bikenh

I'm not sure what else to call it.

Yes, OOB stands for Out Of Body.

Have you ever experienced it and what is it that causes it?

I've had the experience several times over the past 6-9 months now including just yesterday. Most of time it comes at the end of a long ride but I have had it happen on sub 50 mile rides, heck even down around 20-30 mile long rides.

Yesterday was going along pretty good. It ended up being 134 miles for the whole day and the main ride was 125 miles long. The day was going real nice until the last 20 miles or so when I hit a rather strange, but not unexpected head wind. I had a bit of head wind from the half way point home but for some reason the three lakes I was riding by on the last 20 miles always seem to magnify the wind.

In the last 10 miles I really began to feel the ??? experience hit. It's not the easiest thing to explain other than to say it feels likes I'm detatched from the body and I'm not riding in my body. My vision seems to fight me to focus on anything. If I look to the white line it seems like it blurs and is moving by much faster than it really is, almost like it is in warp speed moving by me. I used to think it was part of the bonking process but I wouldn't really say I was bonked when it happened yesterday. I was fed up with fighting the darn wind but I rode the final 3.75 miles in only 1-2 minutes longer than if I had only ridden 15-20 miles for the day, instead of having ridden 120+ miles to that point. It's one of those feelings that makes you nervous cause you don't know what to expect next. It's like your not totally there riding the bike even though you are there riding the bike.

I got home and knew I was planning on heading to the library to get online, I scraped that idea thanks to making one stupid mistake right after I got home, and then going to a meeting after that and I figured I probably wouldn't get home from the meeting until 9:30PM or so.

Like I said I scraped the idea of going to the library after drinking cold water upon getting home and shivering my arse off for the next 15-20 minutes until I got something warm inside of me to help me warm up instead of chill off. I did ride the bike to the meeting and everything seemed to go fine. I didn't notice any of the effects. Granted it was dark out and I don't know if that helped to keep me from noticing the feeling or not.

It's not the easiest thing to explain. Unless you have experienced something like it you wouldn't have the slightest idea of what I'm talking about. The only way of describing I could come up with yesterday was riding out of body.

If anyone has any knowledge of it, what causes and how can it be avoided/overcome once it does happen?

Dudelsack 

I don't know, but I think this is a fascinating question.

My gut feeling is that this is a reaction to your brain's utilization of ketones rather than glucose as you enter into a catabolic state. That your brain is metabolizing ketones under the conditions you describe is probable. I don't know if it would generate these cognitive changes. I've spend a few minutes googling "brain metabolism and ketones" and was able to get through the first two pages of a gazillion references. This is where I'd look first.

Hypoxia can also trigger OOB perceptions, but this seems less likely to me unless you left out important details such it happens when you cycle to the top of Mt. Evans or something like that.

Good luck.

Jamesw2

endorphins, a feeling of euphoria . . .. Basically you stimulated your pleasure center of your brain. . . Runners high (???)

Dudelsack 

I still haven't found anything about ketone metabolism and out of body experiences, but I found if you eat yummy raspberry-favored ketone snacks, you'll lose weight effortlessly

RichardGlover

It's happened to me.

Not sure what caused it. I wouldn't claim it was a massive endorphin rush, because the thoughts going through my mind were more like 'why the hell are those legs still pedaling?" not "Man, this feels soooo great!"

bikenh

I don't think I would use the word euphoria to describe what happened. Like I said it seems like it almost occurs more in bonking fashion not in a fashion like you just climbed Mt Everest or won the Tour De France. My pace didn't slow down much at all Tuesday given the weather conditions. It's what still makes the whole thing very strange. If it was the first time I'd experienced it I wouldn't think much about it. I've had the experience now 4 or 5 times. I figured it might be something that long distance boys see on occasion as it normally seems to happen toward the end of a long ride(100 miles or more).

Jamesw2

We need House M.D.
Stroke, thyroid condition, brain tumor, low vitamin F (whatever that is), and gas. OH! Remembering a pass life. CNS issues, low blood sugar or low oxygen level (hypoxia) low blood pressure. Where is George Carlin when we need the list of medical things that could be happening?