Motion sickness?

[Woodman]

Anyone else suffer from this when riding twisty roads?


I went for a ride to Titirangi bay in the Marlborough Sounds yesterday and had to stop and lay in the sun for half an hour to stop myself getting sick. It starts with the queasy feeling and then the burps and then the yawning and then I get quite nauseas and concentration levels fly out the door which ain't good on these skinny windy roads.
Admittedly the Sounds roads are bloody twisty and go on for a long time and its only them and the Motueka side of the Takaka hill that this happens to me, but its a real PITA when these roads are at my doorstep.

[nzspokes]

Its something Ive always suffered from, I gave up racing cars due to it.

I get it on the Trail bike off road and doing brake drills during rider training.

Would love a way to be rid of it.

[Nzpure]

Ginger pills or any sea sickness remedies will cure it. Sea sickness is just motion sickness. All the fixes will work for it.

[Madness]

Try smoking cannabis. It's meant to be great for controlling nausea.

[nodrog]

concrete pills are your only solution.

[Box'a'bits]

Ginger pills or any sea sickness remedies will cure it. Sea sickness is just motion sickness. All the fixes will work for it.
I'd be cautious about that. Back when I was still road riding, I dosed up on anti sea sick tabs prior to Kaikoura, pre an expected rough ferry crossing. It affected my balance & therefore my riding before I hit the boat. I was riding fast with others who hadn't 'prepared'. I haven't repeated that since...

Possibly its an age related thing. I never had issues with motion sickness while driving until quite recently. Last time I flew over the Rimutakas in the B4(admittedly at night) I had to back off a lot because I'd made myself feel ill

[CelticSam]

ginger pills are the best at preventing :sick:

[mossy1200]

Sounds like an allergy to corners.Hmm not good.

Try looking further round the corner it may be your focus is on things to close to you and they are bluring.Normally the problem is the signal from your ears is differnt from the signal from yours eyes.You didnt have a cold or blocked ears?

Useless fact
When you are drunk alcohol makes the fluid in your ears tubes froth up.The tubes give the brain a signal as fluid moves and bends small hairs connected to nerves.This tells the body what position you are in.When you close your eyes to try and sleep the eyes no longer give brain signals of position and the froth in ear tubes gives signals saying your spinning.Wives tale of put foot on the floor works because your brain gets confirmation your not spinning from the grounded foot.

[Padmei]

For a moment I thought I had posted that when I read it. I got the same thing when I went out to Titirangi bay a few weeks ago. I ended up having to stop at the top of the Mahakapawa before Havelock to steady my head. After Havelock I began to feel normal again.
I only get it really along the Queen Charlotte drive. I reckon it has to do with the consistent cornering at higher speeds. Riding along the Kenepuru Rd in the sounds you can't really safely get a lot of speed up and/or you're concentrating more on the traction & corners so I don't think the effect is as bad - back on the QC tho it's a different story. This side of Takaka hill on the way back kinda gets me too.

My lil girl gets it real bad & there doesn't seem to be anything that cures it apart from driving really slowly. A horrible ailment really - breaks my heart everytime I look in the rear vision mirror to see her suffering on the long drives.

[JATZ]

Tis a good ride out there aye Woodster :yes: and I can put my hand on my heart and say I was sick of corners by the time we got back to Havelock when we went out there :blink:
I've only suffered motion/sea sickness from having my head down/arse up filleting fish or sorting scollops. Did you have ear plugs in ? try taking one out.
Ask Nordie about motion sickness, he may have a cure :shutup:

[Underground]

We used to eat pickled onions for it when we were kids.... but with the wisdom presented so far I'd go with drinking a few beers and keeping one foot on the ground.

[GingerMidget]

Glad I'm not the only one. Nothing really gets the smell of puke out of a helmet, aside from getting rid of it. Lake ferry road is a good one for this.

Ginger is good for settling stomachs, as is peppermint tea after food

[Transalper]

I get the sick feeling quite easy as a passenger in a car if i don't pay attention to where we are going.
Only time it ever happened to me on a bike was the CBR1000F when I was hammering it over the hill to Akaroa.
It seemed to be too much hard throttle to hard brake eventually did it.
Now I ride smoother and not in a way I need to use the brakes so much, it hasn't been a problem since.

