Commuting - Pollution

Hey all, do you find that pollution, more specifically bad air, affects your ride?

I just rode to and from my parent's house, a very short 10km round trip. I rode there at around 2:30pm on a very sunny day, with an air quality rating below 50. Here's the weather alert for today:


TODAY IS A SPARE THE AIR DAY..A DAY OF ELEVATED POLLUTION WHEN
EVERYONE IS ENCOURAGED TO SPARE THE AIR BY TAKING PUBLIC TRANSIT OR
BY CAR POOLING. THE AIR QUALITY INDEX IS EXPECTED TO EXCEED THE POOR
THRESHOLD OF 50..DUE TO GROUND LEVEL OZONE AND FINE PARTICULATE
MATTER.

TODAY WILL BE SUNNY AND HOT WITH LIGHT WINDS DUE TO A STAGNANT
WEATHER PATTERN. POLLUTANTS FROM U.S. AND ONTARIO SOURCES WILL
ACCUMULATE AND REACT WITH SUNLIGHT TO FORM PHOTOCHEMICAL SMOG.

MANY OF OUR LEISURE ACTIVITIES CONTRIBUTE TO SMOG FORMATION.
HELP SPARE THE AIR BY REDUCING CAR TRIPS..AVOIDING THE USE OF OIL
BASED PAINTS..SOLVENTS..AND GAS POWERED ENGINES SUCH AS LAWN MOWERS
AND CHAIN SAWS.

DURING THE EPISODE HEAVY OUTDOOR ACTIVITIES MAY CAUSE RESPIRATORY
SYMPTOMS SUCH AS COUGHING OR SHORTNESS OF BREATH. PEOPLE WITH HEART
OR LUNG DISEASE INCLUDING ASTHMA MAY EXPERIENCE A WORSENING OF THEIR
CONDITION.

HIGHER POLLUTION LEVELS ARE EXPECTED TO PERSIST THROUGH AT LEAST
MONDAY.

I felt it. My throat and lungs felt constricted; I don't think I could have ridden more than 10 km today without needing a breather. Is anyone else affected like I am? What can I do about it? Nothing short of taking it easy, right? Perhaps I should move someplace with better air.

This sucks. I want to be able to go far, go long. But I can't if my lungs shut down from smog after only a short ride.

Fortunately we don't have bad air days here, but when I was in high school in a suburb of Milwaukee, we would have ozone alerts, and I would feel that. I'd take it easy on the bad air days from now on.

Get a water bottle cage sized to fit an O2 tank.

A simpler solution is to carry an inhaler.

Seriously, as a person with fairly bad asthma, I'd say that sucks. The punchline is that it'll only get worse. Don't give up, and start looking for a respirator that looks like/fits into an attractive messenger bag.

It's called exercise induced asthma, usually it gets bad when the air quality is worse and you're doing extremem biking.

As usual, someone has thought of a solution.

http://www.respro.com

Sport oriented pollution masks. They filter particulates like diesel smoke, black smoke, and dust/pollen, but the nice ones also filter out hydrocarbons like benzene and benzopyrene, NOx, sulfer and lead oxides, and more. They have several models that would be ideal for cyclists, including reflective models. They are meant to move enough air to satisfy someone who is breathing heavily, and have replaceable filter elements.

Enjoy.

Peace,
sam

As usual, someone has thought of a solution.http://www.respro.com
--- The ultimate solution will occur when we run out of oil. www.hubbertpeak.com/campbell/

As usual, someone has thought of a solution.

http://www.respro.com

Sport oriented pollution masks. They filter particulates like diesel smoke, black smoke, and dust/pollen, but the nice ones also filter out hydrocarbons like benzene and benzopyrene, NOx, sulfer and lead oxides, and more. They have several models that would be ideal for cyclists, including reflective models. They are meant to move enough air to satisfy someone who is breathing heavily, and have replaceable filter elements.

Enjoy.

