I don't drink, so no advice on that front, but I just wanted to give you an internet fist-bump from one person who escaped fundamentalist religion (well, religion altogether in my case) to another. It does get better.

Well at least the spirits are still moving you. Uh-hum, yes, ha ha, thanks...

But seriously, I think you are on a journey of self discovery and it may take you a few hangovers to understand what many of us learned at an earlier age. Please be safe as you gain experience. Don't ride or drive.

Alcohol is not inherently evil. Your response to it might not be the best. But that's for you to find out as you go and hopefully with the help of your next church, faith community or whatever support system that finds you.

For me, alcohol helps me fall asleep, but not stay asleep. I get the best sleep with no alcohol and a good hard ride the day before.

Alcohol inhibits muscle growth to some degree, and therefore, recovery. It also affects different people in different ways, and to varying degrees. I will say this, I went from riding maybe once or twice a week to riding every single day after I gave up drinking. YMMV

No faith here and no alcohol. Both are means of escape and I don't need either.

Not that I disagree with you, but I wouldn't consider *all alcohol to be an escape. Try a glass of cabernet with a nice medium steak dinner, it will change your attitude :)

I don't feel alcohol effects the next day if I have at least one glass of water per alcoholic drink. I've even sat there with a pitcher of beer accompanied by a pitcher of water.

Makes me pee a lot before bed, but I've never felt hung over after doing this.

I dont drink but my advice to you is to make sure you have some people that you can talk to whether it be family or a professional. It seems to me that drinking may be hindering your recovery and may even become a crutch. Your tone of voice just seems sad and solemn. Being someone that has battled depression, your text is eerily similar to my thoughts when I went down those dark roads. I hope things brighten up in your future,

-Mark

well, I mostly only ride tues and thurs 30 miles to take my son to preschool and haul myself to college, and I don't remember if alcohol affects me on either of these days. I can tell you that in the past when I'm hung over a good hard ride helps like some others have said, but I don't usually get drunk anymore I just have a few craft beers and call it a night. tonight however I decided to do a little cryo surgery on a wart that I have, so I had a few extra, the last one being quelque chose which is an excellent cherry beer that I would highly recommend. I will let you know tomorrow how I felt about getting up and pulling an extra 60 pounds 6.5 miles to preschool. ;) I also went away from the church well, 13 years ago, and I'm now 26. I can say that speaking to some of my family is like reliving the past esp. my dad who is a hardcore Nazarene (drinking is sin dancing is sin) you get the idea. I can remember learning about "god's will" and thinking wait a sec, wasn't he the complete opposite last week? anyway man can't tell you what god wants or even if there is a god noone ****in knows. I can say that I think that the beauty of nature seems too intricate to happen by chance. I can also say that throughout the history of the church there has been much blasephemy espoused from any side of the faith to the other, and even christains killing christains in the name of god (4th crusade). All that being said no church today can say they have no influence from the roman catholic church which is the biggest blasphemy on earth. sorry if I have offended any catholics or christians but wikipedia some **** that's all I have to say goodnight.
*on edit*
Oh yeah so I was just trying to say I know what you've been through and it gets better. I hope you find out some crazy **** you've never conceived of and smoke lots of pot, but good pot, you know the medicinal stuff. it is the most totally awesome thing in creation if there is such a thing. Good luck to you. and to the mods please don't ban me!

No alcohol for me due to dehydration.

Cycling is a great way to shake off a hangover.

That and jumbo breakfast rolls.

Awesome.

Briefly on religion. My wife goes to Church. I went with her for 2 years and hated every minute of it. I told her before we got married that the church and me didn't agree. Think its something to do with the fact that my first primary school tried to scare everyone into faith by suggesting that anyone who did not follow the herd would go to hell.

I came to the realization that all books of faith say the same thing and after 10 years of contemplation I decided that since all books say the same thing I saw no need to "pray" in any proscribed fashion than I felt was right. Told my wife that and she almost insisted that I MUST go to church. I told her to choose between that stance and divorce. She backed off after that. Live and let live is my motto.

