No drink – what does it do for you?

I'm resigned to be being shit and unfit so see no real reason to stop boozing at all.

Drinking affects races and events – 4 pints before the Chiltern 100 (sorry, dark side) and I really suffered for 2-3 hours until it was all cleared out by which time I had been dropped by mates. No way did I have a hangover in the usual sense but riding I was weak. Drinking the same amount every night on cycling holidays where the pace tends to be stop start fettle faff start again and the booze makes no difference. Apparently.

I was nervous before trans wales and abstained the week before and whole week during and i held it together quite well. The early nights helped too I think.

a reality bullet from crag there

Hi all..
My name is Jonny vegas & im a alcoholic

DRINK…

and if it's between a couple now or then or simply nothing, Well, I might just go for nothing.

But if it genuinely is just a couple now and then, what harm does it do? In fact, is it not actually better for you, escpecially if the couple is glasses of wine?

I gave up at 01 Nov, my sister's b-day where I had just 1 pint & decided enough was enough. I'm 45.
HUGE difference; & not just in my performance on the bike! 😉
You are onto something very real, so don't blow it.
ToyRobot – maybe this really is the begining of your new chapter. Very exciting in a way!
Now I don't see alcohol serving any useful function in my life ever.
The most bizarre things was, that once I'm made the decision, it was a given, never missed it, I've been to the pub, we've had Xmas, b-days & so simple was it that I sometimes have to smile about how utterly simple it was to make sure a HUGE difference.
Oddly, you here (now) plus maybe 4 other people know I don't drink; it just is, that I don't use alcohol.

The biggest difference i notice is the quality of sleep. stopped drinking in the week at new year and the sleep i get now is amazing. i'm up at 6 and bright and breezy and ready to go. Drank a couple of bottles of lager and a bottle of wine last night, woke up at 5am knackered and unable to go back to sleep. thought i might have shed a few pounds too but it's made no difference, even though i've gone from about 75 to 30 units per week.

Good call andy, 75 fookin untis a week!!!

HERE. Max number of units.

Are you serious, 30 per week?
Even 30 per month is serious & beyond the max.
The govenment's web portal is good too.

Just bear in mind that ANY alocohol in your system and you will be denied REM sleep. If you are unsure what this means in real terms, then I would advocate some more research.

75 units a WEEK! Fek me, that's an alki quantity. 😯

That's, what, 5+ pints a night, every night. Hells bells. You gotta give that up.

I have maybe 4-6 units a week, home brew beer. Costs about 25p a pint. And it's nice beer. 🙂

it's a bottle of wine per night. not a huge amount really. 30 per week is a glass of wine over the government recommendation. i think it's a cultural thing – me and my mates have always been big drinkers ever since we were allowed in the pub (13 years ago!). was reading a thing on the nhs website about a guy who did 150 units a week and functioned perfectly and had no idea he had a problem! made me feel a darn sight better!

it's a bottle of wine per night. not a huge amount really

Quote of the decade!
How blind to a problem does a man need to be before his eyesight goes completely?!

I am now riding every Saturday morning and Wednesday evening without fail. as a result i don't want to drink the night before and usually not after riding as i get dehydrated easily (see last nights post) so that rules out Tuesday and Wednesday Friday and Saturday, Sunday is not really an option as its start of the working week the next day – so that leaves possible drinking days as Monday and Thursday!!

Booze intake dramatically reduced 🙂 Probably 4 cans of lager a week now instead of LOTS!

not too long ago I consumed 8 bottles of peroini, 3/4 of a bottle of Absinthe (50% proof), four pints of kronenburg and 4 shots at a bar. I was not sick but lost the plot completely. It was a wake up call that made me realize that Alcohol and I do not mix, I will never drink again and that makes me very happy. Looking forward to a long hot summer of riding and good heath for (hopefully) the rest of my life.

Is that a tongue in cheek comment MrNutt?

