Coffee before a hike

[jjmcgo]

To Pete Hickey

"Ever have a bowl of cherrios with Mountain Dew for breakfast?"

No, and it looks like you avatar cat is having issues with it too!

 

[Ridgewalker]

Thanks for the tremendous replies on your thoughts of coffee. Keep them coming if you so choose.

 

[pilgrim]

I stopped drinking coffee but I like a cup or two of tea before a hike. Nothing fancy, plain old Tetley nuked to opaque sludge and drunk straight up.

...It'd be easier and no more expensive to have an affair.

That sounds like the beginning of a whole 'nother thread on um pre-hike rituals.

 

[blacknblue]

I don't drink coffee AT ALL, so I guess I should vote no. I'm kinda surprised we have so many coffee drinkers out there. Not for any particular reason--just kinda surprised. I just get some water in me and off I go! If I start the day at home, I drink a large dose of OJ, and if I start from a campsite, I sometimes have a cup of hot chocolate on a chilly morning. I do certainly endorse GU though.

 

[Raymond]

No.

Because I'm yet another who never drinks coffee, although when I worked in a coffee shop years ago there were a few times when I had a little chocolate raspberry-flavored coffee with a lot of sugar and several ice cubes in it.

I do enjoy a large mug of tea most nights while I'm at work, but I avoid drinking anything while I'm driving to the trailhead. I don't want to have to keep stopping to pee.

 

[Pete_Hickey]

but I avoid drinking anything while I'm driving to the trailhead. I don't want to have to keep stopping to pee.

Mountain-Walkers inc. Has just the priduct you need. They call it a 'Go on the go'. It is a strap-on device with a several foot tube. Run the tube down your leg, and behind your boots (does not work great with snowshoes)

 

[Rick]

I don't drink coffee AT ALL, so I guess I should vote no. I'm kinda surprised we have so many coffee drinkers out there. Not for any particular reason--just kinda surprised. I just get some water in me and off I go! If I start the day at home, I drink a large dose of OJ, and if I start from a campsite, I sometimes have a cup of hot chocolate on a chilly morning. I do certainly endorse GU though.

I am actually surprised that there are so many out there that DON'T drink Coffee - It NEVER really occurred to me that people could live their lives without coffee, though now I think about it the Missus seems to do just fine with herbal tea (Cough cough Yuck - Vile weed juice!!). Matter of fact I won't let her make coffee because she's destroyed it both times she's tried (let's see that's 2 tablespoons of coffee for every 6 oz's....no wait... every 3 ozs of water. Yeah!!! Fine,.... for paving your driveway)

What would be interesting is a poll to find out who doesn't use caffeine in any form (coke, Mtn Dew, Penguins, Tea and the like).
Sorry to Ramble...

 

[sapblatt]

no coffee here

No caffeine here Rick - gave it all up - I have always been much more into depressants.

Back in the old days when I drank 4-5 cups of black coffee per day I was often quoted as saying "you cannot trust someone who does not coffee..."

So either things change or I cannot be trusted...

 

[Undershaft]

I drink at least one cup of Dunkins coffee a day. My boss is a coffee addict and buys rounds throughout the day. I never drink Tea at home. When hiking its just the opposite. I'll buy a cup of Dunkin coffee (black) to drink on the way to the trailhead, but after that its Tea on the trail. One cup before bed, one in the morning before I start hiking again.

P.S. I would much rather give up coffee before beer!

 

[hikerfast]

I drink a couple cups every morning. as far as dehydration, my cycling book says its a net gain liquid wise. you drink and you pee, maybe more than water, but better than no coffee at all. like someone said earlier, you get maybe half a cup gain from a cup.
one time i bought some coffee and i said 'this tastes like mud!'
the clerk says 'what do you expect, it was just GROUND a few minutes ago'

 

[Mike P.]

Since it's a four hour ride to the Whites when I start the day in CT, that's a yes to coffee & usually Due or Jolt if I can find it for the ride home. When staying overnight, I drink less than usual.

