Riding while high
 

I'm mid 50s and enjoy a small dose edible once in a while in the summer evening after a good ride or brisk yard work. (Not much of a drinker.) I've been wondering if anyone here has ever actually ridden high? I know the obvious dangers, and I'm not talking about look-at-your-thumb-while-slobbering high. I'm talking about being functionally high, the kind of high where you feel every stretch and every sore muscle in a good way. I usually end up stretching a lot when I'm high, kind of yoga-like. I've never actually ridden high and am genuinely curious if anyone has gotten any satisfaction from it, or if crashing paranoia sets in. Or if I should take this question to the 20+ forum.
Please, no anti-pot lectures. As I say, I'm genuinely curious.

:popcorn

I would recommend that you NOT do it. It isn't fun.

If I was going to do that it would be on a rail trail.

I second that. And a mostly deserted one, not a heavily used MUP.

Or quiet gravel roads.

From my days getting high (mostly long long ago), I think that the impairment to your judgement, motor skills, and safety are not as great as for alcohol, whether operating a bike or a motor vehicle, but just like driving drunk, I think that considering the risk to those around you is a far greater moral imperative than the personal risk.

Why the 50+ forum? This should be in General.
As the public relations campaign sign says "20 is plenty."
But they don't specify 20 of what; speed limit, or something else?

No need to be stupid, but enough to be fun ought not be a problem.

Here in Washington, the revised code 46.61.790 exempts cyclists from operating a vehicle while intoxicated. The most a cop is allowed to do is offer assistance & impound your bike for your own safety to later be returned at no charge. It seems the government would rather the DUI people ride bikes instead of drive cars.

So I say have at it. A bicycle presents very little risk to the rights of others & it's unlikely you are going to be very fiercely competetive while high on weed.

In all honesty, self-medication around 8-9pm every night is the only way I can get to sleep. Insomnia is misery.

I like a mild cannabis buzz while riding as long as it's away from cars.

That doesn't work for me. I've tried it. Melatonin is my thing. But yeah, insomnia sucks.

Have not had a cannabis high in decades but when I was in High School I had a job installing car stereos. A co-worker of mine came to work high all the time and I swear it had no impact on the quality or speed of his work. If you feel comfortable and confident, maybe it's ok.

I tried it a couple of times and felt like an idiot. Spacing out and forgetting what I was doing and being paranoid about customers and co-workers knowing I was high. I think you need to be very aware out on a bike so I would not be inclined to ride in that condition.

If you do, I'd suggest trying it out on a bike path or trail first before mixing it up with auto traffic.

I know some guys who always ride high and take smoke breaks on road and off-road rides. This had been going on for 20+ years and neither of them has had a problem as a result. I have been on many of their rides and have nothing to say about indulging with them.

It's been a while, but what I remember is that it was enjoyable, and bike handling wasn't affected... but I was concerned that my judgement was impaired... like I might think I could make a yellow light and sprint for it.

My advice is don't do it. You need to have your wits about you when you ride. Having said that; here in New York pot has just been made legal.

For what it’s worth, I read somewhere that THC is banned in downhill competitors as a PED because it lessens the fear response.

I'll take ATP pre-ride occasionally for a boost but I do not consider it euphoric.

I would recommend that you do not ride while high.
As others have mentioned, you probably can find a closed course or road-path-trail with no vehicle and no pedestrian traffic, but your impairment likely will significantly elevate your risk if there are any curves, challenging areas, or small road defects or path/trail defects such as small potholes or fallen debris like small twigs, pinestraw, leaves, etc... Your reaction time and your critical thinking and observation capability will be severely diminished. You're probably more likely to be too late to miss the pothole ahead, and perhaps lose control where your body hits the pavement and a wrist or clavicle gets broken, if not an arm, a leg or a knee injury also.
Willie Nelson & Snoop Dogg likely have a much better health plan than you do. They won't have any problems accessing the world's best orthopaedic surgeons and physical therapists. Willie and Snoop also would not worry about the $60,000+ bill for Life-Flight Helicopter Air Ambulance for transport to the nearest trauma center in a worst case situation. I'm just saying that your Super-Platinum Comprehensive Health Plan is probably among the best there is, but often there are limits and certain exclusions....................oh well great, you got Aflac too, coverage doesn't fill out every possibilty no matter what their mascot duck and bama football guy leads you to believe.
Now, what if you are stupid enough to bike stoned in an area with pedestrians, dog walkers, and other casual but sober riders enjoying the path/trail, and you cause or are involved in a collision with someone or another rider where injuries are sustained to the other party/parties. You're gonna be in deep ship, except substitute the fourth letter in the alphabet that comes after p , for that fourth letter in the word ship. The lawyers involved are going to cite "contributory negligence" and that you were reckless in your willfull decision to ride while impaired. It won't make a difference if the other party stupidily jumped directly into your path......
Don't be a dumbass. There are already enough idiots that engage in such beyond dumbass behavior. My neighbor is a trauma surgeon, and he often sees the victims of preventable beyond stupid behavior by such dumbasses. He also sees the many dumbasses that manage to only hurt themselves during their high stupidity. Sometimes such events are life changing in causing disabilities, and sometimes such events can be life ending...................................all because of what?? because you wanna ride high!..............................Grow up and act like a responsible adult. Don't promote such stupid behavior!!! Remember that others may read this now and in the future. You may have the intellectual maturity and critical thinking to pose a question such as you have done here, but heck who the heck knows, as someone's 11 year old grandson might read this and determine that Oh Yeah The BikeForums Debate on Riding While High is that it is Okay and There Is No Risk.
Hey, we are all old, but I do not think it benefits anyone to share stories of acts of stupidity when we may have been less intelligent , in a public forum such as this.
You certainly don't wanna give some benchmark that those that are now young dumb and stupid will try to emulate and exceed.

