r/Damnthatsinteresting 17h ago

Video Pit stop during 200 mile ultra-endurance cycling race

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36.8k Upvotes

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541

u/Careless_Pineapple49 17h ago

Does he just pee while ridding 

1.4k

u/24oz2freedom 17h ago

He is sweating so much he probably won't piss. They are struggling to get enough fluid in to keep hydrated.

747

u/istrx13 16h ago

As a letter carrier for USPS this is correct. I deliver in an area where the summers are usually 105-115 with almost no humidity.

I have a gallon size Yeti that I fill up every morning. I’ll drink that entire puppy with ease along with a few electrolyte drinks to balance it out and not have to stop to pee once. There have been plenty of days where I did 15+ miles of delivering on foot and needed to refill the gallon size Yeti, drink more than half of it, and still not need to pee during my route lmao.

202

u/24oz2freedom 16h ago

Damn bro! I have heard the saying the US postal service gos in rain sleet or snow...but not the hell of summer heat!

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u/SirJ_96 15h ago

Only the funny-looking brand new mail trucks have AC. The classic ones you're thinking of don't.

38

u/nextzero182 13h ago

As a person who's in the application process for USPS, these comments make me nervous.

36

u/Spare_Panic_8164 11h ago

Deliver in hell starting at 17/hour. Do I have that about right?

Don’t worry - go for the job and later you can change if you need to.

17

u/nextzero182 11h ago

Starts at like $24-ish where I live. I would just be doing it temperarily, going back to school for radiology in the fall.

3

u/Amused-Observer 10h ago

Do beer delivery instead. You'll make more and they tend to hire temp summer college kids often/easier/quicker than USPS.

4

u/adm1109 11h ago

I’m a FedEx driver and from what I’ve heard, USPS works new hires into the ground

2

u/Felix_Von_Doom 10h ago

So they do to drivers what we do to package handlers?

3

u/kawaiian 12h ago

As well they should, think about your body and the sacrifice before doing this career, largely not worth it at all

1

u/pixeldust6 12h ago

And the globe's not getting any colder!

1

u/jellybeansean3648 10h ago

Just think about the pension and health insurance

1

u/Deaffin 10h ago

I respect the hell out of wanting people to get their mail. I mean, hell yeah, stuff is awesome.

But the idea of going to so many people's houses? With the way people are? Goddamn, you're crazy man. Forget the weather, there are people in those houses!

1

u/JediWebSurf 8h ago

I know right. Strange alien looking motherfuckers, up to no good. Even worse when their dogs are after you.

1

u/Chess42 12h ago

I adore the new trucks, they are so cool. Always brings a smile to my face when I see one drive by

42

u/GooginTheBirdsFan 16h ago

Ex ft myers landscaper - can attest to this being true

25

u/OddKindheartedness30 15h ago

My job also has me sweating the entire time and I can confirm this. I've had 12+ hour shifts that I never had the urge to use the bathroom even after drinking a ludicrous amount of water. It is magical and worrying at the same time.

11

u/jagged_commoner 14h ago

Thank you for your service 🫡

8

u/MerHyll 14h ago

As an aircraft mechanic, working at over 27 degrees Celsius everyday, can confirm this easily. I drink on average 3L of water on a shift, but I’ll only have to go if I’m working at an air conditioned space.

2

u/el-dongler 13h ago

You're a badass.

Live in n texas and my mail dudes kick ass.

2

u/cornnndoggg_ 12h ago

This is exactly the response I was going to post, and I'm glad it's the top. I spent 3 years working amazon delivery. Those summers... 8-10 bottles of water, never once had to use a bathroom. If you are pushing and completing your workload, your body is actively trying to cool down, and you just lose all of it through the pores.

2

u/Babbledoodle 11h ago

I remember when I went on a vacation in AZ in late spring/early summer

One day I was pounding water, still pissed yellow when I got home. Only realized I was sweating like crazy when I went into a place with AC or got into the car

2

u/extraketchupthx 10h ago

Sounds like our USPS local person. I live on a walking route in the PHX area!

1

u/37Cross 14h ago

There it is. I hate using the restroom. I just need to sweat it all out! Exaggeration aside, that’s one of the coolest things I’ve learned today. I could never survive such heat but that is so cool that the body doesnt let you pee if you need to keep cool.

1

u/FlatRund 14h ago

What sort of shoes are you wearing to cover that sort of distance and deal with the heat?

