Living Car Free - do you ride when you don't feel well?

was going great guns on my move towards car free living when I came down with a really nasty cough/cold combo and the last thing I could imagine was stomping on the pedals for the 5 mile trip to the dentist yesterday morning. I got in the car and wondered what would I do if I didn't have a car to fall back on? It's not like a can call a cab as I live in a rural area and there isn't any public transportation either. Just wondered what you 100% car free folks do when you have to get somewhere but you just don't feel up to the task on your two-wheeler. thanks

If I'm sick, I stay home. That's what sick days are for. Besides that, it's rude to spread your germs and mucus around.

Recovering from being hit by a car earlier this year, I used the bus for about a week. The driver's insurance company was paying so I could have used a cab, but I prefer the bus.

If I just plain don't feel like riding, I suck it up and ride anyway. That "don't wanna ride" feeling goes away after a few miles.

Well,

Basically, you have no other choice, so you ride. I've ridden to the dentist, and then did an 80 mile ride while waiting for the novacaine to wear off.

But as I get older, I will take a bus when it's appropriate. And if you are just too out of it, you can probably get a ride from a friend or have them call you a cab.

Being a biologist, I agree that if you're sick, stay home. When you are elderly, you're immune system becomes more or less non-existant so it's dangerous and a huge burden to become ill. Therefore, if you start to feel a bit under the weather, do everyone a favor and stay home. I doubt your dentist would be at all disappointed at not having you come in while you're infectious.

I go for it, however I am still young (22). I find that riding makes me feel better! However if I was REALLY ill and had to stay in bed or something then obviously I wouldn't ride.

If sick... stay home... Don't infect the rest of us.

I only go for a ride. Although I will go into work with a cold because it isn't that big a deal, however I wouldn't go into work with the flu.

I rode a little when I had the swine flu last month, but not during the high fever period.

Although I will go into work with a cold because it isn't that big a deal,

Tell that to your co-workers who are busy trying to figure out good tactics to avoid catching it from you. Colds should be kept at home when possible.

i don't own a car
every day is on the bike

Tell that to your co-workers who are busy trying to figure out good tactics to avoid catching it from you. Colds should be kept at home when possible.

tbh colds are just annoying, if you get seriously ill from a cold you have bigger problems and should see a doctor. As long as you have basic hygiene people will rarely catch colds from you.

As long as you have basic hygiene people will rarely catch colds from you.

Spoken like a man who doesn't work with the public. Come work at the front desk of the public library for a day. Or maybe just sit in the Children's Room for a while. Then see if you think sick people should be out and running around.

I had a woman come in on Saturday, looked like she met the criteria for "basic hygiene" (clean clothes, recently bathed, probably uses TP), but she was coughing, sneezing, wheezing and stuff. Told me her son was in the hospital with swine flu, but dammit, she had to return her books. She never heard of calling to renew, or maybe using the book drop? She and her viruses have to come in and hand the books to me?

Spoken like a man who doesn't work with the public.

Honestly, I might have done more than my fair share of spreading swine flu.

I didn't know what I had at the time, but I was sick with nasty cold-like symptoms for a couple weeks, and went to work every weekday, aside from two wednesdays where I felt too worn-out to work. Biking wasn't too hard because I just went slow and I only had to travel 3.5 miles each way.

I don't work with the public; I sit in front of a computer all day at work... but I work in a cubical fairly close to 15 other people.

I don't ride If I'm feeling really sick or have a pounding headache because I'm probably not as alert as I should be. No sense in making a bad day worse with a crash.

OK, I know about the "wash your hands frequently" recommendation, and the communicability of diseases -- but geez, when did we become so frickin' germophobic? The human body is a literal cesspool of bacteria AND viruses; 90+% do nothing harmful. The feared H1N1 (I call it 'hi-ni', as in high-knee) is less deadly than the standard flu that's flying around every year. So WTF, peeps?

If I feel well enough to work, I ride to work. (No car here, either) If I can't ride, I can't stand up for more than a minute or two.

EDIT: Oops! I thought I replied with quote to tsl. Oh well...read on.

I cringe at the thought of the filth that we can see on the items returned in the book drop.
I try not to think too much about the number of people reading on the toilet or coughing/sneezing directly into their open book.:twitchy:

At my library, we alternate working in the back room, scanning in returns, and working the Front Desk.
Lots of hand washing, hand sanitizer, and avoiding touching eyes and nose can help, but will not protect anyone from the thoughtless boobs who have the audacity to lean on the counter and cough/sneeze directly into your face.
Can you tell that I've just made it back to work after nearly a month off with pneumonia?

