We’ve all wondered how much that “one last drink” actually affects our performance the next day, so the GCN presenters decided to use the staff Christmas party as a scientific experiment. We performed a maximal aerobic power ramp test on Zwift while fresh, and then repeated the exact same test the morning after a night of festivities. From the science of acetaldehyde poisoning to a “medical marvel” result from Dan Lloyd, here is exactly what happens to your body and your watts when you mix cycling with alcohol.
Chapters: ⏱️
00:00 – The GCN Christmas Party Experiment
00:53 – What is a Ramp Test?
02:58 – The Science: Alcohol is a Poison
04:25 – Day 1: Setting the Baseline Results
07:57 – The Party: Testing Our Tolerance
09:36 – The Morning After: The Hangover Hits
11:44 – Day 2: The Hangover Ramp Test
14:48 – Why Alcohol Destroys Muscle Recovery
19:27 – The Results: Who Lost The Most Power?
23:15 – Is Dan Lloyd A Medical Marvel?
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The results were… surprising, to say the least! Have you ever tried to go for a big ride or a personal best the morning after a few drinks? Was it a total disaster or did you somehow find ‘pro’ legs? Let us know your stories in the comments! 👇
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🎵 Music – licensed by Epidemic Sound 🎵
Ain’t No Thing But To Swing – Jules Gaia
Better You – Swif7
Blood Brother – Marc Torch
Bound to Relapse (Filip LeForce Remix) (Instrumental Version) – Cacti
Cast Away – FLYIN
Confidence Is Key – Arthur Benson
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French Party – Adua Blaize
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Triple Trigger – Mike Franklyn
Welcome Party People – John Runefelt
Wired – AGST
Young Nights – Adua Blaize
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📸 Photos – © Velo Collection (TDW) / Getty Images & © Sirotti Images
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37 Comments
The results were… surprising, to say the least! Have you ever tried to go for a big ride or a personal best the morning after a few drinks? Was it a total disaster or did you somehow find 'pro' legs? Let us know your stories in the comments! 👇
Good effort lads. Not a criticism but aren’t ramp tests meant to be seated ? If not then ideal as I’ve always wanted to get out of the saddle whilst doing it but thought you had to stay seated.
Was Ollie sweating booze? Best 1000 yard stare ever!
It would have been better if you all acieved the same blood alcohol levels the night before
Ollie proving to be the better scientist.
Just got back from 50 miles on a hangover
I absolutely hate ramp test. I hate hangovers just a bit more. This is a terrible idea. I love it.
The faces say it all!
Conor there is no way your one of us Irish, drinking 2 drinks and it 0.0 at that. We drink until the bar closes. Fair play everyone, some faces pulled during the tests 🤣
Dan Lloyd is my spirit animal.
Comedy Gold.
FYI- The ramp test was initially developed and published by one of the pioneers of training with power- cycling coach Ric Stern, who unfortunately rarely gets credit for his developments that everyone uses today.
I knocked over a minute off my Parkrun time this morning (19:19@Clevedon) having had minimal sleep, negative warm up and several jars last night.🍻works for me!!!
One of the best bloody videos, so much fun to watch. Happy new year to the GCN presenters and team!
@7:20 is Ollie doing some sort of test on the aero-ness of using a shit haircut instead of a helmet?
At 62 yrs, I've long since learned to almost never drink, and if so, always in moderation. That said, awesome fun video GCN!! You guys are great, and so Olly of him to go extreme hahaha! I suspect that for light drinking, perhaps the vasal dilation effects of alcohol could help with performance enhancements?
Scientific proof that ‘recovery beer’ is more of a vibe than a training strategy.
Ollie is the star of this video for me, incredible scenes from everyone but Ollie went th extra mile Chapeau to you sir. I doth my cap. 😂
Hugely entertaining video. Well done guys! (You’re all as mad as hatters!)
Ollie’s a legend!
Ollie was a a legend, Im sure he got into that state purely for the experiment ooof
I think when ollie is drunk hes the one in the group who would run his mouth to the wrong person and start a fight
Drunk Ollie getting full on Yorkshire.
I needed this yesterday before drinking!
Both my mom and dad were both functional alcoholics. While they lived into their eighties, the last 15 were plagued by chronic health issues. Not what I would call “quality” years.
You are not supposed to get out of the seat on a ramp test 👍
Ollie 😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂
Thank you guys! Love u
I don't like your zwift videos, that is not cycling, it is pedaling.
Talk about taking one (or some) for the team! 😮
Thanks guys, do not do this too often 😅 Fine even if this was the first and last time 👍
For me the take away is actually that alcohol doesn’t affect “that much” your performance 😂 most likely other factors has more impact on the recovery
two questions , have you ever compared results two days in a row without alcohol? what type of results would you get in a stage race format with and without alcohol?
It would have been interesting to know the body weight of each of the presenters.
Lulu would have smashed that test 😂😂😂😂😂😂😂
Thanks for getting totally shitfaced and doing ramp tests so I don't have to.
Amazing editing! With editing and music, you took a boring stress test and made it seem not only interesting but entertaining!
I thought recovery time was needed after an ftp test and repeating it thd nsxt day would always produce worse resulrs, booze or no booze.
Dammit, Dan! Stay seated! Demerit. 😂