Upon an enduro week away with friends, as the first night rolled around, at around ten-ish, I said ‘goodnight’ and proceeded to head to bed. It was received with the same reaction as Luke’s attempts to bed Leia – a bit of understanding mixed with a WTF undertone.
Many riders feel the time off the bike should be as exciting and continue-the-party-esque as the time on the bike. I’d love nothing more than to oblige ‘my boys’, drinking, smoking, huffing, snorting, rolling, swallowing, fisting, injecting, and laughing till morning. Sadly, I’m no longer indestructible, immortal and (as) immoral, oblivious or all-knowing (perspective dependent), with endless energy. Moreover, aside from life experience, I’ve learned a few things… Facts which will sodomise most hopes of big-boy ride-weekend sleepovers. So relax yer sphincters and take the following in:
The greatest risk factor for injury in sports (greater than lack of warming up and shitty form/technique) is deficient sleep.
The number one athletic performance enhancer (surpassing drugs, nutrition, stretching, etc.) is sleep.
Rather than being spectacularly unsuccessful in trying to discredit my last two sentences, save your dignity and read on.
Breaking activity in sports down to its basic parts, an athlete needs timing, technique, and reaction (to ball, obstacle, opponent, etc.). Without all three elements working in concert, performance is impossible. From rock climbing, to tennis, to motorsports, to figure skating, to jogging, all sports depend on the athlete putting together timing, technique, and reaction. (It’s ok to take a second to think about it.) Dull one of these three, and the result is bad, very bad, and in some cases, potentially fatal. Inadequate sleep affects not one, but the entire trinity.
Entering a stereotypical emphasizing statement, these facts aren’t isolated to sports and you’d certainly not want to put your life in the hands of a surgeon or an airline pilot lacking sleep.
Now, I’d like to make it clear that were it a bachelor party, or an occasion befitting behaviour antithetical to sleep, I’d consider participating, and probably do a pretty good job of it, but not the night before a ride or a week’s worth of riding.
“I can sleep when I’m dead” is as valid today as blood letting is effective for treating pneumonia.
Over four million years ago, we started walking on two feet and our entire evolution has been dependant on the one driving force of survival. From the way we eat to the way we buy toys, all of it has the same goal at its root. Now consider that any animal (and his survival) is by far most vulnerable when asleep. In over four million years of evolution and adaptation with the single aim of survival, nature still hasn’t found a hack or shortcut to 8 hours of sleep.
Among others, the U.S. Navy investigated ways to improve the already elite performance of their SEAL teams. They found prescribing proper sleep hygiene as exponentially the greatest elixir. Moreover, on top of the physical enhancements (easily determined by serologic/blood analysis of clear markers) the psychological benefits were remarkable – trickling into every aspect of life.
If nature can’t find a workaround and a Navy SEAL needs eight (8) hours of sleep, do you think maybe, just maybe you’re full of it when you claim you only need 6 hours a night? It’s doubtful Geppetto made you different by carving you out of a magical wooden dildo.
So, just for the record, when you ride like shit and you blame the tires, the suspension, your equipment, the weather, other riders, drivers, cyclists, hikers, etc., maybe you should man-up and admit you just didn’t get your little nap in.
Seriously, the greatest performance enhancer! Sleep on it.
Writer:
Peter ‘Safety Bear’ Bokor