friday1970

Before a long Saturday 200-300k brevet, I have trick that I use to keep "nature" from happening during the ride.
3-4 beers on Thursday night. Parts of Friday are spent on the throne. Beer sh**s, per se.

Thought I'd let you know this disgusting detail.

Unca_Sam

Ok. I'll play along.

Which beers are best for inducing your cleansing ritual? Do you go with maltier beers, stouts, IPAs? God forbid, are you drinking sour beer to get the ball rolling? Sours have become an art form down here among our local breweries.

friday1970

No sour beers. Never could develop the taste for them.
Just good old swill, PBR.
On occasions, better beer from the German rathskeller in town. Spaten or Hoffbrau.
Eating something greasy helps too. Fried chicken or pork cutlet.

ThermionicScott 

I don't do that, but I will be careful about hotel breakfast eggs and bacon on the morning of. Experience (namely RAGBRAI) has taught me the value of keeping about a yard of neatly folded-up toilet paper with me in case "nature" does happen. And now that I'm a parent, having a baby wipe to finish the job is extra-nice, keeping things "fresher" further into the event.

Riveting

I do enjoy heavy chunky beers, but I rarely drink in the 24 hrs prior to a big/long ride for performance reasons, and beer doesn't affect me in "that" way anyway.

In the last 35,000 miles of riding, (according to Strava ~1,400 rides including many centuries, brevets, double centuries, and a 24 hr triple century), I can only recall having to eliminate solid waste ONE time DURING the ride, and it wasn't a BIG ride either, maybe just 30 minutes into the ride, requiring an almost nude undressing deep in the woods due to shirt removal to get the bibs off. My go-to pre-ride-prep is taking Miralax and 32oz. of water 12+ hours prior to the start of a big ride, like at 5pm, so that the system is fully flushed right before the ride starts the next morning. Performance is always a little bit better if I "drop some weight".

Unca_Sam

Except brevets are largely unsupported, so just find a bush? Best practice is to use a trowel.

unterhausen

You have to take the poopertunities when they are available.

Tourist in MSN

Today while on an exercise ride along a bike trail I saw a new sign off to the side of the trail. And I immediately thought of this thread.



If that is hard to read, cropped the photo to make it easier to read the new sign.



I am not making any negative comments on other posts, just saw the sign today and thought the timing with this thread was humorous.

NJgreyhead

Beer sh**s have never worked out well for me. Go figure.

What does work is a glass of Metamucil in water a coupla hours after my high-carb meal the evening before, followed up with an 8oz bottle of Ensure sometime after midnite, maybe during my (first?) nocturnal pee. This usually gets me to the evacuation stage early in the morning.

Riveting

Exactly. The title of this thread implies you want learn to prevent movements, but what you actually want to do is learn to plan for them the night before, so they occur right before the start of the ride. Failure to plan, is a plan for failure.

unterhausen

They seem to be confused. Given an exigent situation, everywhere is a toilet. I'm pretty sure their problem is runners. There is a reason why there are portapotties every 1/2 mile on marathon courses. I only know one cyclist that has exercise-induced bowel activity, but it's extremely common among runners.

Paul Barnard

DO NOT eat two packs of Cliff Shot Blocks before a metric century. You have been warned.

GhostRider62

Start with empty bowels and don't eat too much on the ride usually works. TP is almost like currency with long distance backpackers. I always carry TP in my bike bag but have never needed to pull off into nature to drop an ICBM.

Tourist in MSN

bark_eater 

No one drinks coffee?

unterhausen

Coffee and eating a couple of hours before the ride starts always worked for me.

NJgreyhead

I used to be fortunate enough to be that regular.
Things have changed.

Shadwhand

Take one the night before if possible - maybe even do a fiber cleanse for a few days before the ride to make sure its as empty as possible. Day of the ride, if its a 600k+, i’ll take an imodium and suffer the consequences the next day or the day after.

rumrunn6

on a long ride one time I stopped at the turnaround for beer & chili. I made it back home OK but it was a bad choice

friday1970

A countdown? A countdown is when you body says "you have 30 seconds to find a toilet. Go!". Happened to me twice so far on rides.

GhostRider62

What has worked for me in the past is two double espressos with coconut oil at say 2:30 am for a 4 am brevet start. I do not eat high fiber the say before a brevet. Usually do a job before getting into the car, wash fastidiously, and seal the whole area up with thick lube. Done.

Bogey Speedwell

Mmmmm, perhaps adding Sauerkraut to my menu the day prior may make sense.

knew a guy who used to bet on the greyhound’s based on evacuations prior to the race, lol

bark_eater 

Not particularly long distance related for me, but how long do you go with out adding calories after the coconut oil?

GhostRider62

When I was a decent ultra type rider, I burned fat pretty good. I would start eating 30-60 minutes into the event. So, lets say around 4:30-5:00 am. It has to do with equilibration and not getting an insulin response. Once into a groove, I found I could eat without upsetting things. On a positive note, I have only once had to crap during a brevet.

znomit

Liquid food diet the day before works for me.

What doesn't work...
Having an extra bowl of cereal.
Stuffing myself with Thai or Indian food the night before.