[FJRider]

It has a lot to do with your own "body gyroscope" ... sending mixed messages to the brain. It helps to keep an awareness of the horizion and body position (level/angle) where you are. Look up/around more often, and dont concentrate too closely, on the close surroundings ... for too long.

Some call it "situational awareness" ...

[KiWiP]

It has a lot to do with your own "body gyroscope" ... sending mixed messages to the brain. It helps to keep an awareness of the horizion and body position (level/angle) where you are. Look up/around more often, and dont concentrate too closely, on the close surroundings ... for too long.

Some call it "situational awareness" ...

+1

How do you ride? Eyes ahead of the front wheel or as you should be scanning. With eyes lifted up to your eventual horizon the brain should be able to connect the visual information and that from your Eustachian tubes (ear balancing bits) and stop the queasy bits.

I've done a fair bit of work with sea sickness on boats and scuba diving and the predominant factor appears to be eye occupancy (what you're looking at and for how long). On a bike I have noticed a certain amount of disorientation while riding through bush and had to changing my viewing/observing habits to counteract.

[That looks like fun]

If all else fails go back to the basic,s. Keeping head upright, look ahead through the corner, raise your eyes, blahdy blahdy blah. Most motion sickness things I know come with a dont operate heavy machinery type warning so dont ride a beemer while on medication. If all else fails go with the beer and foot thing :wacko:

[Woodman]

Good replies and glad i am not the only one.

Its pretty hard to look way ahead on the sounds roads cos the next corner comes up very fast even when cruising. yea maybe it is age, but then i've always suffered from sea sickness, hell I even got crook doing engine work on a fishing trawler tied to the wharf.

One thing is that when the windy bits turn into gravel the crookness goes away, possibly more to concentrate on?

[FJRider]

Good replies and glad i am not the only one.

Its pretty hard to look way ahead on the sounds roads cos the next corner comes up very fast even when cruising. yea maybe it is age, but then i've always suffered from sea sickness, hell I even got crook doing engine work on a fishing trawler tied to the wharf.

One thing is that when the windy bits turn into gravel the crookness goes away, possibly more to concentrate on?

A blocked ear(s)can upset your balance too. It can give the same symptoms as motion sickness. Winding mountain roads are bad for this. (Especially at speed)

[cooneyr]

Good replies and glad i am not the only one.

Its pretty hard to look way ahead on the sounds roads cos the next corner comes up very fast even when cruising. yea maybe it is age, but then i've always suffered from sea sickness, hell I even got crook doing engine work on a fishing trawler tied to the wharf.

One thing is that when the windy bits turn into gravel the crookness goes away, possibly more to concentrate on?

I've a fairly robust constitution - done 8+m sailings over the straight etc and not a yawn. The Kenepuru Road is the only road that has ever made me feel crook. The bit heading out past Te Mahia to Portage is the worst bit. I reckon the bush around the road limiting your visibility and therefore the lack of a horizon is what gets you. Comes back to keep your eyes on the prize - the distant yonder ;)

Cheers R

[iYRe]

I get it in a car, but not on a bike.. EXCEPT.. when I am splitting lanes in a hurry.. When I was younger I had the ability to widen my peripheral vision and see "more" when splitting lanes.. these days I can only do it for short periods and when i do, the motion of things going past in the corner of my eyes make me wanna puke..

It is a handy skill though.. saved my life many times

[ops.normal]

Have dealt with a lot of airsickness in the last few years (not mine), and one of the factors which can contribute to motion sickness was alluded to earlier - the tubes in your inner ear which measure acceleration, if you don't have good visual cues (eg, riding in bush or without a good view of a horizon), causing two types of acceleration at once can be very disorienting.

Are you still braking as you roll into a turn? If so, it might be a factor - maybe trying to limit it to one at a time, I.e. brake to speed, then roll into turn, might help. Sounds like its a super twisty road though, so perhaps impactical. Good luck fixing it, it's a poxy feeling :/

[LBD]

Tis "brain/balance" sensors detecting accelerations. Generally the main culprit is what the body senses as vertical accelerations, although fore n aft (Surging) and sideways (slewing and rolling) all play a part.

How that applies to a MC is when cornering the prevailing force being sensed, feels vertical through the body/bike if you are square in the seat. With every corner, the force increases approaching the apex, then decreases departing the apex. Feels like you are accelerating upwards and the de accelerating.