Peace,
sam

Oh geez, I hope it never comes to the point where everyone has to use one of those. I think I'll take it easy from now on, and limit myself to 25 km/h or something. Maybe in a few years, when my wife and I move away from the city, we'll check air quality as well. Though when an air quality advisory is issued for almost all of southwestern Ontario, it'll be hard to find a place that's much better.

Those respro masks look interesting. But the "looks" you would get plus I'm sure those things would get moist real fast and hot during the summer. Maybe during the winter it would be ok.

Those respro masks look interesting. But the "looks" you would get plus I'm sure those things would get moist real fast and hot during the summer. Maybe during the winter it would be ok.

But in the winter there's no smog...

I don't know where anymore, but I read a study once that showed that air quality inside the car was actually worse than what peds or cyclists are breathing. On the other hand, the motorist isn't respirating as much as the cyclist.

Fortunately, we have really clean air here (the cleanest of any major US city, as I recall) and I don't have any problems apart from the usual suspects like tailing a bus. I don't know how people who live in places like Atlanta do it. I know I was there once when an ozone alert was in effect and walking around downtown for like 90 minutes left my eyes burning and watering.

Those masks ARE badass, though. Go Mad Max!

I don't know where anymore, but I read a study once that showed that air quality inside the car was actually worse than what peds or cyclists are breathing. On the other hand, the motorist isn't respirating as much as the cyclist.

Here's a bike advocacy article that cites a couple of studies, and gives some pluses and minuses for bike commuters vs. pollution.

http://www.bv.com.au/inform.php?a=6&b=31&c=1015

Citations at the bottom.

There isnt a whole lot of air pollution here but car exhuast practicaly kills me sometimes. Id like to go fart in the drivers face or something and see how they like it!

--- The ultimate solution will occur when we run out of oil. www.hubbertpeak.com/campbell/

Don't kid yourself, we'll just find something else to burn.

Smog can still be bad in the winter, you just don't see it as much. The masks do look a little odd, but so does the rest of your cycling garb. If you are serious about it, you'll get over it. ;) The reason I mention it is that if you are suffering symptoms already, you could be doing damage to yourself... Early onset asthma is common these days, and its worth it to protect yourself early, even if its just changing your route a bit.

peace,
sam

I have lived in Houston, Denver and Seattle. I now live in very hilly Traverse City Michigan, Population 14,000. The whole Grand Traverse County, has about 20 smaller towns and villages, population 78,000. I had to move here on account of divorce. I don't think I could go back to the smog and crazy drivers. Health to valuable to breath smog and smoke from tail pipes. I did love living in Seattle and Denver though.

Jim

2004 Trek 1200

I leave for work at 6am, only about 10 cars on the road at that time. I have a 7 mile commute. A little more crazy at 5pm but nothing like Denver, or Seattle.

I wish I could take a different route, but unfortunately my house is surrounded by major arteries. I'll take a look at my map and see what other possibilities there are...

MANY OF OUR LEISURE ACTIVITIES CONTRIBUTE TO SMOG FORMATION.
HELP SPARE THE AIR BY REDUCING CAR TRIPS..AVOIDING THE USE OF OIL
BASED PAINTS..SOLVENTS..AND GAS POWERED ENGINES SUCH AS LAWN MOWERS
AND CHAIN SAWS.


It seems like we should always be "sparing" the air. It seems awfully short-sighted to me to think the only days we need to worry about pollution are on those days that we can feel it. They need to revise their statement to include "sparing" the air all the time.

--- The ultimate solution will occur when we run out of oil. www.hubbertpeak.com/campbell/
Too bad we will all be dead before the fossel fuels are gone.
http://www.hubbertpeak.com/campbell/images/2004Scenario.jpg
That is a cool oil site.

I think that the RESPRO mask thing is pretty funny it is what all of the fashionable SARs survivers are wearing, but it wont really work for poisonous gases such that spew from our beloved ovens on wheels.