Northern California - Smokin'!!

Not me. The air. I noticed on my ride today that the sunlight was a little dimmer, and redder than one would normally expect. And there was a faint (maybe not so faint) smell of smoke in the air. Over by Crystal Springs Lake, you could REALLY see it, almost obscuring distant hills. I hope whatever fire(s) the smoke is from are contained, and the loss of property, or god forbid, of life, is minimal!

I'm not sure whether it was healthy to ride or not, but other than the smoke, it was freakin' awesome!

I smelled it from my house in San Mateo this morning at around 6 AM. Not when I left to ride to the train @ 7:40 though.

Sky's really ugly around here. Smell's not so bad but you can taste the smoke on your lips.

I've stayed off the bike since the smoke showed up on Sunday. Working in Walnut Creek today, you can hardley even see Mt Diablo. Went out to San Francisco last night for dinner and got some fresh air. I hate this stuff, wish it would just blow away.

My local fire department called me over the weekend and said to stay indoors if I could smell smoke in the air. If the smoke is bad enough to smell it, then it is not very healthy for your lungs. Hopefully, your house has air filters to remove the worst stuff.

I'm staying inside. Went out to run errands and my lungs hurt. Got the following:


Smoke-Related Health Statement


Sacramento, CA 6/23/08 – Smoke continues to impact the Sacramento region due to fires burning throughout Northern California.

The Sacramento Metropolitan Air Quality Management District Quality Management District in consultation with Sacramento County Health Officer Glennah Trochet, M.D., is advising residents to take precautions and consider restricting outside activities.

If you smell or see smoke, individuals should consider taking the following actions:

Everyone should avoid outdoor activities if you can see or smell smoke, even if you're healthy

Children, the elderly and people with respiratory or heart conditions should be particularly careful to avoid exposure

Stay indoors with doors and windows closed as much as possible.

Asthmatics should follow their asthma management plan

Contact your doctor if you have symptoms of cough, shortness of breath, or other symptoms you believe to be caused by smoke

Those with heart disease should especially limit their smoke exposure since PM can cause heart attacks

"Smoke can affect anyone, but it's especially harmful to people who have existing breathing problems, like seniors or anyone suffering from asthma or emphysema," said Glennah Trochet M.D., Sacramento County Health Officer. "The fine particles in smoke can obstruct the airways, making it harder to breathe and reducing oxygen intake," she said.

To monitor current air quality conditions, please visit

www.SpareTheAir.com

You guys should see the valley... Uck! Looking out of my office window I see UC Davis Med Center 2 miles away, but it is obscured by haze quite a bit. Beyond that landmark I see nuthin' but brown choke. Ain't no sunshine... Again, uck!

Man, I just went out fro lunch at work here in San Jose. You can really smell/see the smoke-filled air.

I only see and smell smoke while passing Brisbane...didn't notice anything when I got to San Mateo.

Yes, it's really awful around Concord. It's even worse than yesterday. I could smell it in the building when I got to work. That's inside our office building. :-(

It seemed hotter than I expected it to be at noon. I wonder if the haze is holding the heat in.

I'm in Fairfield at work - near the fire at the Napa/Solano border. You can't see anything around her. Worst it's ever been in the 19 years i've been here.

Just pretend you're on a training ride for the Olympics in Beijing! :lol:

It seemed hotter than I expected it to be at noon. I wonder if the haze is holding the heat in.

More like the same thing that's holding the haze down at ground level is making it hotter, I suspect.

Somebody needs to turn on those giant fans on the Altamont Pass! ;)

Just pretend you're on a training ride for the Olympics in Beijing! :lol:

My Dad grew up in Pittsburgh during the peak of the pollution, and he'd tell stories of days so smokey that he had to walk along the streetcar tracks, waving a white hanky so his friend driving a car behind him could see it.

Man, I just went out fro lunch at work here in San Jose. You can really smell/see the smoke-filled air.

I guess that means I should hold my breath, all the way back from Sunnyvale on my commute home?

Just pretend you're on a training ride for the Olympics in Beijing! :lol:

:roflmao: You're actually more right than you think.

I cant even see the hills out of my office window in San Jose. Commuting on my bike has been an unpleasant affair too. This air totally sucks for Asthma sufferers. I havent been bothered by Asthma for about 8 years but I have been wheezy since the weekend.

Just got the following warning from the climb to Kaiser organizer:

"AIR QUALITY may be unhealthy for sensitive groups due to recent fires."

I guess I am a sensitive group so I hope the air clears a bit by the weekend :)

:roflmao: You're actually more right than you think.

Article in todays Chronicle about it :eek:

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2008/06/20/international/i041055D93.DTL&hw=China+Pollution&sn=005&sc=297

Man it's nasty. Glad I don't have asthma. I gotta get some riding in, I can't wait weeks for this crap to go away. I've never seen a fire season so bad in 6 years here.

... off to hit the hills anyway, I guess. If it starts hurting I can always go home.

It makes for an impressive sunrise/sunset.

I got some pictures today from my ride in Woodside, really incredible. I'll get those posted up here in a bit.

