Freebase some Massengill, hike up your big girl pants, and get on your bike. :p:rolleyes:

Sweating from exercise might be good because the only way anything can drain out of your lymph nodes is through sweat. At least that's my personal theory.

However if you feel fatigue then don't exercise, you could cause long term problems by exercising with sickness induced fatigue.

Note fatigue is not "cranky and tired": you will know it when it happens. Such as earlier this year I thought I was over my cold and tried to take public transportation to work; I got so tired just walking a few blocks I thought I would pass out. That is fatigue :)

There's no evidence that being chilled has any impact on a cold or flu (unless your cold to the level of hypothermia). Being hot probably actually helps your response to the cold.

http://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056...96810032791404

I go by the neck rule with colds:

Neck or above, go ahead and exercise. Below the neck, rest.

I should follow your advice. I've driven to work on days that I didn't feel well enough to ride. Which probably wasn't a good idea since I wasn't alert either. Maybe a hazard to myself & others. There is not decent public transportation here, otherwise, I'd do that. Next time I don't feel well enough to ride, I'm staying home!

I typically ride through a cold unless it's really bad.

so what did you end up doing ?

How long is your ride ? What are temp's like at your place ? I say ride regardless :P

If you are too sick to ride, you are too sick to be around your co-workers. Strap it up and get on your bike!

Never, ever, ever get in your car because you think you are too sick to ride.

ummm.........the Times article says it's ok to exercise and that people feel ok or even better with exercise but not that they recover faster or that they are actually less ill. And they just looked at folks with colds, not with influenza.
That said, I am in favor of exercise if you feel up to it.

if my cold is above the neckline i will ride in and still exercise. If it gets into the chest I will generally avoid everything until I am feeling better.

They are stupid. If you get a cold, that's one unit of slack to be picked up. On the average, you can spread it to 5 people, that's 6 units of slack to be picked up. Do the math.

When one is sick their immune system is being supressed at the same time. During exercise extra stress is put onto the body which further reduces the immune system leaving one to become more sick than they already are. It is how a two day cold turns into a month long cold. If you are sick you shouldn't be exercising simple as that. If your throat is sore you shouldn't bike at all.

The new york times is garbage. They published that exercise makes people morefat because people who exercise more store more fat on the muscle cell for energy uptake. If anyone wants to read a reliable source and put it on this forum I'd be impressed. How about a study from American College of Sports Medicine, or someone who is reputable in the fitness field. Not some journalist..

So get on pubmed and look up the journal articles cited in the article.

Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise sounds exactly like the type of journal you are talking about...

that depends but you should know, days off are always permissible

+1 :thumb:

At least get in a short ride to "get feeling better!" ;)