It was a wake up call that made me realize that Alcohol and I do not mix

I consumed 8 bottles of peroni, 3/4 of a bottle of Absinthe (50% proof), four pints of kronenburg and 4 shots at a bar

I think anyone would find that 'alcohol and they don't mix' with that level of consumption… not helped by the absinthe I wouldn't have thought 😆

nope, its the truth. I'm one of those people who cannon consume alcohol in moderation.

There's a name for people like me.

The most flattering thing is that I now can see it and know that it is well and truly off the menu for me for the rest of my life, viva sobriety! so long socially acceptable (and media encouraged) drug! 🙂

was reading a thing on the nhs website about a guy who did 150 units a week and functioned perfectly and had no idea he had a problem!

actually it was nearer 170 and I didn't know I was written about.

Anyway that was roughly the point I was at in my first year at uni' with only a couple of spectacular f***-ups and a handful of munters. A chat with the doctor due to alcohol induced illness, I stopped that weekend and discovered I was far richer the following weekend, bought a car so I didn't have to wait for everyone to sober up, went riding on my own before meeting up for mates ride in the afternoons. So, not necessarily an improvement from lack of alcohol but through increased riding time and being able to afford new parts to keep riding. Through uni' I rode on average 8 times a week.

Now back in the real world and still not drinking, I am nowhere near as fit due to more limited time.

The joke about the 14/21 units UK recommended limits is that they were literally "made up because they seemed about right" and have stuck.

the bitch don't get smacked up so much 😯

Can't have any sympathy really. What a waste of a good skin!

"what a waste of good skin"
Anyone with a girlfrieng called "donella" is gonna need a lot of ale!!

I haven't drunk properly for years, i have the very occasional whisky, and i can feel the effects after just this the next day 🙄

It took me years of proper drinking to realise i can't handle it and i'm an arse when pissed.

i aint habitually drank for years but i did go out for my mates 21st 3 years ago and got very drunk (fancy dress so it was necessary ;)) got in at 4am and was on the chaingang at 8 – felt the best id felt on a bike in ages – till about 12oclock – came home and passed out.

perhaps racing while drunk is the way forward 😉

MrNutt.
Welcome to many peoples' (on here by the posts above) New Reality.

Life here on the other side, it's very cool, very liberating, it sets you free like little else, so much so it's not just another chapter, it feels like a whole new book.
Even though my last drink was November, I feel almost re-born in many ways, and look back at my previous loss of time and opportunities with some personal embarrasment.

Mine's a soda water, lots of ice and a small dash of lime barman!

Have you thought about trying Christianity? I think you would be well suited.
Super fit and healthy non drinker or driven and intense social outcast with interaction problems? That's what most of the holier than thou non drinkers I know are like. About as interesting as a kick in the chebs and as trustworthy as Fagin. All things in balance and moderation I say.

That's what most of the holier than thou non drinkers

what really gets on my tits is the holier than thou non smackheads and coke denialists – most of us can afford a moderate habit…

Aye and it keeps loads of people without qualifications in gainful employment. I'm not sure they're filling in their tax returns properly though.

Simon –

most can afford a moderate habit.

What does this really mean?
You need money so you can develop a habit?

You only need review the Karen Matthew's TV footage taken on that estate over the 11 days (?) she was "away" to know that those who can least afford it look like they cane the ar£e out of all manner of drugs with little or no disposable income.

The truth of the matter is that, as you've witnessed above, there's a certain disquiet about just what alcohol fails to deliver upon, especially where mtn biking / fitness is concerned. I don't doubt for a moment that it's partly age related, so don't be too judgemental on those who have caned it and one day find it's actually just Fools Gold.