New fire burning up on Mt San Bruno right now. It looks to be in roughly the same area as the one last week.

Article in todays Chronicle about it :eek:

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2008/06/20/international/i041055D93.DTL&hw=China+Pollution&sn=005&sc=297

... and they think this will clean the air by the time the Olympics come around ... :lol::lol: who are they kidding?

So what are we saying ... too dangerous to ride out there? I did a 10 mile ride home from work, and it didn't feel bad. I could smell something different in the air, but after 2 minutes, didn't feel anything out of the ordinary. Debating on whether or not to drive tomorrow (prefer riding though).

I think it's a question of how bad it is, and how susceptible you are. If it smells distinctly smokey, you can't see the house across the street, and you're asthmatic, then discretion is the better part of valor.

Check it. This is on Canada Rd. @ Edgewood looking towards 280.


http://usera.imagecave.com/BoilerCyclist/NorCalFires.jpg

I didn't feel too bad going up Kings, but it can't be good huffin all this in.

Yeesh! What time was that? I don't think it was that bad when I passed there at 9:30

I rode (in a car) with a friend down to Santa Clara on 280. There were flakes of ash float in the air just south of Los Altos.

That's about what it looks like all over Santa Clara.

I just got off Hamilton and it got pretty clear up past the CDF station at the creek 6.6mi from the summit on 130.

Didn't see a soul on a bike until the last hour or so. Then I saw a guy on a Cervelo with a France jersey, also saw him again loading up his Legacy wagon as I left. Ran into a guy with a flat or something partway down the hill around 8pm, he sounded spanish or portugese or something. And then one other guy I saw climbing as I was descending, and descending as I was climbing back up.

I dunno...all I can picture is that it's the equivalent of a cyclist riding down the road with a cigarette in one hand...

I only saw one other cyclist on my commute home from work. I usually see at least 5-10. I guess I'll flip a coin in the morning about riding into work or not.

About 6:30 or 6:45 this morning:

http://img523.imageshack.us/img523/7782/thedaythesunwentoutww5.jpg

It was bad here, but it was even worse in Fairfield, Concord, and Pittsburg.

I dunno...all I can picture is that it's the equivalent of a cyclist riding down the road with a cigarette in one hand...

When we were out for our lunch ride yesterday, my riding buddy remarked that it might actually be cleaner for him to smoke a cigarette since at least that was passed through a filter! :)

Mt. Diablo Cam this morning.

Yeesh! What time was that? I don't think it was that bad when I passed there at 9:30

That was at 3pm :-/

The air quality today is definitely worse than yesterday. I could smell smoke on my whole ride from San Francisco to San Mateo. My throat felt irritated by the time I got to work. I guess if it's still like this (or worse) tomorrow, I'll probably drive (haven't driven to work for several months now).

I tried to climb Mt. Diablo this morning from the Northgate - bleh. My eyes started burning, my sinuses started aching - I gave up shortly after the junction. Not fun.

JB

I was coughing a little on the way home today. I'm cancelling the evening group ride for today. :(

Based on this map from Cal Fire, it doesn't look like it'll get much better for awhile.

http://www.fire.ca.gov/downloads/incidents/StatewideFireMap_062508.pdf

-Glenn

My standard pre-work 26 mile ride was filled with blarg air quality. I was up in Reno for three days and the air was much better than here. The worst was while driving on 80 through Sacramento. That was some serious haze.

Grrr, effing bay area weather has been conspiring against me for weeks. I need to get some serious climbing in saturday. It better clear up.

It's been irritating my eyes they get red very quickly, but don't itch. No breathing problems. I drink soup, I don't ride through it, so I'll be staying low for a couple days.

Oh I thought there'd be chicks in here sorry..........

Carry on,I'll show myself out.

x, it sucks here. Here's 6:30AM between Fairfield and Vacaville:
http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c399/WillworkforWag/100_0171.jpg

Even sucked up at Lake Berryessa:
http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c399/WillworkforWag/100_0178.jpg

84 miles today, and the evening miles sucked.

http://lh3.ggpht.com/DiabloScottsBikeBlog/SGOV3HpPUTI/AAAAAAAADAQ/x5FSKvrnYmU/s800/P6250002a.JPG

Cripes, DiabloScott, that's just down right disturbing! :eek:

http://lh3.ggpht.com/DiabloScottsBikeBlog/SGOV3HpPUTI/AAAAAAAADAQ/x5FSKvrnYmU/s800/P6250002a.JPG
:eek:

btw--- you have mad mspaint skillz. :p

visiblity is under 5 miles here in the richmond hills... i cant even see the refinery... not good...

Did a short 14 miles on the tandem this morning and it was nasty. What we need is a downpour !

It's even worse today than the previous days. Guess I'll pull out the trainer; my eyes burn just walking around outside. Riding and trying to breathe this ashtray-like air is crazy.

Right now it's so smoky that you'd think there was cloud cover. Except for the reddish tinge to the air.

How much worse would this be if the fires were even closer? Yipes.