Riding in smog
#1
Sumanitu taka owaci
Thread Starter
Join Date: Mar 2001
Posts: 8,945
Mentioned: 0 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 1 Post(s)
Likes: 0
Liked 1 Time
in
1 Post
Riding in smog
Since my town is an automobile-induced smog-city, I am forced to come up with some creative ways to beat the smog.
Smog is a powerful lung irritant that can cause permanent lung damage over the long run. It only occurs during the summer months when sunlight and heat cause certain chemicals in automobile exhaust to react, changing into smog. It can literally burn the lining of the lungs, causing them to "shed," a little like sunburn causes peeling. Bad.
The good news is that smog can be avoided. It occurs during the summer heat. It occurs (usually) after a certain time in the afternoon. Rain kills smog. Smog depends on weather conditions. So, if one is informed, smog can be avoided.
For example, since mornings are almost always clear of smog (I know this by checking official hourly smog levels, not by looking at the skyline or sniffing the air, since ozone is odorless and colorless,) I am thinking of riding the bike in the mornings and hitching a ride on MARTA in the afternoons, unless the ozone forcast is good.
Anybody else who lives in a big city have any smog-avoidance tips?
Smog is a powerful lung irritant that can cause permanent lung damage over the long run. It only occurs during the summer months when sunlight and heat cause certain chemicals in automobile exhaust to react, changing into smog. It can literally burn the lining of the lungs, causing them to "shed," a little like sunburn causes peeling. Bad.
The good news is that smog can be avoided. It occurs during the summer heat. It occurs (usually) after a certain time in the afternoon. Rain kills smog. Smog depends on weather conditions. So, if one is informed, smog can be avoided.
For example, since mornings are almost always clear of smog (I know this by checking official hourly smog levels, not by looking at the skyline or sniffing the air, since ozone is odorless and colorless,) I am thinking of riding the bike in the mornings and hitching a ride on MARTA in the afternoons, unless the ozone forcast is good.
Anybody else who lives in a big city have any smog-avoidance tips?
__________________
No worries
No worries
#2
Senior Member
Join Date: Jul 2000
Location: Snowy midwest
Posts: 5,391
Mentioned: 0 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 4 Post(s)
Likes: 0
Liked 1 Time
in
1 Post
Pete, can you arrange flex time at your work?
I have to deal with darkness due the very short daylight hours in the northern winter months.
Thanks to flex time at work, I can ride mostly in the lighted hours.
I have to deal with darkness due the very short daylight hours in the northern winter months.
Thanks to flex time at work, I can ride mostly in the lighted hours.
#3
Bike Happy
Join Date: Feb 2002
Location: Detroit, MI USA
Posts: 695
Mentioned: 0 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 0 Post(s)
Likes: 0
Liked 0 Times
in
0 Posts
Smog avoidance tips.... let's see...
If we are fouling the air to the extent that it is dangerous for humans to breathe it, then something has to drastically change. I checked one of the links in another smog related post here to find that Detroit had days last week where it was "Unsafe for sensitive individuals" to breathe the air.
What good is a car if you can't breathe ?
regards
Dan
- I would start by voting our Michigan Senators (Levin and Stabenow) out of office and replacing them with folks that understand that higher CAFE standards and applying the same regulations to SUVs as passenger cars are both good things. Less fuel burnt means less smog.
- Gasoline at $1.00/liter would drastically reduce consumption and I would favor a phased in tax that would put it there within 5 years, possibly with a less steep ramp up for diesel fuel (to lessen the immediate impact on the trucking industry).
- Eliminating automobiles from downtown and other congested areas for at least portions of the day would help.
If we are fouling the air to the extent that it is dangerous for humans to breathe it, then something has to drastically change. I checked one of the links in another smog related post here to find that Detroit had days last week where it was "Unsafe for sensitive individuals" to breathe the air.