Further more, if you re-read the title of the post, you'll see it was pretty much asking for similar experiences to the OP's. Don't be surprised when people answer truthfully and with a level of candour that clearly sets some on edge and makes them uncomfortable, perhaps mistakenly viewing such experiences as full-on evangelical preaching or even Born-again reverence because it simply is not the case.

there's a certain disquiet about just what alcohol fails to deliver upon

isn't its primary function to induce debility ? I believe because, for whatever reason, socialisation and alcohol consumption have become associated, people wrongly attribute the pleasure of social interaction to the alcohol

Do you think that, asking any given number of people on any given night at any given pub and asked why they use alcohol, they'd give

isn't its primary function to induce debility ?

as the answer?

they'd give
isn't its primary function to induce debility ?
as the answer?

well obviously the first thing it does is to disable your critical faculties…

cheers Ti29er, its all good 🙂

I recall, many moons ago (25?), being promoted to Lieutenant.
It was 09 Dec, the Officers Mess was full that lunchtime at Blackdown Barrcaks, and 36 people each bought me a drink, by far the worse being a 1/2 pint of larger and another had something with a raw egg in it.

I managed the lot, although the last few drinks were consumed in the gents loo with some of my peers in attendence. I'd drunk them all in the space of about 70 miutes or so, then made myself ill as that quantity of alcohol was enough to stop a bull elephannt in its tracks.
Been there, seen it, done it.
However, alcohol is the only "drug" I've taken.

However, alcohol is the only "drug" I've taken.

why the quotes? It's much more dangerous than the others 🙁

"actually it was nearer 170 and I didn't know I was written about."

Timber – it wasn't you. This guy knew he was being written about as he kept a diary and commented on it for the benefit of the website afterwards. He was in his 50s, worked in London and went home to (I think) Gloucestershire for the weekend. He certainly wasn't a mtber.

Ti29er – a bottle of wine per night is not a huge amount. On the continent you might easily have a half bottle with lunch. A lot of people I know will happily drink four cans a night, which is equivalent in terms of units, and more on a weekend. It just depends on the lifestyle you're used to.

Laying off the ale makes my diet better. When I drink for day after I crave crap food. I've never been able to "have a couple" so its all or nowt. This weekend it is the nowt option and already my diet is a lot better.

neil – I know what you mean but you can't do it all the time anyway. saying that you can't beat a right good piss-up with a group of good mates now and again.

I quit drinking after my hols as felt like I had over done it… I was feeling great after a couple of weeks, when an old mate visited and we went out and 'got on it'… the resulting restless night, with fast heart rate and sweating… huge cost and feeling terrible the next day, I have now decided to give it up for good.
The only problem I have found is the social side of things, people take it as an insult if you will not have a pint with them.
Giving up has made me realise how much I used to drink, and that I have basically been an alcoholic for the last 10 years…

Dano.
Good on y'er.
Quietly tell people you no longer drink. They’ll not blink an eye. In fact, you’ll get a level of interest and respect that you’ll not have though probable. Besides, if a “mate” feels insulted by you being clean, how much of a “mate” is he really? Put you first, his emotions last!

a bottle of wine per night is not a huge amount

Wrong!
Is this where you were at too Dano?
It's difficult to see the problem when you're part of the problem as with Andy.
He's going by what's around him, the people and culture he subscribes to, and chooses to surround himself with.

A lot of people I know will happily drink four cans a night

He's a complete lemming in a situation that he's powerless and unwilling to change.
Fine – no skin of my / our noses, but for anyone reading these posts, don't for one minute think that consuming such huge quantities (a whole bottle of wine a night, every night ffs) & passing the blame and focus to other's out-moded, less educated habits, cultures & behaviours is denial and ignorance in equal measure!

And if you think I'm being a little harsh, let's see how this

reading about a guy who did 150 units a week and functioned perfectly and had no idea he had a problem!

makes Andy feel:

made me feel a darn sight better

As he says, he (Andy) hasn't got a drink problem!

andywarner – Member
neil – I know what you mean but you can't do it all the time anyway. saying that you can't beat a right good piss-up with a group of good mates now and again.

I love a good p!ss up with the lads or even the girly friend but only once in a blue moon now.