Add to that accelerating and braking for every corner (Surging)

Add to that a degree of sideways acceleration...which is more prevelent if you are leaning away from the centerline of the bike and or cocking your head and you have the recipie for...:sick::sick::puke::puke:


The simplest first step is to make your cornering as smooth as possible by using a constant smooth speed with minimal acceleration and braking. Next step, try to keep body and head inline vertically with the bike. Finally....slow down aand have a breather.

I have been quesy on the bike so I understand...Takaka Hill and QC track I have found to my worst mal de mere inducers

My limited experience comes from understanding and experimenting with ride control systems on high speed ferries in an attempt to improve passanger comfort....read that as minimise the number of sick bags the crew need to clean up.

[Oscar]

I used to get this all the time and then I was treated for H Pylori: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Helicobacter_pylori two years ago as part of gastric problem.

It may be coincidence, but it has not happened since.

[Skinny_Birdman]

I used to get this all the time and then I was treated for H Pylori: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Helicobacter_pylori two years ago as part of gastric problem.

It may be coincidence, but it has not happened since.

Interesting. I started getting it on the old Blackbird, the same as TA - too much gas brake gas brake action. I've had it a few times on the Tranny, usually over the Akaroa hill or some other twisties I know well enough to give the bike a bit of a hiding. I got treated for HP a few years ago, made no difference either to my gastric problems (change of diet did the trick tho) or motion sickness.

[young1]

A thought from left field - your visor is okay, no distortion that could be affecting your sight?

[Woodman]

A thought from left field - your visor is okay, no distortion that could be affecting your sight?

Visor up, but sunshade down.

Seems a common problem really, couple that with a tall bike and soft suspension and possibly a more offroad inspired riding style and 40-50 odd kms of friggen twisty, slumped, very tight corners theres probly not a lot i can do.

The sounds roads must be murder on a sportsbike.

[NordieBoy]

Yep. The softer the suspension, the worse it is.

Sea Legs helps, but the worst I have ever been was after taking some and started feeling grotty 50m down the road. By the time we were on the Rai Saddle, I had lost all motor control and could only crawl. Not the ideal situation, as we were on the way to the Queen Charlotte Relay and I was running the last leg.

Similar when fishing with the Jatz'z. It was 6-8 hours before I stopped shaking.

The last 2 times for me have come on over maybe 10 seconds. Not a lot of warning before basically going into nervous shock.

I got a little grotty coming back from Titirangi too.

Was regularly and violently car sick as a kid.

[Rosie]

This is all very interesting :cool:
Riding (and driving) is one of the few things that doesn't make me motion sick.
So much so that if I'm a passenger in a car and start to feel sick, I pretend to ride my bike, and it makes me feel better (I used to pretend to drive, but riding is more fun ;)) But sadly that approach doesn't work when watching helmet-cam footage :(

[Monstaman]

Wow reading this makes me feel very lucky as I do not suffer motion sickness at all from anything .... in fact just about the opposite as I tend to thrive on it and really enjoy it.

Feel for you guys who suffer, not pleasant.

[NordieBoy]

Editing helmet cam footage from a rearward facing camera is a sure recipe for disaster too.

[Rosie]

Editing helmet cam footage from a rearward facing camera is a sure recipe for disaster too.

I'm impressed you can edit forward-facing helmet cam footage, let alone rearward-facing :sick:

[dmoo1790]

I'm surprised to hear how many suffer from motion sickness when riding. I'm not immune to motion sickness but have never had it while riding. One thing I found the last time I started feeling green on a boat was standing helped a lot. My theory was that this allowed me to counteract the motion of the boat by letting my body move instead of being "glued" to the seat. Maybe standing on the bike could help too? Just a thought.

[Padmei]

Editing helmet cam footage from a rearward facing camera is a sure recipe for disaster too.

I was watching some footage I took mountain biking - I was feeling sick half way thru watching.

I wonder how much of it is psychosomatic tho as I start to feel queasy reading this thread & thinking about motion sickness. My lil girl starts to feel sick going around the waterfront here which has nothing to do with the journey up till then but the anticipation of the next bit.

[JATZ]

I'm impressed you can edit forward-facing helmet cam footage, let alone rearward-facing :sick:

So am I actually, I've seen Nordie's version of motion sickness first hand and it's quite extreme :eek5: