falling asleep on rides

[cobbwheels]

Yesterday I went for a ride but had to cut short the ride. Everything is going perfect until I started feeling very sleepy and actually falling asleep and nearly hitting the kerb. Interesting observation is I kept on pedaling, maintained my posture, maintained the zone 2 effort but my mind just turned off and even closed my eyes.

Otherwise, the rest of my body is doing perfectly. No fatigue, no headache whatsoever, and well-hydrated with electrolytes just felt very sleepy. Having only 2 hrs of sleep is definitely to blame! I went for a 6 hr sleep when I got home and back to 100%

 

[Mr. Beanz]

Never happened to me. I did a timed event century with 10,000 ft of gain with 3 hours of sleep.

I vdid pay attention to lessons learned the previous year and reading some sleeping tips on cycling forums.

Knowing I'd be anxious the night before, I slept well the previous 2 or 3 days Knowing. Really helped on the ride with little sleep.

In your case, I guess you can't plan too far ahead if it was a get up and go type of ride.

Also remember it's not good to over train. Do some easy short recoup rides as well.

 

[Fourlegsgood2wheelsbad]

No have never had got sleepy on the bike because of sleep deprivation.
But had and have my share of sleeping issues. I won't get on the bike if I am tired or not alert.

If I had been following along , cobbwheels' bike is on the heavy side and is a light rider.
I'd fall asleep on the bike if I had to pedal that bike those distances and vertical gains.

 

[cobbwheels]

Never happened to me. I did a timed event century with 10,000 ft of gain with 3 hours of sleep.

I vdid pay attention to lessons learned the previous year and reading some sleeping tips on cycling forums.

Knowing I'd be anxious the night before, I slept well the previous 2 or 3 days Knowing. Really helped on the ride with little sleep.

In your case, I guess you can't plan too far ahead if it was a get up and go type of ride.

Also remember it's not good to over train. Do some easy short recoup rides as well.

I've been doing the 2 to 3 days too, in fact, I stock up on sleep for 6 days before the early morning ride because the night before that ride, I usually only get 4 hrs of sleep due to being anxious like you do or getting too excited with the nice weather report. 4 hrs would have been enough. But this time, I only had 2 hrs.

This time. it was really bad and I couldn't control the spontaneous sleeping so I took a short break while riding before turning back for home.

 

[cobbwheels]

No have never had got sleepy on the bike because of sleep deprivation.
But had and have my share of sleeping issues. I won't get on the bike if I am tired or not alert.

If I had been following along , cobbwheels' bike is on the heavy side and is a light rider.
I'd fall asleep on the bike if I had to pedal that bike those distances and vertical gains.

You could be right. The bike's weight has bigger impact on light riders because it's a bigger % of the rider's weight. Loaded bike at 42 lbs and me at 116 lbs and that's well over 1/3 of my body weight.

It definitely makes me slower on climbs, though I don't mind it. I ride solo the vast majority of the time anyway so I don't need to keep up with anyone. But I guess being slower means you're absolutely getting no adrenaline boost, nothing to keep you feeling awake and alert should you begin to feel sleepy.

If I'm not seriously deprived of sleep, I can still fall into few seconds of very shallow sleep intervals during a climb but would actually feel recharged and alert again after several such sleep intervals. Don't know how my weird brain is doing it so I absolutely WONT recommend doing it. It could be very dangerous when riding in a group in narrow two lane or single lane roads.

But if I'm severely deprived of sleep the night before, not even few seconds of multiple sleep intervals will be able to recharge my sleepy head, like the other day, I gave up and turned back home.