at which point I wheeled it along feebly, laughing at my own ridiculous predicament. Another time coming back exhausted from another 100+ ride I hit a short post by the road still outside of town, and lay in the grass awhile, again laughing at my predicament.

I suppose it might depend on why you ride; I always looked at it like pushing yourself right up to your limit as a way of looking in the mirror, or traveling a bit in your own backcountry, checking the measure of your capacities and ability. Reaching the end of what I could do was to learn something, which I was always happy about.

Maybe your friend was just upset that he didn't train harder.

Like whether tiredness brings out a person's "true character"? ......

I suppose it might depend on why you ride; I always looked at it like pushing yourself right up to your limit as a way of looking in the mirror, or traveling a bit in your own backcountry, checking the measure of your capacities and ability. Reaching the end of what I could do was to learn something, which I was always happy about.

i think when someone has been in the red zone too long does bring out the real you. not the how much of a prick you are but the how much drive and desire you have to go on and finish what you started.

i ride to raise my limits. so i consistently will ride beyond my limits. kinda goes back to old saying "no pain, no gain"

I might get snappish, but it tends to stem from frustration at my own weakness.
Properly fed, I can maintain a good mood over a much longer haul.

I'm getting to the point where I can find some hilarity in extremes of temperature or wind. Other people getting grumpy tends to make me feel more cheerful, too. So if you start to whine about the wind, I will counter with tedious cheeriness. :).

When I'm tired... i just get terrible: don't want to speak to anyone, don't want to see anyone, can't stand when people ask me questions and ask me to smile!!! I do bark when I'm tired, pepole know it now and it is fine.
Of course I'm also able to make efforts to stay polite, specially when people do not know me...

Related to this - my co-workers noticed a while back that if I don't properly recover after a long ride (i.e. eat and drink enough) I have a very short fuse the next day. I was really ripping into someone on the phone one Monday morning when a co-worker with whom I ride a lot stuck his head in my office and with a grin reminded me I had had a long ride the previous day. Only seems to happen when I don't take care of my recovery properly though.

I get mostly upset if there's some dumb thing holding me back -- a tweak to the hamstring that I did nothing to "cause", or a sore rear end when the rest of me feels great. I got held back a lot last year because of feet/toe problems. Finally sorted that out this year (I hope) with shoes that actually fit. Duh...

No doubt -there are many dynamics about personality that become exposed when riding with a partner or in a group. This can bring out especially childish or boorish behavior as riders' fatigue at differing rates or revert to differing riding styles.


"Your going too fast - no too slow."
"Why did you pick this road?"
"Why didn't we stop there?"
"Are you sure this is the way?"
"Quit racing the hills."

Bottom line, fatigue mixed with any ride adversity at all is a prescription for thin skins and pettiness. On the other hand, shared emotions and empathy for how other riders may be feeling, - and or hurting -can bring about a deep understanding of one another and relationships that last a lifetime.

For me it's all about staying fueled. I can be bone weary on a ride, but if I stay fueled and hydrated, it's all good. Even *****ing about a headwind, I'll find a way to make it funny, at least for myself.

Lose track of fuel and water needs, and I get reeeeeely crabby. Fortunately, one of my riding buddies(or my wife) will ask, "when did you eat last?" I eat, and in a matter of minutes it's all good again.

I mutter under my breath when I come to a hill.


Any hill. :o

i get really grumpy if i am knackered and more so if something hurts. i end up swearing and yelling at myself if another hill appears or headwind picks up. i ride alone generally and if i intend to do longer rides i always go alone

For me, I don't get grumpy or irritable when I'm near to exhaustion, but rather depressed and hopeless--as in I can't do this, why did I even try, what's the point hopeless. I'm rarely able to psych myself out of such a mood, even if I hydrate and fuel up. It's been a real problem at times.

oh yeah - for me, i will get snippy when i'm hungry. two things will start to happen on longer rides (400k +) is that when i'm underfueled, i will get chilly and my attitude will stink. it's normal for my mood to cycle back and forth on these long rides, but i've definitely noticed a relation to eating and attitude.

Setting a good pace for the slowest member in a group without pressuring them is the best sign of being an experienced leader, whether it's mountaineering or cycling.

I prefer to ride alone right now. I can't imagine liking somone and us actually beiing a good cycling companion as well. I can not cycle with my current spouse.