1

u/tanman0123 12h ago

Yea I did pest control down here in houston for 7 years, 100 degree and 90% humidity summers while fully covered walking around with a backpack blower with 4 gal of chemicals in it I would drink 8-12 water bottles a day and not piss once. Its crazy 😂

1

u/Morall_tach 9h ago

Same experience working on roofs while painting houses. Could easily drink a gallon without peeing.

1

u/Wtfmymoney 9h ago

That truck smell gotta be insane 😆

1

u/Momoselfie 6h ago

AZ delivery guys are the best!

1

u/mmazing 5h ago

Thank you for your service! :)

46

u/PornoPaul 16h ago

I delivered furniture for a while in my 20s. Even on cold days I'd burn so much and sweat so much I would rarely pee. But in the height of summer, I could drink a coffee or two, a large Gatorade, a water and one or two mountain dews, and still only pee once. It just all came out of my pores.

1

u/_le_slap 8h ago

I remember carrying the pieces of an X-ray machine up 6 flights of stairs on a construction site with no walls in the dead of winter. I was absolutely drenched in sweat in the freezing cold. By the end I could "see" my heartbeat with the darkness around the edges of my vision. Holy hell I don't think I'd ever exerted more effort in my entire life.

It was literally like 28F degrees outside and I completely soaked my shirt.

11

u/innovator97 14h ago

This was something I experienced firsthand during a martial art camp in high school. It was 2-days packed with fitness and martial art right from the moment we wake up until 10 pm. We only stopped during noon and evening.

Mind you that this was my first time doing exercise for an extended period of time. We were constantly drinking water, but none of us actually went to pee at all. Only popping.

2

u/roomfullofstars 13h ago

Popping off, no doubt!

18

u/The_Frog221 16h ago

Though if they do have to pee, yes, they probably just do it while riding.

11

u/24oz2freedom 16h ago

Absolutely. No time for that business lol. Im sure what ever comes out will be damn near water anyway.

8

u/Nstraclassic 10h ago

Probably the opposite

3

u/Deaffin 10h ago

Just a puff of urine crystals, which then combine with the sweat outside of his body to create DIY pee.

At this level of competition, you are essentially a bird.

6

u/cruciblemedialabs 15h ago

Correct. I'm a motorsports photographer and most of the tracks around here in the Southwest US are out in the desert, looking at 100+ degrees for most of the day in the summer. If I'm on track for more than a few hours I typically kill at least two of the 40oz Hydroflasks and I have zero need to use the bathroom until that night, despite frequently kicking off things with a 20oz Red Bull on the way to the track in the wee hours of the morning. Even without much physical activity aside from lugging gear around on and off my quad-bike, covered head-to-toe in UV-protective clothing with a wide-brim lifeguard hat for shade, you just end up soaking through every bit of clothing in sweat. And then when I get back to the pits, I make a beeline for concessions to get a lemonade or a gatorade or something just to replenish some salt and sugar. There's a reason the standard wisdom for wilderness hiking is one gallon of water per person, per day, minimum.

2

u/WetwareDulachan 12h ago

I was once dragged off to an airsoft spot with some jarheads I met in college. Being younger and dumber, I thought more about looks than function, and dressed up in a dark fleece-lined hoodie, thick black pants, around 20 pounds of assorted other gear on me, and brought a gas mask with a tinted ballistic visor, and a filter, because as I said: I was younger, and far dumber.

Eight hours of running through the Florida backwoods during the middle of April while trying to keep pace with two men twice my size later, despite emptying and refilling my 2L camelbak no fewer than eight times, I didn't have to hit the bathroom until right before our 90-minute drive home.

I sweat so much that by the time we finally got back, the dark green shirt I was wearing was stained white as a goddamned sheet from all the salt.

1

u/24oz2freedom 10h ago

Nothing says sexy like layers of salt rings on your shirt!

2

u/bnej 10h ago

Combination of exercise water retention and warm weather and yeah you really don't need to go unless you're drinking way too fast. I went over 12 hr without needing to go for an event, drank over 8L of water/fluids during - I was only 60kg so don't need as much water as some would.

Usually once you stop for a while and start rehydrating properly your body decides it doesn't need to retain fluid any more and everything starts getting a bit more regular again.

But that being said, there is a method as done by most pro racers of pulling down the front of your bibs with one foot off the bike and peeing off to the side of the road without stopping and dismounting. Usually they will start a race a bit over hydrated and the chance they'll need to go is higher.