As for alcohol... hate the stuff. Slows me down and upsets my stomach if I drink even a little. :)

Sawtooth,
I thought about your question last night and this morning coming in to work. I don't know your situation, but maybe you are angry with your former religious group and its leaders. Rightfully (or not), you may believe on a deep level that you were mislead and taken advantage of. For years. It sounds like you're a little depressed to me. Anger is a major contributing factor in depression, which leads to lethargy. It's complicated, obviously. You also may have blood sugar issues, and the increases due to alcohol can help to push yours too high. You might want to have your male blood panel done and seek some neutral counseling for depression. These may help you. Good luck,
Phil

Alcohol dehydrates, makes you sweat more and makes you stink more from sweating since it changes your skin's pH. None of these agree with cycling. I also dislike the feeling of being drunk, even if it's just a little tipsy.

i had 4 pints last night at my euchre league game.

the ride in this morning was one of my fastest in recent memory.

god bless my irish/german stock!

Yeah, Irish and Russians are different species. You guys need significant alcohol content in blood to breath :D

weird. i sleep like a baby after 3-4 drinks. those drinks are usually vodka shots or screwdrivers, spaced out over 2 hours or so. i'm a habitual water drinker, so i'm always very hydrated. usually i suffer from RLS while i'm trying to go to sleep, but after 3 or 4 drinks, i wake up in exactly the same position i go to sleep in. i wake up in about 1 minute, and i'm good to go for the whole day. it's crazy how rested i am when i wake up.

Alcohol affects people differently and tolerances vary widely, so I would not disregard its effects on you -- particularly if you are new to drinking. That said, having 1-2 drinks, beers or glasses of wine in the evening would have no discernible effects on my cycling the next day. However, I have had 40+ years of training my body to adjust to it!

If I drink more heavily, alcohol will affect my cycling and much more. It can make you feel nauseous and will definitely dehydrate you.

I would encourage you to start back riding. Exercise is one of those things that feeds on itself. The more you do it, the easier it gets and the more you feel like doing it. Exercise can also elevate your moods and make you feel much better. Just do it.

Favorite Quote of the Thread: 'It can suck getting on the bike hung over, but it sucks standing still hung over, so whatever.'...GuyForget

Well, welcome to the world of the free to think. Being raised a Unitarian, I salute you on your spiritual journey. I certainly have wandered far from my roots. Don't feel like you are now at a loss. Now the whole universe is your teacher. You are not alone. You might try the Unitarian church to help you in your transition. They have no dogma that you have to follow, but the services do have choirs and sermons and good people so you will get some of the ritual that you may be missing. It's a good place to get your bearings.

As for alcohol, well, it sounds like your body is telling you it's limits. Bicycling is better than drinking, so accept the message. Maybe give up the booze altogether. It doesn't help depression.

I think the Poles fit right in with that group, Adam. (At least my family does.)

Interesting...I drank 2.5 beers last night and DID NOT commute today :) . I think I am going to need to limit intake to 1 or less if I really want to ride (and I REALLY do want to ride).

Hey, thanks so much for all the kind statements of support everyone. It makes me feel better to know that there are others who have also gone through it. I don't think there is any question that I am angry and depressed. I feel like these guys stole 40 years of my life, almost 100K of my $$, any chance of my parents and some siblings ever respecting me again, my agency, and darn near got away with stealing my mind and my humanity.

I also agree that just riding through it is really important. I logged on about a year ago and tried to give it another go but fell back into depression again and let riding fall off again. This year feels a bit different. I even chose to go to Moab this year instead of attending a conference supporting people who have left my particular faith. I think that "getting on with getting on" is a pretty important part of the process but it seems that you have to really let time play a role in the healing as well.

As for God...well....I suppose those are topics for another forum. Most who go through this particular path end up losing faith altogether (and I probably lean toward that angle as well). I have met hundreds of new friends along this path [one of whom just joined our BF community last week :) ] and am privileged to be a part of a thriving support community. It has been fascinating to read the escape/exit stories of people of other faiths and realize that the fears and guilt they experienced were the same as mine. This helped me to realize that my faith was really just another of many like it, rather than the one true way to God.

Hate to derail, but for anyone else who has gone through this , I benefited a lot from the following ideas (mine was something of an intellectual/logical awakening, so most of these links have to do with the process and tools required to extricate yourself using logic.)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fowler'...th_development
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Allegory_of_the_Cave
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_fallacies
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cognitive_dissonance
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Confirmation_bias
http://freedomofmind.com/Info/BITE/bitemodel.php

We need "like" buttons.

Not a bad upgrade. He's halfway there!

I've noticed that, as I've gotten o...,ol... ah, more mature, that alcohol just makes me tired. I've cut down to a few beers
or glasses of wine a couple times a week. A few days without makes me feel better. It's that simple.

Marc