Hangovers & Commuting?
 

How do you find it?

Occasionally I think the ride in can actually improve a hangover. It certainly gets the blood pumping a bit. And I find that getting a sweat up in the morning (then a shower) can relieve some of that 'god I stink like a brewery' sensation.

Works for me as long as it's a light hangover and I take it easy. Riding with a real skullsplitter is not something I want to try. I don't even think I could keep the bike pointed straight.

I've never attempted to do the comparison, but I'm pretty sure I could drive better drunk than really hung over. Yech.

:beer: LOL

Rode into work mildly hungover today, though I cheated by taking the train to cut the 10 miles down to about six. Felt OK for the most part, but was got a little conked out toward the end, probably I didn't have breakfast, and failed to eat much of anything last night.

It does feel nice to "sweat it out," but I suspect that's all in my head!

Just be sure to apologize to the neighbor for throwing up in their yard as you try to leave for work.

Providing it's not reached the puking stage, getting on the bike & getting a bit of air circulating can make me feel a bit better.

At the very least, I'll bike to the subway station. That cuts a good 10-15 minutes off my commute by train.

I've recently cut out drinking completely but I am familiar with commuting when hungover. Bottom line is it will improve how you feel; on the downside I find alcohol makes you sweat stink a lot more, and I mean ALOT more, (I guess its all the extra sugars the bacteria has to feed on). This makes you more of a hit with your co-workers before you can jump in the shower. It also kills a lot of energy and quite frankly because you are hungover you are not going to enjoy the ride as much or feel as buzzed at the end of it. Also if you have over done it your reaction time and awareness is a bit messed up so its not that safe.

I have in my much younger days puked on the way to work :o

I read somewhere that it is a pretty unhealthy thing to do, not good for the heart or something.

Be careful commuting hungover as you may have enough alcohol left in your system to get a DUI. It happens.

How about not getting a hangover in the first place?

Cannot do it any more - those days are well behind me. I moonlight as a cook at a sports bar, and it is actually amusing to watch people get loaded over the span of five hours or so. They cab home, but walking back to get your car, let alone riding a bike when you're hung over, is awful.

All cautions, warnings, and admonitions aside, I have found that riding does help a hangover. It's a great way to 'sweat it out'. I've only done the hangover thing on long weekend rides of metric century or longer though. The rule I have found is that "it only hurts for 10 miles".

The only problem is that my commute is only 10 miles.

Fortunately, I don't drink on school nights, and rarely enough to be hungover anymore anyway.

Been there, got the t-shirt. Although it sucks while en route, I found that riding got rid of the hangover rather quickly. Just make sure to stay sufficiently hydrated, even moreso when hungover.

I've never thrown up on a hungover ride to work.

I used to drink a Berrocca (B vitamin drink thing) before heading out and try and get a good sweat going (which is not hard in Sydney due to A. the moderate hilly terrain, B. the almost year round warm weather).
And would find that it would often speed up the hang-over recovery.

Have a couple of Bloody Marys right before you leave. Make them doubles and it'll clear you right up. This is intended to rile up the teetotalers. I'm just kidding.

Exercise will make you feel better, as others have said. Ever hear of Hashing? Running for beer? It was invented because of hangovers... :)

I have heard of hashing, someone I know was doing it in VT, something I want to try out maybe just once.
Hair of the dog that bit ya

Hey It's how I earned my college nickname.. Every Saturday morning I'd go ride no matter how much I drank the night before.. My peers called me "Animal" and the name stuck..

I had to ride into town to pick up our car because we cabbed it home and I was a bit hungover but it was fine. The fresh air definitely did wonders for my big head.
Haven't been hungover in a while not sure that I want to anymore, been there.

As I got older the hang overs seemed to get worse for the comparable amount of alcohol. So I cut the drinking way back to avoid them. Anything that makes you feel that bad must mean damage has been done. In my experience the worst part of exercising with a hang over (or even after heavy drinking sans hangover) was I would get out of breath very quickly. A friend hypothesised that my liver was swollen and compressing the lung cavity. Don't know if its true... But now that I've basically stopped drinking I don't have this problem.

I went to college with a guy who could kick everyone's butt on the ride the next morning if he'd gotten stumbling drunk wasted the night before. He couldn't do it if he wasn't partying the previous night; only if he was hungover. Never could figure that one out.

He was just feeling juiced from the night before. :)

Does he play a brass instrument? :)

(Someone here moved to Portland recently.)

She doesn't, she is my girlfriend's sister.

It's this kind of statement that makes you safety nannies look like such pansies. Seriously? It's a public intox, not a DUI, and how do you suppose a cop will be able to tell. if not care at all, whether you're hungover or drunk? Gotta learn to control your machine, boy. Gimme a break.

In some states it is a DUI... such as CA. Gotta learn your laws, boy.

Shouldn't you be in Sunday school or something?

My $0.02, had a rare hangover a couple weeks ago on a Saturday morning, Bleary and hurting I mounted up and rode to a local coffee-house for a morning espresso, hangover 80% gone by the time I returned.

In Ohio, a bicycle is a vehicle, and the police have cited some who were intoxicated with DUI's. Nope, not pansies, just realists.

Tim C.

Same here in Colorado. I'd worry less about DUI and more about idiots operating motor vehicles in the same condition you are. Being dead makes a DUI look like cake.

To the realists.

that is something I dont think I can do. and well, since I really dont go getting drunk during the work week I dont have to worry about it.