The abstinence thread

Reading this forum and attending various forum events, one could be forgiven for believing that cycling was fueled by alcohol and yet, in my experience, there are a noticeably high number of cyclists who don't drink or who drink very little. This thread is a counterbalance to the booze-riddled parts of the forum and up on which those who wish can celebrate the joys of sobriety.

It is also, thankfully, a thread that will, by definition, be Oliver-free.

With you all the way, lets hear it for the straight edgers-coming up for my first year teetotal and loving it.

It is much more common than people realise, that one's eyes play tricks on a person.

Imagine my chagrin that this was not The Absinthe Thread, but a mere mirage, mocking my tastebuds, and social decency.

I thought that we were about to see a post listing appropriate soft drinks for cyclists.

Nothing like rising for a Sunday morning ride feeling fresh as a daisy. Lime & Soda FTW.

I feel sorry for you. When you rise on a Sunday morning, that's the best you're going to feel all day.

I don't need booze to make me feel better about myself, and it is a shallow man who does.

Yo! i'm pretty regular and fairly heavy drinker but as mentioned in the alcohol thread a while back i decided to give it a break for a month or so to re-set my tolerances, give the body a break and generally do a bit of an appraisal of my relationship with alcohol. It'll be two weeks tomorrow since I had a drink and i'm finding it surprisingly easy to be honest. Here are my findings so far:

First few days found it hard to get to sleep. Guess I was used to being tranquilised with half a bottle of wine or two or three beers most nights. Got over that in a week.

Next few days noticed that without trying i'd all but quit smoking. The link between drinking and smoking was so strong that as soon as i was away from the pub and not drinking i found i didn't really want to smoke.

Weekends seemed much longer without saturday and sunday morning being taken over with hangovers and lying in bed.

Energy levels definitely up after a week. I'm riding quicker, got round my regular run quicker than ever and my regular swim went from 40 mins to an hour without really trying.

I'm eating less and better. I don't crave fat and carbs so much. I'm losing weight pretty quickly as a result and also because of the thousands of calories directly from the alcohol i'm now not consuming. I can see musculature under the beer fat for the first time in a couple of years.

House is tidier as i've been staying in more and looking after it, i've saved a bunch of money and am generally feeling pretty good.

Only downsides I can see are that I do miss the taste and sensation of a bottle of nice wine with dinner or a few quiet pints with a mate on a weekenight, or getting though slightly too many bottled ales whilst watching a boxset on a weekend night in with the missus. But i'll get that back soon enough and hopefully in moderation. It's hard going to the pub and drinking coke and juice etc. You tend to keep ordering things you don't really want just to have something to do with your hands. Also I found that when I went to the pub even though I wasn't drinking i started smoking again.

Finally, I've had a constant, not painful, but sort of nagging headache on and off for the whole two weeks. It's almost like a pressure or stress in my head from the daily grind of work and whatever that I can't helping thinking would be wonderfully relieved by three or four pints. I need to find other ways of letting off steam... Playing music and wanking furiously seem to be filling the void so far.

I've been without alcohol for two weeks. It ends today hopefully.

I fail at this thread.

It is also, thankfully, a thread that will, by definition, be Oliver-free.

Im sure he's feeling bitter and ale-ienanted.

Im sure he's feeling bitter and ale-ienanted.

Alcohol makes him feel a lager than life character. It is amazing that he is not stout. He'll probably pop up to wine about something or other soon.

'Subdue your apetites, my dears, and you've conquered human nature'

i didn't drink all week, felt good, and then fucking chris evans harping on about 'thirsty thursdays' on the radio made me have a drink, and then a few more, and i feel quite shit today.

thinking about knocking it on the head for a while

i'm not teetotal and love nice wine/beer/spirits just don't drink much in the way of volume and do not like to mix drinks with cycling i find they spoil each other.
a drink in the afternoon after a morning/lunchtime 70 miler does seem to go down well but people addicted to alcohol stopping half way through the ride for a pint seems a bit odd to me.
it's why i don't go on forum rides, they are not really rides but a means of getting between pubs, and somebody always gets pissed and falls off or crashes into somebody else.
the macho attitude confuses me too, so what is so great about drinking 10 cans of piss lager and falling over? is your life that shit that you need to try to forget about it by making it shitter?

Dooks your situation mirrors mine totally with the half bottle wine thing going on. I managed a week off in the Summer - might revisit this.

Dooks your situation mirrors mine totally with the half bottle wine thing going on. I managed a week off in the Summer - might revisit this.

Before I stopped for this experiment I think it must have been a year or more since i'd gone without drinking for more than two days. Not always a lot but usually some and sometimes a lot.

the macho attitude confuses me too, so what is so great about drinking 10 cans of piss lager and falling over? is your life that shit that you need to try to forget about it by making it shitter?

Pussy.

More bars should offer decent non alcoholic drinks. Syrup coke and manky old juice just don't cut it, so for now mines a Guinness.

I wondering about going teetotal. I don't drink a lot, but if I'm out it'll be 2 or 3 pints. Over the last year or so I've found that most beers/lagers give me an instant hangover. Within 20 minutes of drinking a pint I've got a shitty headache. That, for me is the main reason I'm thinking about teetotal (although, I'm finding the bourbon is going down fine...)

More bars should offer decent non alcoholic drinks. Syrup coke and manky old juice just don't cut it, so for now mines a Guinness.

There's only so much J2O you can drink before you feel sick...

lime and soda ftw when not drinking.

I wondering about going teetotal. I don't drink a lot, but if I'm out it'll be 2 or 3 pints. Over the last year or so I've found that most beers/lagers give me an instant hangover. Within 20 minutes of drinking a pint I've got a shitty headache. That, for me is the main reason I'm thinking about teetotal (although, I'm finding the bourbon is going down fine...)

There's only so much J2O you can drink before you feel sick...

Go see a doctor, you may be intolerant to something in the drink?

A friend of mine suffered badly from this, change of diet and life is sweet again.

I didn't drink for 2 years in my early 20's. It was shit.

Im sure he's feeling bitter and ale-ienanted.

Ha! Bare jokes.

Hahaha! Yeah! Its even funnier because it was puns, and Oliver likes puns, so its just like he was here, but clive was saying he was thankful that Oliver wasn't here. Fucking HILARIOUS!

Anyway, I thought this thread was about not having sex. I intended to contribute, drawing on my wealth of experience.

I've kinda gone off drinking over the past couple of years. Don't get me wrong - I like nice Belgian beers, a good drop of wine and of course Baileys tea (thanks McCarthy) Maybe I'm just a pussy and can't take the hangovers anymore.
But it's usually OJ & Lemonade for me these days. I also wont drink if I'm cycling - There are enough fuckwits on the road without me joining them.
I guess having a father who has issues with Alcohol and has just been done for drink driving kinda puts me off...