What?..........Me?..........Bitter?
:notamused:
You betcha!

Can you tell that I've just made it back to work after nearly a month off with pneumonia?

What?..........Me?..........Bitter?
:notamused:
You betcha!

I was out riding around last week even though I felt something coming on and continued to do so even after something arrived. It took me a few days to figure out that it really was the H1N1 ....just no fever. I can easily see this could have turned into pneumonia... or worse. Pretty brutal.

I cringe at the thought of the filth that we can see on the items returned in the book drop.
I try not to think too much about the number of people reading on the toilet or coughing/sneezing directly into their open book.:twitchy:

http://www.unshelved.com/strips/20090519.gif
http://www.unshelved.com/archive.aspx?strip=20090519

Heh.
Unshelved
one of my favorite webcomics.

Are you one of them full blooded Librarians
or one of us free range clerks?

Spoken like a man who doesn't work with the public. Come work at the front desk of the public library for a day. Or maybe just sit in the Children's Room for a while. Then see if you think sick people should be out and running around.

I had a woman come in on Saturday, looked like she met the criteria for "basic hygiene" (clean clothes, recently bathed, probably uses TP), but she was coughing, sneezing, wheezing and stuff. Told me her son was in the hospital with swine flu, but dammit, she had to return her books. She never heard of calling to renew, or maybe using the book drop? She and her viruses have to come in and hand the books to me?

Yep, I refuse to work with the public - I did it once and hated it!

Heh.
Unshelved
one of my favorite webcomics.

Are you one of them full blooded Librarians
or one of us free range clerks?

Clerk at two different city neighborhoods branches.

Dewey is my hero.

tbh colds are just annoying, if you get seriously ill from a cold you have bigger problems and should see a doctor. As long as you have basic hygiene people will rarely catch colds from you.


To be naive perhaps. Colds are far more than annoying. They wreck your attitude, they run your defenses down, and some of the modern colds seem to be able to reinvigorate themselves so that you may go through 6 weeks to two months of the cold almost going away and coming back with a vengance. I'm not worried about spreading colds, I rarely get them and when I do, I try to take off as much time as possible. With a cold, I'm usually not up to my normal performance standards anyway.

And you generally don't go to the doctor for a cold. They can't do anything. Antibiotics won't touch a virus. It seems just good common manners to try to prevent the spread of it. Wise employers will send you home if they catch you bringing a cold to work.

I was out riding around last week even though I felt something coming on and continued to do so even after something arrived. It took me a few days to figure out that it really was the H1N1 ....just no fever. I can easily see this could have turned into pneumonia... or worse. Pretty brutal.
The H1N1 fooled me & my partner into thinking it was just a mild cold so we were caught unprepared when it developed into a cough-yer-internal-organs-up type of flu. Don't underestimate this year's bug just because it starts slow and easy. Like gerv said, it's brutal.

Tell that to your co-workers who are busy trying to figure out good tactics to avoid catching it from you. Colds should be kept at home when possible.

I agree, but many Americans aren't paid if they miss work due to illness, and there are those that can't afford to call in sick. That's why mandatory sick leave is once again being considered.

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/business/sixel/6716198.html

I've ridden to the dentist, and then did an 80 mile ride while waiting for the novacaine to wear off.
I did that last year. I will NEVER do that again!

I went on a 40-mile ride after having a rather deep filling put in. About halfway through my ride the anesthesia started wearing off. From that point on I was hit with agonizing, throbbing pain that came on every few minutes and lasted for about a minute each time. The last few miles of my ride were so painful I had to pull over every time (and pray that nobody saw me and became overly concerned). I
called a friend and had him bring me some food so I could take some ibuprofen without causing stomach upset, then I rode home and went to bed.

I ended up back at the dentist a couple days later because the filling needed to be redone. From that day on I have done the following whenever I get a filling:
1. stop at the store on the way home and pick up some soup
2. go home, take ibuprofen, eat soup.
3. go to bed

Chances are my pain was caused by an improperly done filling, but I'm not willing to go through that misery again. I just go home after fillings. I can always take a long ride the next day.

If I'm too sick to ride, I'm probably also too sick to pay attention to the road. If I had a driver's license I wouldn't drive in that situation either.

I rarely get sick, but the last time I did I went out and attempted a century. Got caught in the rain, unfortunately, and only made it 120 km. The whole thing was pretty ill-advised, not so much because I was sick (went out because I felt so much better on the bike) but because I was underdressed. Definitely have a bad streak going for going out underdressed.

I've also commuted on a sprained ankle. Given the choice between buses and bike, bike worked much better.

