Originally Posted by pdxcyclist
I once heard the following:
If the cold is in your chest, or you have a fever, don't ride.
If the cold is in your head, and no fever, then it's okay to ride moderately, since the cold is supposedly passing.
I imagine if your lungs were congested, then riding in cold air could make it worse. Same with a fever.
Funny you should mention that. I just bought a couple books on training on the way home from work tonight [1], and while thumbing through Chris Carmichael's book I read pretty much exactly that.
"If your symptoms are restricted to your neck and head...reduce your training volume and intensity and start your ride. If you feel miserable within the first 20 minutes of the ride, turn around and go home..."
That turning around part is probably not an option halfway into a commute.
If your symptoms are in your chest or are accompanied by achy joints, vomiting, or fever, don't even get dressed to ride... In the most extreme cases, intense exercise can lead to a viral infection of the heart, which can be fatal."
I'd guess that last part is probably associated more with intense interval training than a commute at a relaxed/moderate pace, and you're probably not gonna ride yourself to death on the way to work. Still probably not healthy to ride if you're that ill though.
There's more there, but it's mostly irrelevant to commuting.
[1] Gonna get a little more serious about race-training for the upcoming season. Not sure yet how a commute is going to work into a structured training regimen. In the past my training has consisted of simply going out and hammering as many times a week as I have time for, and putting as many miles in on the (non-race) weekends as I can. That kinda training only gets you so far...
-Trevor