It sure wouldn't work like that for me! If I got on a downhill course while on THC I would probably walk part of it, or try to find an easy way down.

Not recently. But circa 1982 during my senior year of college I had a night job that was ~6 miles from home, and every night after work at 11:00PM I would spark up a doobie, get good and buzzed, and then ride my bike home

Without lights

Without a helmet

And I really enjoyed it! It was like being inside a video game.

The OP says he eats it(edible). In terms of using marijuana and it becoming legal in many places, I do not understand why smoking it is not frowned upon. It would seem to me to be the same as smoking tobacco. So from a society standpoint I get confused on the anti-tobacco crowd and then no push back on the marijuana side and smoking it. Eating it makes sense to me and that would be the only way to use it.

It’s been a long time for me, but I’d probably just get off and sit on a rock and contemplate the foliage.

It worked for Ross Rebagliati in 1998.

Most people quickly develop a tolerance for THC and feel less of the psychoactive effect after only a few days of regular use. So they might well be able to retain enough coordination and situational awareness to ride safely. Some friends are regular users and seem unimpaired during rides, skateboarding, etc.

Edibles are generally more potent, but take longer to hit -- one or two hours after consumption. Depends on how well it's been decarbed, fat/oil content in your diet during ingestion, etc.

But I wouldn't do it if I planned to ride a bike. I want my situational awareness intact and unimpaired. I ride and run to get that natural buzz from brain chemicals, which is just as good... on a good day. Some days it just hurts.

I only use CBD with a minimal THC content (the usual 0.3) and some days when I take more than usual for various aches and pains, I'll feel that familiar THC buzz as I'm drifting off to sleep. The worst I can say about CBD during daytime use while exercising is sometimes it makes me feel a bit lazy at higher doses -- some 200 mg gel capsules. Usually I take only about 10 mg doses in 1 ml droppers before exercising. That amount takes an edge off the aches and pain while the body warms up and delivers the magic chemicals -- serotonin, oxytocin, endorphins, dopamine, whatever the current theory says is happening.

Some cannabis smokers claim it relieves their asthma. I've seen some abstracts of preliminary studies but nothing conclusive to support those claims. It sure didn't relieve my asthma or chronic sinus inflammation -- smoking irritates the heck outta my respiratory system. Which is unfortunate because some of the newer weed has a very pleasant citrusy/hoppy odor and flavor when smoked, somewhat similar to mosaic hops in IPAs. One of my friends is a brewmaster and said the term "dank" from the weed culture is also used to describe some beer hop flavors. Alas, beer also gives me sinus headaches and congestion now, so I can't enjoy that vice either.

Back when I was a dumb kid, we’d get high as kites and then ride in NYC traffic like maniacs.
Like complete and utter lunatics.
The sickest was my bike messenger days when we would get high af and alleycat all over Brooklyn. A bunch of us on fg bikes, too.
Without brakes.
It amazes me to this day that none of us were ever seriously injured or killed.

Maybe even stupider was when we would get so drunk we could barely walk and do the same thing.
I can blame it on peer pressure and the self perceived invincibility of youth but holy cow I must have been simultaneously the dumbest AND luckiest guy in the world.

I don't believe this is true. I have a number of friends who have been smoking it (now vaporizing) on a daily basis for 50+ years and get as high as ever without increasing volume. They are certainly more used to being high than a dabbler and would feel more comfortable with the effects. I have Parkinson's and regularly use edibles for sleep. I cut 10mg edibles in half ant take 5mg which is just enough to help me sleep without getting noticeably high. If I am high I stay awake tossing and turning. I am cautious about falls since I am now 70+ and don't want to break any more bones in bike crashes. I would probably feel safe riding with a mild buzz but I would not risk it. From what I have read reaction times and judgement are impaired by THC.

If you want to get direct reports from the horse's mouth ask any of the old timers on beach cruisers in Key West.