Coffee before a hike

[Ridgewalker]

Here's a good question for everyone, do you drink coffee before a hike? I am just inquiring if it is beneficial to a good hike or not, and vice versa. Please write an essay on your reasons why Just kidding. But post if you want with this poll.

 

[Tom Rankin]

Here's a good question for everyone, do you drink coffee before a hike? I am just inquiring if it is beneficial to a good hike or not, and vice versa. Please write an essay on your reasons why Just kidding. But post if you want with this poll.

Not sure if it's good for me or not, but I do it anyway.

 

[Neil]

I drink it by the gallon!

S-s-so f-f-farrrr it ha-ha-hasn't done m-me nuh-nuh-no harm.

Actually, I learned that caffeine helps in endurance activities. It increases the abilitiy of the muscles to uptake and utilize fat for fuel. This is good because then the muscles' sugar reserves last longer. When the muscles' sugar reserves are gone then you bonk. Caffeine is a partly controlled substance in Olympic type events. You are allowed some, but not too much.

 

[spencer]

I ddin't vote b/c there wasn't a "sometimes" option. I don't think twice about having my usual coffee in the summer but in the winter I try to stay away from it. I find I get extra dehydrated in the winter (no big surprise) and need all the non-diaretic fluids I can get.

I do usually need some coffee or other caffeine for the ride home, though.

spencer

 

[Chip]

I hate coffee.
All the silly machines, grinders, filters, blends. It requires a separate and distinctly devoted morning ritual, stains my clothes during the day and then keeps me up at night. If I ignore it for more than a day or two it delivers a migrane that would bring Clint Eastwood to his knees. If it were introduced today it would be sold by Merck or from someone in a trench coat on a dark street corner.
It'd be easier and no more expensive to have an affair.

So my answer is "Yes".

 

[Bluethroatedone]

I don't. I should admit upfront that I don't think a cup of coffee is ever a big deal. That being said, coffee, like all stimulants provides a spike folllowed by a (slightly larger) dip/trough. I usually don't need the spike and certainly don't want the dip. If I need extra energy I usualy just start hiking with one layer less...the cold pushed me to move faster to warm up...and I don't have to delayer 5 minutes later.

That said I have been known to eat a bar (Candy or energy) in the middle or towards end of a hike which has a similar effect. In this case the hope is to get the spike while hiking and dip while at camp/on summit.

 

[J&A]

It..um..gives me stomach issues. let's leave it at that

 

[David Metsky]

Nope, I've never drunk a cup of coffee in my life.

-dave-

 

[skiguy]

I do drink Coffee. One cup a day. A LOT less than I use to. When I use to work very early in the morning I would start drinking Coffee around 4:30 AM and usually drink 5-7 cups by around 10:00 AM or so. Then at around 1:00 after lunch the Coffee pot got fired up again for a few more cups. Fortunately I trimmed way back.
As far as hiking be aware that Coffee is a diuretic and a vasoconstrictor. In other words it makes you pee alot and it constricts your blood vessels.The former (being a diuretic)has its obvious side effects. The former( being a vasoconstrctor) will cause you to get cold easier especially in the extremities (fingers and toes).Climbers with cold weather/high altitude aspirations should think about eliminating Coffee...at least for Major Expeditions.

 

[Rick]

Ooooh.... Just the thought of a steaming hot fresh cup of Arabica bean coffee fully loaded with cream and sugar in a paper cup is about to send me into orbit. I love the stuff and cannot get enough of it. I love the smell, the aroma the taste, even the pronunciation of the word. coffee.... COFFEE..COFFEE...

I'm the kinda person to take off down the trail with both hiking sticks in one hand and my cup in the other so I have a little longer to enjoy it (usually the first mile) and then any that I spill on myself when the going is a little bumpy gives me something to smell all day long.

Yeah, I learned to love it in the army and I have only given it up thrice in my life and each time I went back on the wagon as soon as possible(or is it off the wagon, come to think of it, why do we need a wagon??)

 

[alpinista]

I absolutely love to have several cups of coffee (Dunkin' Donuts is a huge fave rather than the highfalutin goumet stuff)! I find it keeps me, um, regular, so to speak. Often, but not always, when I don't go through the morning ritual of some coffee, I end up with withdrawal headaches. Strangely, though, when I'm camping in the mountains, I don't need or crave coffee in the morning ... and don't experience any ill effects from the withdrawal.

Nope, I've never drunk a cup of coffee in my life.

-dave-

Dave: you are kidding, right???

 

[forty8]

I drink coffee every day; hiking days are no exception. I don't seem to be addicted though, because I can skip days without any detrimental effects. Why don't I just stop drinking it then? I guess I just like it.

 

[David Metsky]

Dave: you are kidding, right???

Nope, never even tempted to try.

-dave-

 

[LenDawg]

.... COFFEE!!!!! .... Can't live without it, unfortunately! It is a drug, I'm addicted.

 

[Rik]

I have a cup the same as every morning. If I don't I sometimes get a headache. In winter I put a little in my thermos of hot cocoa which keeps the rebound effect to a minimum. I have seen people drink heavily caffinated "energy drinks" and then crash when it wore off pretty severely.

 

[Becket1903]

I like the cofee.

But I'm usually too groggy in the mornings to make a pot up!

 

[giggy]

loads and loads and loads - problem is a specer states is the dehydration factor - and lots of peeing - but I still do -

 

[mudhook51]

Its the only vice I have left.

 

[alpinista]

Nope, never even tempted to try.

-dave-

I hate to say it, but methinks you are an alien in our midst. You haven't
lived until you've at least tried one cup o' joe in the morning!

 

[Rik]

loads and loads and loads - problem is a specer states is the dehydration factor - and lots of peeing - but I still do -

I don't see this as much of a problem. I usually drink extra water when I leave the car and I rather enjoy writing my name in the snow.