Up until Spring of 2010, I commuted by bike almost every day for years logging about 5,000 miles per year. I loved it and I was in great shape. Then I experienced some major life changes (lost my faith in a VERY orthodox "one-true-church" religion) and I lost the desire to do much of anything as I re-discovered both life and my own self.

I had always thought that it was because of the associated depression that I had stopped commuting but now that I look back on it, I think something else might have been involved. I had never really drank alcohol (other than in high school and some short college stints) prior to the loss of my faith. I have noticed that when I drink even one drink after 9:00 pm or so, I usually have a hard time getting up and out the door on time to commute in the morning.

Does anyone else find themselves limiting their alcohol consumption in order to preserve their willingness to ride the bike in the morning?

I like to enjoy a glass of chardonnay in the evening - no problems here.

You replaced your faith with alcohol?

I doubt that kind of faith can be replaced by anything. It has really impacted me in a lot of ways but the average journey to feeling "normal" is 7 years and I have two down .

No, I didn't so much replace the faith with alcohol as much as it was that alcohol was expressly forbidden by the faith and I had never had to decide for myself if I wanted to drink or how much. I would say it was more about having to learn how to make decisions that most people learn how to make when they are in college like "should I drink in front of my boss", "how much alcohol does a 'normal' person ingest vs an unhealthy one"..."do I even want to drink at all"? Thinks like that. I think it is sad and a little embarrassing that a 40 year old man has to learn things like that because he never had to make any moral decisions for himself before but that is a little off track.

I imagine it is a probably little hard to understand unless someone comes from a background where they were always taught to let someone else define your morality for you..and then learned that they had to reject that leadership as being God's authority on Earth.

Wow, that got off topic fast . Sorry.

I really just meant to say that alcohol seems to make me sleepy as well as impact the quality of my sleep so I feel groggy the next day. Especially if I have more than 1 or 2..but that is also another story

Thanks for the explanation...I was wondering about the back story. Didn't mean to come across as being too forward.

Alcohol in moderation won't do that. You may be suffering guilt or depression which makes getting up in the morning difficult

No worries at all. I did not take it as such. Thanks for the interest and the feedback. I am still kind of learning what is "normal" and "healthy" when it comes to alcohol. I have been pleased to learn that most people (including myself) don't turn into raging drunks with their first drink but instead can enjoy it responsibly.

I usually have a large glass of red wine every night before I go to bed. No ill effects here on the morning commute.

You may be right......thanks. I have been so glad to even start up commuting again at all. I think it is a great sign of returning to health.

Sawtooth, I will say ONE thing 'faith-related', then leave it alone.

"Do NOT blame G-d for what MEN do in His Name."

Your experience sounds a bit more extreme than most (although they ALL pretty much say they are "the one"); even as hard as it sounds for you now, I think you're better off.

One drink CAN affect you like that, if you have no tolerance at all built up; that's what it sounds like. If it's a change in your life you feel you want to make, then start slow. Maybe make the SIZE of the drink smaller (it's ALL up to you now), and/or have it between 7-9PM.

I grew up more or less around the stuff; I would frequently get drunk between ages 17 & 21. (I'm 53 now.) Less often after that (forbidden fruit syndrome, I think...lol), but it wasn't until about '91 that I decided that intoxication wasn't a state I enjoyed anymore. Since then, I have strictly regulated myself -- no more than 1 during the week, MAYBE 2 on a Saturday, and NEVER for the purpose of "feeling the alcohol". If the drink isn't a pleasant experience on its own, then I pass.

You will discover your own limits, tastes, and motivations; just remember to balance and moderate everything you do while you discover.

I can manage a drink or two without it messing me up in the AM. Getting drunk the night before would probably not make for a pleasant ride. Age might have something to do with it, where alcohol is concerned. When I was a 20-something, I could booze it up all night long and maybe suffer a slight hangover. At 43, I feel it after just two drinks. So, I make my limit...two drinks.

I ended up taking two months off due to my baby boy keeping me up at all hours. It put me in a nasty rut that I felt like I couldn't get out of. I prayed for help, got it and I'm back in the saddle again. Hope this all works out for you.

Kind of agree, I think it may be a correlation vs causation thing. But it's certainly not impossible.

In my experience, 1-2 drinks in the evening will have no noticeable effect the next morning. Now, three of four, if I don't drink enough water before going to bed, I can definitely feel the next day. Doesn't get better with age either.

