Do I have the only nose that does this?
 

Whenever I ride, I have about a 30 or so minute grace period before the nasal discharge begins. Once the flow starts, that means I'm launching an infamous snot rocket, and once I launch that first one, I'm going to be sending one off (it seems like) every two or three minutes for the rest of the ride.

I'm pretty sue I lose more water through nasal discharge than I do through sweat, and that's saying a lot since I live in Tucson.

It just seems like my nose runs a lot when I ride.

When there's a little chill in the air and when it's cold, my nose does the same thing. If I'm riding alone, no problem. If I'm with a group, I'll veer off to the left lane (assuming no oncoming traffic) to take care of business and then rejoin the group.

Don't feel like the Lone Ranger. :D:D

Winter air? Oh, yeah. Flonase and Sudafed help. Usually one good blow after 15-30 minutes and I'm good for the rest of the ride. But that's also when the exertion aggravated asthma kicks in, especially in cooler air, so I suck a couple of whiffs off the inhaler.

The human body is mostly damp stuff demanding to be released. And no matter how much coffee and beer we feed it, the next day it starts all over again.

I look forward to this effect. It seems to clear the gunk out of my nasal passages, and let's me breathe easier while I'm not riding.

I do not believe I reach your level of skill/ability, but I try sometimes on my commute.

Agree with above in letting it fly. Ya feel cleaner later.
I will take allergy pill certain months and maybe Sudafed in winter, but only at a minimal dose or less.

Funny! Ya I ride most of the winter(it's cold here) and snot rockets keep the cars at a safe distance!

Get some wrap around cycling glasses, your eyes are watering, from the cold, dry air that is hitting them as you ride. The lacrimal-nasal duct is channeling all the excess tears, from your eyes, down through the duct, and into your nasal passages. This is what causes that runny nose, if its all clear fluids.

All bets are off if you have either a cold, or any URI, and you are getting ugly stuff in the discharge. (Let the strange replies about this begin, keep it a little civil please.)

Bill

I get hit with "exercise induced asthma" every spring when I break out the road bike in 35-40deg weather. For some reason I wont have a prob in the winter on the MTB, maybe it's the physics of it. No matter what causes it, I grab my wife's inhaler. No probs when it gets warmer though I do a few puffs in hot weather sprints and interval training.

I count on it. I had been suffering from seasonal allergy-sinus headaches in the spring, and dry-air sinus headaches in the winter. Since my latest cycling revival a few years ago I was able to ditch my steroid nasal spray, and anti-histamine pills. I've never been able to "snot rocket" but I keep a small disposable cotton snot rag within reach on all three bikes. I had to take a year off riding in 2010-2011 and the sinus problems came back within a few weeks. Even the medicines and herbs that are supposed to increase nasal flow didn't work for me like cycling. While preparing for my return to cycling I did 6 months on the tread mill every morning, working up as much of a sweat as on the bike; and while that helped with my sinuses, it still wasn't as good as cycling.

I can't launch mine, or wouldn't really want to cause it'd just end up on me and the bike - but my nose runs constantly in cold weather too, and like Dave B above it does seem to clear out the junk and open up my passages. I keep cotton wristbands (black or dark blue) on each arm just as a snot rag.

You're in good company, I refer to myself as the "angry llama on a bike". Snot-rockets and loogies are just part of the ride. On long rides, my nose gets raw (like have a cold and blowing your nose all the times). The phlegm happens in the sub-zero temps and the 90F humid days too. I find it's a little better the warmer it gets, but it never stops.

Edit: afterthought, the all this phlegm is the number one reason for bike gloves: snot rag!

You get a 30 minute grace period before it starts? Lucky.

Allergic to the spring bloom? even Death Valley has flowers now. :thumb:

I start to produce snot when it dips below 50, especially riding into the wind. It's not eye related--I wear good wrap-around cycling specific glasses. But it's a launch-rocket-every-15 minutes-or-so thing, not constant. Turning out of the wind really slows it down, too.

Makes sense. Now that you mention it, the past few daytime rides were very sunny and I wore wraparound sunglasses, which I don't always do. Less of the flood of clear nasal drainage after riding 15-30 minutes.

Onion cutting tears are usually provoked by inhaling the vapors, not from the vapors contacting the eyes. Wearing a dust mask or bandanna helps reduce onion cutting eye stinging and watering. Keeping the onions cold and using a very sharp knife help too.

Nothing better for clearing the sinuses, and I kind of look forward to it. I just feel that much better after a good ride.

I've learned to not ride behind people like you, especially in cool weather. Or rather, I always knew not to ride behind them; the trouble has always been identifying them beforehand. There's no excuse for not going all the way to the back of the pack before letting loose.

Its not 100% drip free, but it cuts it way back. My riding glasses, Tifosi bi-focals, have vents in each lens, and I can feel real cold air on my eyes, but it is much less than without the glasses. If you have allergies and some type of pollen causes you to have the runny nose, all bets are off. I am really lucky about that problem maker, though.

Bill

Google could map my commuting route by following my mucus trail. Not very gentile to use the "air hanky" but I have become quite adept and do it automatically. The key is judging when you have just the right amount of mass to do an effective launch.

This is true. It is why I blow my nose into my gloves and then wipe it on the side of my shorts. Also, blowing it into my gloves allows me to wipe my nasal area with the glove. Evacuating nasal cavities of mucous into the immediate vicinity without benefit of tissue is bad form if there are (or even could be) others around.

This may sound odd, but I kind of look forward to the snot-rocket launching to happen, kind of clears the head so too say.... since I ride solo it's not a problem. The back of the hand on my left glove DOES need to be washed regularly tho, that last little drop sticks to my mustache...

It flows! I buy gloves based on how soft webing/material between thumb and fore finger feels. Wipe nose and transfer to shorts.

from what I'm reading here, I suppose my nasal discharge probably is a cold weather issue.

It was kind of cold Thursday for Tucson, it was 83 when I went out for my ride. :lol:

Having developed my technique over many years, I've been told many times I'm quite a good 'snot rocket' launcher. At least that's what the stealth wheel-suckers tell me in very vitrolic language. ;)

And yes, its more of a problem on cold winter mornings than during the warm days of mid-summer.