I know that some believe that there is no such thing as a bad ride, just various levels of good ones, but I think I had one today.

I started out on what was going to be a nice 2 hour ride but within a couple of miles I began to feel poorly. I was tired and getting more so by the minute and my stomach was becoming upset. To make a long story short I bailed at the 4 1/2 mile mark and turned around to limp home at a much reduced rate. I still feel bad hours later, sort of like a very mild case of food poisining.

Have any of you ever had a ride that just turned bad. What do you do?

Sorry your feeling bad, and hope your better now. There have been days that I thought were going to be great and it turned out that I just didn't have "it" that day. Then there have been days that started out feeling like "what am I doing out here, I feel like crap", and had a great long ride. However I never got sick on a ride, thank God.

I ***** and moan a lot and ruin the day for everyone within earshot. Yep, I'm a bit immature.

Yup, I've had 'em. I usually just turn around and go home, screw it, I've got nothing to prove to myself or anyone else. Of course, on a week long tour, where the "camp" moves to a new location each day, it's a whole 'nother ball game.

One. Well, other than a couple of severe crashes, but I'm guessing that's not what you mean.

Seriously. One, out of 7-8 years of increasingly dedicated riding. Hundreds and hundreds of rides. I remember telling one of the guys I was riding with that day that I'd never felt bad on a bike ride before.

I understand Louis's comment about a "week long tour". I just don't put myself in a position to have "mandatory" rides and uncomfortable accommodations between rides.

It's a lot easier to bail out of a bad ride than to bail out of a bad day of work. I might bail out of bad rides two or three times a year. I just look ahead and trust my judgement for quitting the ride.

One interesting question is how long does it take to determine that it's a bust? In running they said that a run doesn't suck until it has sucked for two miles. If you feel bad at that point, it's OK to pack it in.

I've had rides for a few miles when the legs felt like lead amd the lungs felt like a three week old kitchen sponge. Then all of a sudden my legs felt better and I got a good ride out of it.

Other rides have just sucked from start to finish.

Needless to say, yet I'll say it anyway, if you're blowing chow from the get-go, that's a good sign to head on back home.

All athletes have bad days... Listening to your body is a very smart thing to do.

So true. If I had bailed out of all my bad days at work my family would've starved.

I've done this. You don't quite feel ready but keep riding. Suddenly you realize that it's a good ride after all. The difference there seems to be that you don't feel right at first but it doesn't get worse.

I'd do a 180 and head back home or to the car. Once, in the middle of a fast, hilly, 50 mile ride w/ about 5 others, flu symptoms (chills, body aches, lethargy, fever) came down on me pretty hard. It was summer time! I just informed them I was no good today and that it felt like the flu. That was a tough 20/25 miles back home Can ride/exercise w/ a cold; can't exercise w/ the flu.

If you are active on this forum, you're probably over the age of 50, and by now should have learned to listen to the messages that your body is sending you. I had a similar ride a few weeks ago. The commute home from work on my bike (8.5 miles) I was "out of sorts"....stopped and weighed in at the clinic and told the gal there that something was wrong. My stomach kind of ached, I didn't have any energy (Friday afternoon) generally felt kind of BLAH! Got home, had some supper, and a couple drinks, went to bed and didn't sleep well. Was tired and with flu symptoms all day Saturday, actually took a nap about 2pm on Saturday. Finally got feeling better on Sunday, must have been some kind of a 24 hour bug? It was tough riding home feeling that way, but it was only 8.5 miles and I knew that I could gut it out. Yeah, I've called off a ride a mile or two in, for similar reasons, and gone home. Listen to the signals your body is sending and you'll feel better. None of us is 25 anymore....

Tractor Tom in Okeechobee, FL

Occasionally a Clif bar or a Hammer gel will give me the energy to change a bad ride into a good one. But I wouldn't try this if I was having a GI upset. Good call on cutting the ride short.

Much like a good baseball player, you need a short memory when it comes to a bad ride. Sure, they'll pop up every now and again, but I try to forget about them as soon as possible. No reviewing or wondering what may have gone wrong, or what I could have done differently. Nope, just forget them and move on.

I limp home and take it easy. Tomorrow is another day.

It's usually not me, it's the bike. A bad ride is when the innertube explodes because the rim has been worn down enough by the brake pads that it cracks and bends, allowing the bead to pop loose. You then have no choice but to wait for the next bus (assuming your town has buses with bike racks on them), or to just ride home on a damaged rim and flat tire. Or when you puncture three times and you've only carried two spare tubes. Twice I've had the frame break during a ride, or the chain break. And another couple of times I've had the freewheel threads on the rear hub come separated from the rest of the hub (fixed gear). You learn to be pretty resourceful as a cyclist. Sometimes you just have to figure out if you can fix things enough to keep riding.

Luis

If I were snarky, I'd say that your experience would make me learn to take better care of my bikes.

But I'm not snarky and I won't say it.

And I'll toss in a smilie to prove the point.

I never have a bad ride, however, my bikes get a little whiney on occasion!

I rode a 12 hour metric century with a blood clot in my lung. Thinking it was just upper respiratory.

Sounds like an interesting story. Do tell, James.

Everybody will have a bad one every now and then. With me, it's when I start having cramping problems.. always the same leg ( yeah, yeah.. I know... drink you fool ! drink !) usually before the 1 hour mark. The last time it was my fault, I was feeling too good and wasn't paying attention.

I had a bad one last year. I was on a several month long work assignment out in Moreno Valley, California. While there I bought a bike from BD (Motobecane Mirage) to try a little bicycle commuting and for general recreational riding. One weekend I decided to ride up to Lake Perris about five miles away, tour around the lake, then take a long loop back through town past a fish and chips place to pick up dinner.

After the long fast coast back down the mountain from the lake, I was cruising along in the bike lanes, when I ran over a flattened tin can, which cut the sidewall of my (original el-cheapo) rear tire. I remembered that you could improvise a tire boot with a dollar bill. I looked in my wallet, but the smallest I had was a 20! I did have a business card, though, so I used that, and my spare tube, to get back on the road. Started for home.

About a mile later my repair flatted. Now I had a problem, as both my original rear tube and my spare were both ruined. I started pushing.

I ended up pushing that stupid bike about 10 miles. About 5 miles from my apartment I drank the last of my water. Another mile or so and I was getting seriously dehydrated. Eventually I passed two city police officers who were working a security detail at a party. I explained what happened and asked if they knew where I could get my water bottle refilled, and one of them reached into a cooler and gave me a bottle of water. I honestly don't think I'd of made it that last mile or so without that water!

+1 The engine works pretty well with some variation due to fatigue, training and racing stress - sometimes it is easier to make power than others. However, occasionally, the mechanical equipment just fails and I take excellent car of my bikes. We had a not repairable (boots and dollar bills failed) sidewall cut last year on my wife's bike that ended the ride and we called a taxi. And there was a ride a few years back in the rain on our tandem where we had 3 flats but were able to make it home but changing the flats in the rain sucked. And finally, about 3 years ago, a stick lying on the side of the rode flipped into my rear wheel and broke off my rear der. I was on a training ride and we had van support so I had to ride in the team car the rest of the day with my bike in the back.

One day the man throws a no-hitter and is the hero of fans and press. A few days later (apologies to international readers) the poor guy can't get the ball over the plate. One day the Nobel Prize winner is the smartest person on the planet; a few days later the savant can't remember their own name. This is one act in the play known as the human condition. Some times as I leave the house on the bike the legs have tremendous snap and power and I feel like a GC contender. Another time as I leave the house on the bike I may begin to think how nice it would be to spend the afternoon at the bookstore.