While it's obviously good practice to stay home when you are sick so that you don't get others sick, unfortunately this is an area where theory is different from practice.

We are taught from the time we are little kids to tough it out. When I went to middle school in Korea, the teachers actually beat on you (corporal punishment) if you missed school because you were sick. We even had a kid in our class who got chicken pox and came to school. Miraculously he didn't infect other kids but the kids who never got chicken pox were simply told to stay away from him. The kid also use calamine lotion and he said that it stopped it from spreading, etc.

As an adult, too many people abuse the sick day policy at work. I've had employees who always seem to call in sick after a long weekend. As a result, we employers have had to institute caps on sick days (e.g. 2 sick days a year and after that it comes out of your vacation days, etc.).

My 3 year old goes to pre-school. His school costs $1300/mo and at first we kept him at home when he had a fever or runny nose. We then realized that he one month he only went to school for 5 days. His teachers called and asked what was up and we basically told them that he has a fever and/or runny nose. The problem is that he would get better, go back to school, and come back sick again from the other kids. He would have probably never went to school from the months of July-October.

The teachers told us to simply bring him to school if he seems energetic enough and they would call us if they feel that he's too sick and spreading germs.

It was simply not practical to have him stay home unless every kid's parent did that but then you'd have an empty school.

RVD.

I was recently relocated across country, and along with the relocation came a decision to live more simply. In the East, I rode my bike most of the time, but relied on a car for some things. I decided to not move the car with me and am now car free. When looking for a house to live in, we specifically chose one which would be within bike range of work, but at the same time, I looked to make sure that there was an alternate way to get to work via public transit (there is), so that in the event of an injury that kept me off of the bike, I could still live without a personal automobile.

I read a study somewhere recently that found that moderate exercise (such walking, easy jogging) helps prevent and relieve sickness such as colds. Strenuous exercise however can make you sicker. So, yeah, bike if your commute is easy and/or short.

Back in my youth I worked in a small retail establishment. There were five employees besides myself working in very close proximity and as we lived in a damp climate, and were constantly in contact with sick members of the public, it was routine for us to share the same cold for weeks at a time.

One of the several negative points about the job was the boss's wife who used to come in for a few hours a day and cause no end of pain and heartache by sticking her nose into things she knew nothing about. She never tired of telling us what weaklings we were, because SHE never got sick. Of course, she conveniently overlooked the fact that we worked 4-5 times the hours she did, were unable to enjoy the multiple foreign vacations she and her husband took each year, and didn't get to visit the spa every few days as she did.

However, one winter she finally did come down with a cold and as I'd been sick a few days earlier, she decided it was MY fault for giving it to her and was told in no uncertain terms to stay home the next time I was sick. Interestingly, I wasn't ill at all for the rest of that winter but everyone else on the staff was. Multiple times. And they all stayed home when they were. Which meant the Boss's wife had to give up her part-time lifestyle and start putting in some extra hours to cover for the absent staff.

Ha
Ha
Ha

That "don't wanna ride" feeling goes away after a few miles.


That is true in the extreme. I almost /never/ want to ride to work, but the knowledge that just a few moments on the back will wash that away gets back on it.

If I'm sick sick, I generally stay home. If that's not an option, I fortunately live in a city with halfway decent public transit.

//Not car-free

... I came down with a really nasty cough/cold combo and the last thing I could imagine was stomping on the pedals for the 5 mile trip to the dentist yesterday morning....

If I was your dentist I would have told you to take your germs home and come back when you wouldn't be sneezing in my face.

On second thought, I would have told you not to bother coming back.

If I have to work and am feeling so-so, I will ride. If I am feeling terrible, I will ride the scooter to work. I was and still am tired but I rode to the gym to get a nice work out despite how I was feeling.

If I have to work and am feeling so-so, I will ride. If I am feeling terrible, I will ride the scooter to work. I was and still am tired but I rode to the gym to get a nice work out despite how I was feeling.

I have been sick for the last 3 weeks... first H1N1, then a terrible bronchitis. I have been able to do some riding, mostly at a very slow pace. The odd thing is that I felt much better after the ride... which would last for about 4 hours. Then my lungs would return to being sick.

IMHO, if you do ride while sick, you should take it very easy.

I have been sick for the last 3 weeks... first H1N1, then a terrible bronchitis. I have been able to do some riding, mostly at a very slow pace. The odd thing is that I felt much better after the ride... which would last for about 4 hours. Then my lungs would return to being sick.

IMHO, if you do ride while sick, you should take it very easy.

I tend to feel that strenuous exercise during a viral illness is not a good idea. Any cardiologists out there? George.