Everything in moderation. I will enjoy a fine brown ale or a glass or two of two buck chuck, and the ride is still great way to start the day off right. But, then again, my bike is my car, and the other alternative is to wake up early and walk three miles!

Alcohol does disrupt your sleep cycle. Especially without much tolerance it's quite possible that what was causing you to drag in the morning was having a poor nights sleep. For most people one drink at night won't have much impact, but it's certainly possible.

Even more than the crisis of the faith the loss of the social network can be a big deal. If you focus on building up positive social supports it will make it easier to sort out the faith issues.

Yea, but, I love the empty but wet road home , at closing time ..

Of course it can make you want to stay in bed, but getting your butt on a bike after a night of drinking is a great way to get rid of a hangover. Chug a bunch of water and go ride, it will wake you up fast. Trust me, I'm a doctor.

most nights i have at least one beer with dinner, sometimes two. it never seems to have any effect on my sleep or my ability to get up and go in the morning. but i come from german and irish catholic genetic stock, and 1 or 2 beers per day is actually considered a form of teetotalism in my culture

on the occasions when i drink more, it can be problematic if i go much beyond 4. in those cases i've found that, as much as it might suck, dragging myself out of bed and on to the bike is actually a pretty damn good way to get rid of a hangover. hydrate and then sweat out the toxins from the previous evening's poor decisions.

"Does anyone else find themselves limiting their alcohol consumption in order to preserve their willingness to ride the bike in the morning?"

Any runner/biker/athlete battles with this problem on a monthly basis. Ultimately what it really boils down to is your dedication, how far you need to go, the weather, etc. What you NEED to do (stay healthy) and what you WANT to do (consume alcohol) are two different things that, handled responsibly can only make you a happier, more fulfilled person. By that I mean you'll get the endorphin release that exercise grants, which makes you happy...plus the thrill of socializing and letting off a little work week stress via alcohol (responsibly I hope).

However, if alcohol is something that you are finding is interfering with your life, or TOO MUCH exercise in your daily routine you might need to rework your balance.

Yep, that works for me, too! Getting on the bike with the hangover is the worst, but once riding, I'll feel a lot better sooner than were I to just sit home.

As was mentioned earlier, alcohol does disrupt sleep cycles, so the OP could very easily be experiencing that.

Alcohol at night affects me in the morning in the form of dehydration and fatigue. Sometimes I like a shot or two of some Fireball whisky before bed... I'll put a glass of water on the night stand so I can drink it first thing when I wake up

And yeah, alcohol can affect your sleep cycle. Unfortunately, I have a hard time sleeping so having a drink before bed helps me sleep, but I usually end up waking up in the middle of the night.

OP I hope you can find a better church, I found a great one recently and it has made a world of difference to me. In fact, you can watch it online - https://www.timberlakechurch.com/.

DX you put it well.

If it were me, I would try not drinking for a week or month and see if there was any difference in the morning. Can't hurt to see what works best for you. If you can't lay off alcohol for that long, you may have a dependency.

Just about every Sunday evening I go on pub crawl ride. Early on, I probably had a few too many through the night (not so much in the sense of riding while intoxicated, since they were spread over several hours), and Monday mornings would be tough. Then for Lent (still hangin' onto the faith), I gave up alcohol altogether. Now that I'm drinking again, I find that I can try to limit the evening to a couple of beers, have a good time, and still roll out of bed for work. I think perhaps the period when I was drinking more was instrumental in seeing the difference when I only had one or two, so strangely, my advice to you is to start drinking heavily.*



*then cut back.

I could tell some stories here, so I will stick to the question at hand.

A glass or two of wine, while remaining properly hydrated, no problem for me. I used to keep a bottle of gator-aid on the night stand. When I got up in the middle of the night to visit the bathroom, I'd often chug the entire bottle. Woke up feeling fine.

One time (and I do mean, ONE time) I over did it with some bourbon. The next morning wasn't pleasant, I will assure you...

I only go by bike, so regularly commute after 1 beer, 4 beers, and terribly hung over. It can suck getting on the bike hung over, but it sucks standing still hung over, so whatever. Once you get going and have some wind in your face it's fine until you are sitting again at your desk.

It might be something else. Maybe you just don't want to get up and go to work in general. Are you depressed?

If I drink enough to feel a buzz it disrupts my sleep and I feel that the following morning. I also feel that alcohol ******* my recovery ability so if I drink after a hard ride my legs aren't feeling as "fresh" as possible the next morning. And thus has cycling mitigated my alcohol intake