Air safety

[LittleBigMan]

Today's smog forcast for Atlanta:


http://www.air.dnr.state.ga.us/smogforecast/

http://www.air.dnr.state.ga.us/information/aqi.html


Does anyone else here ever have to curtail their normal cycling, or change their plans because of smog alert days in their city?

When the smog gets into the "high orange" or "red" codes, if I ride home in the smog, my chest becomes irritated like I'm getting a cough. I've read that repeated exposure to high ozone concentrations at ground level will permanently scar bronchial tissue in the lungs.

There are several so-called "sensitive groups" that are warned to avoid excessive exposure to smog: children, elderly, those with asthma or other lung diseases, and active adults such as cyclists, runners, etc.

Since I've noticed I'm sensitive to high levels of smog, I was wondering if anyone else here was.

[LCI_Brian]

Despite the fact that I'm in the Los Angeles area, it's very rare that it gets smoggy enough for me not to ride. The biggest concern for me is when there's a brush fire in the area. Normally I don't cycle on those days, but I keep a cheapie mask in my desk in case a fire breaks out when I'm at work.

[ken cummings]

I am not bothered. even when I lived south of LA. My wife would usually insist that I stay off the bike during alerts. Where I am now the only pollution is the smell of grapes during the harvest. Had a friend in Denver who always had to stay off the bike unless he wore some sort of air purification device. Deep in the mountains he still wore a basic dust filter nose and mouth mask.

[sbhikes]

The air's not perfect here, but it's never smog-alert bad. Fires can make it hard to breathe sometimes. But it's still not so bad you can't go out and exercise. In the case of a really bad fire, your exercise just might be packing up your belongings...

[bbonnn]

Ah the irony of Spare The Air days: it's too friggen polluted to walk or bike.

Actually, the air inside your car isn't that much cleaner than outdoors (i.e. the thread on that a couple of days ago). But in a car, you're not breathing heavily. Unless ...

Edit: and for me, I get more allergies to pollens and stuff than pollution. If I'm not full of snot and eye-water, I go ahead and ride. So far this place has been devoid of the particular allergens that kept me miserable in other places.

[EnigManiac]

Toronto had 48 smog days last year (one of them in February!) and I think we've had eight or nine so far this year. It is a major concern here, particularly now with the temperatures usually in the 30's and the humidex sending temperatures into the 40's (celsius, folks, celsius). I have never not ridden simply due to the air quality and I don't use a mask either, but I will alter my route to avoid main arteries and the lilklihood of sucking in more yummy car exhaust. Changing my route serves several benefits: it allows me to breathe cleaner air, and because my alternate routes are through quiet, tree-lined residential areas, I ride slower, don't exert myself as much and am cooler in the shade.