Fat Boy

Why? Because you say so? How about we ease off the attitude. No one is forcing anyone into this discussion or out of it.

Look, I started what I thought might be a fun thing to kick around a little bit. I didn't realize the amount of collective sticks up rear-ends I'd find. None of us are in high school, OK? You don't have to drink to 'be cool'. On the flip side, because you might have a drink doesn't mean you have any penchant for drunken outbursts. Why does everything have to boil down to the lowest common denominator over the course of a simple discussion?

I think there may very well be some small health benefits to some alcohol consumption. I don't know a single person who drinks alcohol for it's medicinal purposes. In general, people drink for a relaxed feeling. It doesn't take much to do that and that's probably about the point of diminishing returns on the health front. For anyone, pro or con, to make some this to be some sort of moral quagmire is absurd.

Sixty Fiver

I attribute my resistance to colds to my love for whiskey... Scotch is good medicine especially when it is a 10 year old single malt or a 5 year old Amrut (india).

Fat Boy

My MIL is from New Brunswick. She has a Canadian Mist (awful stuff that it is) in the afternoon once or twice a week. She's 92 and I fear she'll never kick the habit.

nkfrench

I used to love beer, wine, and margaritas. Note my use of the word "AND", not "OR".
Morning exercise really curbed my enthusiasm. I always needed at least 8 hours to sleep off evening drinking even if it started in the afternoon.
I also found that it wasn't just the calories in the beverages, I tended to eat a lot of high-calorie pubgrub along with it.
The calories had to go.
About the same time, I had some medical issues (brain) and somehow lost all desire for alcohol. My friends all knew something was very wrong when I couldn't finish a nice schooner of frosty beer.
I've had brain surgery but never regained a taste for adult beverages. The medications I am on are not compatible with drinking; I can't deal with all the calories; and sleeping late doesn't work anyhow.

Many of my friends assume that since I don't drink I must have some moral objection to it, which I don't. I'm not interested in hanging around bars for the sake of drinking, but I still would like to be included in social gettogethers where the alcohol is not the primary reason to be there. I am an extreme introvert and did find that alcohol was a social lubricant making it less stressful being around strangers. Drinking was also handy as an excuse for any foolish behavior.

GeorgeBMac

Yes, Food, Alcohol -- even cigarettes have a major social factor involved with them...

For me, giving up cigarettes was made even harder because I lost the social network of the smokers ...
And, now, changing my diet is also made harder because it often seems to come down to either maintaining the social stuff or my diet.

But, drinking is harder than either of those two: the local pub can be the center of a social network for many...

TexMac

LMAO..hope you din't have clipless pedals while riding drunk.

TexMac

I only drink red wine especially winter when cycling slows down...When summer comes, no drinking at all

Sixty Fiver

If I make it to 92 I am going to live on Drambuie, chain smoke Dunhills, and take up heroin...

Brannigan

Me too, and I do not maintain the level of performance that most of you earn.

Brannigan

Awesome.

Brannigan

I concur!

CommuteCommando

I drink about a bottle of red wine per week. When I was younger I would often get hammered, mostly on beer and hard stuff. After January 1 1983, when I woke up not knowing whether I had fun or not, I decided that fun or not, it's not worth it if you don't remember it.

I asked a freind what I did that night and all I could get out of anyone was "you don't want to know". That was enough for me.

On the bike I seem to perform better if I've not had wine the day before. I have gone to drinnking only red wine after having had two heart attacks, as it is allowed on the Medeterrainian diet I try to follow.

Fat Boy

Riding a bike should preclude that problem.

---------------------------------------------

Side note. What does Drambuie taste like?

Sixty Fiver

Like a wee touch of honey and heather... starts a little fiery and finishes a little sweet.

Rusty nails are nice... half Scotch and half Drambuie gives it even more of a bite.

Pibber

so, i'm a chef and my diet over the last decade, plus, just hasn't been the greatest. you eat what you can when you can and the m.o., for the most part, for cooks/chefs, is to drink your face off, come back to work the next day with minimal sleep, hungover, and own.

currently, my roommate is a liquor rep in the area.

i was up to 280# one year ago. by august of this year i was down to 210#(then i got hit by a car and i've gained 20#). eating isn't a problem for me, it's portion control and, really, what i'm putting in my body. i'd switched over to, almost, strictly oatmeal, fruit, veggies, rice and beans and just a little meat. i did drink beer occasionally, but not very often. though, being a fan of english football, you find yourself drinking more often than you realize. i really don't like trying to ride and/or work the day after i drink "excessively", now.

at this point, however, drinking isn't even on the radar as it's just part of the furniture these days.....