What good is a car if you can't breathe ?
regards
Dan
#4
feros ferio
Join Date: Jul 2000
Location: www.ci.encinitas.ca.us
Posts: 21,793
Bikes: 1959 Capo Modell Campagnolo; 1960 Capo Sieger (2); 1962 Carlton Franco Suisse; 1970 Peugeot UO-8; 1982 Bianchi Campione d'Italia; 1988 Schwinn Project KOM-10;
Mentioned: 44 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 1390 Post(s)
Liked 1,322 Times
in
835 Posts
I'm with Dan.
__________________
"Far and away the best prize that life offers is the chance to work hard at work worth doing." --Theodore Roosevelt
Capo: 1959 Modell Campagnolo, S/N 40324; 1960 Sieger (2), S/N 42624, 42597
Carlton: 1962 Franco Suisse, S/N K7911
Peugeot: 1970 UO-8, S/N 0010468
Bianchi: 1982 Campione d'Italia, S/N 1.M9914
Schwinn: 1988 Project KOM-10, S/N F804069
"Far and away the best prize that life offers is the chance to work hard at work worth doing." --Theodore Roosevelt
Capo: 1959 Modell Campagnolo, S/N 40324; 1960 Sieger (2), S/N 42624, 42597
Carlton: 1962 Franco Suisse, S/N K7911
Peugeot: 1970 UO-8, S/N 0010468
Bianchi: 1982 Campione d'Italia, S/N 1.M9914
Schwinn: 1988 Project KOM-10, S/N F804069
#5
Senior Member
Join Date: Dec 2001
Location: Atlanta, Georgia
Posts: 230
Mentioned: 0 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 0 Post(s)
Likes: 0
Liked 0 Times
in
0 Posts
LBM - Since you and I live in the same city, do you know how far away you have to get from downtown to be safe(r) from the smog alerts. This is my first your cycling but last two years I've run at lunch and never had a problem with lung burn.
I live in Grayson and work in Norcross if that helps.
PH
I live in Grayson and work in Norcross if that helps.
PH
#6
Sumanitu taka owaci
Thread Starter
Join Date: Mar 2001
Posts: 8,945
Mentioned: 0 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 1 Post(s)
Likes: 0
Liked 1 Time
in
1 Post
Originally posted by purple hayes
LBM - Since you and I live in the same city, do you know how far away you have to get from downtown to be safe(r) from the smog alerts. This is my first your cycling but last two years I've run at lunch and never had a problem with lung burn.
I live in Grayson and work in Norcross if that helps.
PH
LBM - Since you and I live in the same city, do you know how far away you have to get from downtown to be safe(r) from the smog alerts. This is my first your cycling but last two years I've run at lunch and never had a problem with lung burn.
I live in Grayson and work in Norcross if that helps.
PH
at www.air.dnr.state.ga.us/amp/
To avoid smoggy areas, you have to avoid heavy motor traffic. Downtown is often no worse than suburbs, because all these areas have heavy traffic. Some areas of town are worse than others.
As you can tell by the graphs, smog levels are usually safe at lunchtime and in the morning. Except for really bad days, the ozone levels don't get bad until about 4 pm, then they rise sharply until about 10 pm. But everyday is different.
I leave work ASAP and head for the shady neighborhood streets. I don't know how much I'm avoiding ozone, but the car exhaust is a lot less.
And yet, I think car drivers may be getting the worst exposure of all, sitting in the middle of their own poison.
Rain is our buddy, here. It cleans the air like nothing else.
__________________
No worries
No worries
#7
Sumanitu taka owaci
Thread Starter
Join Date: Mar 2001
Posts: 8,945
Mentioned: 0 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 1 Post(s)
Likes: 0
Liked 1 Time
in
1 Post
Originally posted by DanFromDetroit
If we are fouling the air to the extent that it is dangerous for humans to breathe it, then something has to drastically change. I checked one of the links in another smog related post here to find that Detroit had days last week where it was "Unsafe for sensitive individuals" to breathe the air.
What good is a car if you can't breathe ?
If we are fouling the air to the extent that it is dangerous for humans to breathe it, then something has to drastically change. I checked one of the links in another smog related post here to find that Detroit had days last week where it was "Unsafe for sensitive individuals" to breathe the air.
What good is a car if you can't breathe ?
__________________
No worries
No worries