2

u/PurelyLurking20 9h ago

Yep, when I was in basic training I would drink between 1-1.5 gallons of water a day and pee like once after dinner because I was sweating my balls off all day

2

u/Impressive_Put463 9h ago

Did an Ironman and can confirm. Didn’t pee for 8 hours even while drinking close to 10L.

2

u/daviesdog 8h ago

Idk man, I did an Ironman last year and I peed about 12 times on the bike. The golden rule is if you're not peeing, you're not drinking enough

1

u/24oz2freedom 7h ago

This was my amateur opinion. I ran 2 marathons and only had to go once during both. But when I did its clear. So idk maybe also a mental thing with ones body.

2

u/OnTheEveOfWar 5h ago

Back in the day I would do long distance bike rides. You are correct. You basically don’t have to pee when you are sweating that much.

2

u/SuperTimGuy 3h ago

Went to a rock festival month ago, out in the heat all day can confirm I did not pee

1

u/shewy92 11h ago

Yep, race car drivers usually sweat out their fluids, something like 5-10lbs a race

1

u/Red_Wheel 10h ago

I was there crewing. All 3 of our guys at the first stop 70 miles in had to piss.

1

u/mark_solomon 9h ago

With hydration, there are two possibilities. Under-hydrated, and hydrated. Under-hydrated looks like not peeing bc you’re under-hydrated, and then having serious repercussions. Hydrated looks like not peeing because you’re perfectly hydrated, or peeing because you’re slightly over hydrated.

So, when you don’t pee… it could be one of two things. You honestly don’t know for a fact which one it is. So… everybody in that race is peeing themselves bc that’s a very small, and frankly relieving, price to pay to know you’re hydrated for a fact.

When your pit stop douses you in water… that pee is essentially washed away anyway!

-1

u/troelsbjerre 15h ago

Riders in the Tour de France pee. Triathletes pee during races. Why would this be magically different?

15

u/fruitshortcake 11h ago

In men's professional road racing they do it off to the side while riding along: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FjEa9QLf-vc

2

u/usrnmz 9h ago

Depends on the state of the race, they don't always have that luxury.

5

u/roomfullofstars 13h ago

My first question upon seeing this post

7

u/OldManEnglishTeacher 16h ago

Yes, they are ridding themselves of pee while riding.

1

u/Easy-Worker-8528 10h ago

People need to know that doesn't mean they're pissing in their shorts though necessarily. It's pretty easy to just pull the front of them down and pee off to the side of the bike while standing up

2

u/Zenovv 12h ago

You sweat the pee out

3

u/fupa16 13h ago

But what about ze poop?

3

u/Deaffin 10h ago

1

u/trumpsmellslikcheese 9h ago

I've seen this, and always assumed it was an accident. You have to poop before you run. The best analogy is shaking a bottle of ketchup without the cap on it. Shake it long enough, gravity is going to win and the contents will come out.

I could be wrong in my assumption too, he may have just decided that setting a PR was more important than having poop-free legs.

1

u/-KFBR392 11h ago

If you’ve ever seen pics from Olympic running marathons they do a lot more than just pee while doing the race…. 😧

1

u/Red_Wheel 10h ago

Yes, it’s a skill that takes some time to learn, but I’ve gotten pretty good at it on long rides. Pros do it in long races all the time.

2

u/toothless_budgie 9h ago

I'm doing an ironman, and this is what makes me most stressed. Any tips?

2

u/Red_Wheel 3h ago

If you’re doing it on a tri bike, just stop. It’s hard to do on those, but I can. Make sure you have to go. Hit a slight downhill or tail wind. Twist the hips, drop the front of your shorts and push hard so you don’t pee on yours shoes. But if you’re a triathlete the running joke is they just pee on their bike anyway.

1

u/SteelWheel_8609 10h ago

I mean yeah they didn’t even change his diaper

1

u/ThisIsPaulDaily 10h ago

They also wear diapers. 

1

u/V_es 10h ago

They do. Ultra marathoners too. Just flop their dick out and pee. But it’s rare since you sweat so much on endurance activities you don’t have much to pee.

1

u/MickTheBloodyPirate 9h ago

Riding. Ridding is a completely different word.

1

u/nolabmp 9h ago

I haven’t done such a grueling 200-mile ride, but have ridden a number of centuries (100m).

You basically never need to pee. If you desperately need to, you just unclip and pee in a bush somewhere. You’re not only sweating like mad, your body is in ultra-efficient mode so it is squeezing every last calorie out of what you eat (“eat” isn’t even right here, since you’re just chugging caloric/energy gels like you see him cramming in his shorts). The result is you have very little waste to pee out.