 

[Mark_Goodearl]

coffee keeps me going (pun intended)

I gave up coffee for a few years after it started giving me the shakes. Then I had kids and sleep deprivation began so back to coffee I went. Now I'm on multiple cups per day but no shakes - who knows. On hiking days I have a cup or two before and (especially nice in cold and / or rainy days) I have a small thermos that holds exactly one medium Dunkin Donuts that tastes fantastic with my PB&J.

 

[Raymond]

Thanks for the tip, Pete, but I'm not sure if that go-on-the-go tube would be any good in my car.

It's my honey, Susan, who's the one forever stopping on the trail after her morning tea. I already bought her one of those funnel-like things, and she refused to use it.

 

[spaddock]

I don't understand the dehydration thing....

I've often heard fitness people say that if after every cup of coffee you should compensate with a cup of water. Doesn't that ultimately mean you've just drank a cup of weak coffee since it all goes to the same place?


-Shayne

 

[Rick]

....I've often heard fitness people say that if after every cup of coffee you should compensate with a cup of water. Doesn't that ultimately mean you've just drank a cup of weak coffee since it all goes to the same place?
-Shayne

No, I'm like a goat - I have 2 chambers in my stomach - One for Coffee and one for everything else

 

[skiguy]

I don't understand the dehydration thing....

I've often heard fitness people say that if after every cup of coffee you should compensate with a cup of water. Doesn't that ultimately mean you've just drank a cup of weak coffee since it all goes to the same place?


-Shayne

Here's kind of an interesting article; and another one with somewhat contrasting views.

 

[Stan]

Food for thought

This research suggests that caffein, although a cerebral stimulant, is a cardiac depressant and that is more pronounced at simulated high altitude (15,000 ft.). Caffein Article

 

[el-bagr]

each participant swallowed a tablet containing 200 milligrams of caffeine, the equivalent of two cups of coffee...

The caffeine dose did not affect blood flow within the heart muscle while the participants were at rest. However, the blood flow measurements taken immediately after exercise were significantly lower after the participants had taken caffeine tablets.

... the results indicate that caffeine reduces the body's ability to boost blood flow to the muscle of the heart on demand. The ratio of exercise blood flow to resting blood flow, called the myocardial flow reserve, was 22% lower in the group at normal air pressure after ingesting caffeine and 39% lower in the group in the high-altitude chamber.

I read about this the other day. Anecdotally, it matches my perceptions. I'm a daily coffee drinker, and often have an extra cup (read "big cup") as I'm zipping up my wetsuit for cold-weather surfing (e.g. yesterday; great waves btw). I find that while paddling out within about 20 minutes after drinking coffee, I get pumped (exhausted) much more easily than without coffee. I haven't taken measurements or run carefully controls; the only comparison is that when I drink boiling water while suiting up as opposed to coffee, the exhaustion doesn't seem set in as quickly.

Note that I've experienced this for years, not just in response to the article.

 

[dr_wu002]

Coffee has no real effect on me. I drink it because I enjoy it and usually have a pot before I go to bed but exactly nothing in the morning. It does make me poop though (instead of waking up, which I guess is good though) so if I drink it in the car then I have to go poop in the back seat which is really dangerous while driving (brick on the accelerator, grab the wheel every minute or so to make sure the car is still going straight).

PS: Oh, and I drink my coffee black w/ no sugar. Also, when I drink coffee before bed I fall asleep in about 5 minutes still.

-Dr. Wu

 

[Snowflea]

The dehydration thing

I've read that even after consuming caffeine, once you start exercising/running/hiking, anti-diuretic hormone (ADH) kicks in, so the dehydration argument doesn't really hold. Not sure if it's true or not, but I am a coffee addict, so it's what I choose to believe.

And, in my case, I'm sure that any negative effects from drinking coffee before and/or during (yes, I'll pop a Starbucks Doubleshot at the end of long day on the trail) a hike/run/event are FAR outweighed by the negative effects of NOT drinking it!

A day without coffee is, like, a really, REALLY bad day!