Headaches after cycling

I get them in hot weather, i tend to take ibuprofen with me on longer and especially hot rides. I think for me it's down to exertion rather than hydration, I can often tie it down to a specific part of the ride. 

One thing that I have found is that since I've been training and following a low-carb diet (and trying to cut out sugar entirely) I've had them much less. Eating proper food on the bike (homemade flapjacks etc) rather than gels seems to help too. Might just be that I'm fitter than I was though.

Interesting - I have been heading out over the last year or so on fairly long rides and have also been taking SIS gels. I have suffered really bad headaches after each ride and as neildmoss comments above on stopping them the headaches stopped. I have absolutely narrowed it down to the gels.

Could well be neck tension issues - and IME particularly if you've got your shoulders low and are bending your neck back a lot to look forward. If that sounds likely, try to relax your neck/shoulders and try to keep your neck straighter and use your eyes to look forward.
If necessary lift or swap your stem/bars and ignore the slammed stem police.

It's worth treating it seriously, in my case whilst cycling home it felt like a headache swept up past my ears - I spent a month or more with a dull hangover-like headache, physio helped a little, ibuprofen had little effect. I've had one two week recurrence since (annoyingly on holiday) and absolutely loads of half/one-day occurrences. Net result is I can ride an mtb (more upright) sometimes but it doesn't take much to set it off , including riding an upright. Nowadays I ride a recumbent cos it keeps my neck stretched the opposite way and even if I start out with a slight headache it won't make it worse.

Most likely: neck/upper back tension, possibly due to straight arms and head/neck sunk into shoulders. Solution: slight bend in the arms and lift head out of extension. Cause; too stretched a position.
2nd pick: poor hydration through lack of electrolytes. If you are drinking too much plain water this can cause headaches through hyponatremia (low salt) although unless you are working very hard, particularly in cool weather, this is unlikely.

I often suffer from severe headaches after long rides. The only time recently I haven't suffered is when instead of using electrolyte drink powders that I normally take I went cheapskate and bought a load of lucozade isotonic from home bargains. I have also found in the warmer months, taking tablets for hayfever helps somewhat, but I do tend to tire more quickly when using antihistamines so I try and avoid them unless absolutely necessary (blocked nose and itchy eyes is usually enough to make me take them though).

There are many reports of "exertion migraines" so you are not alone in this, at the very least carry a pack of aspirin in your tool roll, just in case.

In addition to all the good points so far, have you had an eye test recently? Maybe you are verging on short-sightedness, and so spending 1hour+ scouring the road for hazards is bringing on eye strain.

J

What sort of headache? Where is the pain located? How long does it last? Only after exercise or on other occasions to?

Any nausea or vomiting? Any visual disturbance?

How old are you? Any blood pressure problems?

Are you male or female? Taking contraceptive pill?

Exercise-induced migraine, muscle/tension headache are possibilities.

I found that drinking too much on a ride caused my headaches. A 500ml bottle of plain water or squash for 3 hours in our climate I find is about right. I am not Froome, I do not produce the sort of power he does so I do not need the fluid intake he does (in the same way I do not need his calorie intake either). Try drinking a drop less and see if that helps.

Is your helmet (if you wear one) just a bit too tight in some spots, used to have crippling headaches after a ride due to a tight helmet *no giggling at the back please*

I managed to pin my post ride headaches on to SIS energy gels by keeping a diary. If I took more than one in a day, that was me with a wracking headache for the rest of the day.

I don't know if it was something specific to SIS, but I've stopped taking all gels and eat real food instead. I also cut out energy drinks, and use High 5 Zero hydration tabs.

For what I've got planned this year, I may need to go back to energy drink as taking on enough food becomes more of a problem, but I'll be watching for symptoms.

Drop us an update if you sort it out please?

Good luck.

Headaches (Especially migraine type.) can also be caused by fatigue and stress in your neck muscles, have you recently started doing longer rides? Ibuprofen lyseine helps. (Nurofen Migraine.)
There are also exercises you can do to help strengthen your neck, don't have a link to hand though so you'll have to use your own googlefu.

I can get a headache after similar rides as well. My post ride rehydration of choice is now bog standard tea: a whole large potful with normal amount of milk when I finish. That seems to stop me suffering afterwards.

Did you drink whilst cycling or after?

I use to get bad headaches but found it to be due to not drinking during cycling, once I bought a hydration pack (I'm an MTBer) and I drank regularly, no headaches.