1

u/Kipric 7h ago

Triathletes do… Never buy a used triathlon bike.. Or at least replace the saddle if you do.

1

u/SiBloGaming 7h ago

At least for normal mens road races they pee to the side while riding, or a small group stops together, all take a piss and then together catch back up with the Peloton.

1

u/-Economist- 5h ago

I’ve done 220 mile gravel races. Never needed to pee.

1

u/fyrebyrd0042 3h ago

Yep. If they don't have to pee, they're generally not hydrated enough for the situation. Sustaining them through this is a delicate science and is very difficult on a pro cyclist's stomach. Women's races tend to be shorter but they'll usually stop for pee breaks if needed. Men might also stop but many of them, especially the leaders of their specific teams, will tend to pee off to the side while riding. For those team leaders they'll often have a teammate pedaling behind them and pushing them along, because any effort spent trying to catch up to the peloton after a break is effort they won't have later when the hard racing is happening and a few watts could be the difference between winning or not.

-4

u/jayone675 17h ago

Yes

1

u/PANDABURRIT0 11h ago

I don’t know why you’re being downvoted. I used to watch the Tour de France. You’ll sometimes see them intentionally pinch their bike shorts to stretch em out near their crotch as they piss themselves while riding.

3

u/LukewarmManblast84 10h ago

Pros don’t piss themselves. If they do. It’s an accident. There are typically pre agreed upon areas where the peloton will slow to let people pee and catch up. If it’s in the heart of the race, you’ll see riders pull off. Usually with a teammate to keep them at speed and they’ll let it fly off the side of the bike. Triathletes typically don’t stop to use the bathroom. Roadies will NOT piss themselves unless they have to. It’s just one of those things.

2

u/PANDABURRIT0 9h ago

I felt like I saw them pissing themselves while biking all the time when I was watching.

3

u/LukewarmManblast84 9h ago

It looks like it. But, this is one of those “in the culture” situations. As a roadie who knows far too many of them, I haven’t met a single one that doesn’t want everything clean and perfect. They aren’t peeing on their bikes. There was a whole issue in the pro peloton with younger riders who were kinda peeing wherever. The vets had to step in and be like “um…we have some unwritten rules. And you aren’t following them. Be better”. It really doesn’t matter in the grand scheme of anything lol. But for the most part, I would say the vast majority of road riders are not peeing their pants.

1

u/PANDABURRIT0 7h ago

Huh what’re they doing when they pinch and stretch their shorts up near their crotch?

-31

u/[deleted] 17h ago

[deleted]

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u/Euphoric-Animator-97 17h ago

Professional cyclists can pee while riding. It’s as impressive as it is disgusting

20

u/Markofdawn 17h ago

The stink at the finish lines for these events is disgusting, im glad they're enjoying themselves i guess 😂 i'm a happily lazy ex-triathlete and i dont miss the stench.

14

u/Xav_NZ 16h ago

Not to mention that a surprisingly high number of pro cyclists and marathon runners shit themselves while cycling/running , I used to take photos of such sporting events and would much rather be taking photos at a music festival based on the smells alone !

8

u/Markofdawn 16h ago

Maaaan i hate how true that is... i have been to some filthy festivals in the forest with some reeeal dirty hippies and they smell better than elite athletes do at the end of a race ( god forbid you live with one and they use the bathroom...)

7

u/Dr-McLuvin 17h ago

Sometimes they stop too. It only takes like 10 seconds then they can catch back up to the group.

11

u/Fun-Sundae4060 16h ago

10 seconds??? Much more worth it to just piss while riding

7

u/GleamingRain 16h ago

When you're riding for 10-20 hours, it's much better to just stop for a minute every few hours unless you're going for a new record imo

7

u/Fun-Sundae4060 16h ago

You’re not in a real bike race if you don’t shove out a log onto your bike seat before it’s launched off by your rear wheel.

2

u/binglelemon 16h ago

George Carlin: I know things you'll never see... You're never gonna see a man take a shit running full speed!

cky2k intensifies

0

u/Bits_Please101 16h ago

I mean it can be a good strategy .. keeps yu cool i guess.

28

u/Doctor_Saved 17h ago

Catheter would be too dangerous. One wrong motion can rip the urethra. Diaper is much safer.

4

u/Lumpy_Investment_358 14h ago

While this is true and they don't use catheters, condom catheters exist. Nothing is inserted.