Marcus_Ti

I'd bet money vaping will be found to have ill effects in a few years...presuming the FDA or other bodies are allowed to study it.

LesterOfPuppets

You could probably do OK up 'til the age of 24 or so. But if you smoke heavily for years, even after you quit, then there's likely no chance of doing well in Cat 3 masters racing.

Phil_gretz

It's time to quit now. Are you a father yet? When you're a grandfather, you'll wish that you had your heart and lungs back. Do it.

gpburdell

Go volunteer in a cancer ward for a few months, long enough to watch people die, then come back to this statement about inhaling known carcinogens "in moderation".

Stucky

We all ingest carcinogens in moderation- or otherwise, everyday of our lives in the Western world. Are you saying that the people on the cancer ward were all moderate smokers? Actually, many of them are not smokers at all. My [currently 90 years-old] mother never smoked a cigarette in her life. She had cancer. My aunt is 94 and has been smoking for almost 8 decades (in moderation]-Never had cancer. Again, look at people in Italy, where smokingh is still much more prevalent- but they don't have the same level of "smoking-related" diseases.

Don't get me wrong: If you smoke 80 cigarettes a day, you're going to have smoking-related diseases and die a decade or two prematurely- but if you smoke 3 cigarettes a day, it is likely no worse than walking down a city street/or living in a city. Have they done any research on smoking in such moderation? No! They study people who smoke massive quantities of cigarettes (as is our American custom) and then extrapolate that to all use of tobacco.

Remember, most medicines if taken in large quantities will harm/kill you rather than heal you. Are you on any meds? If so, try taking massive quantities of them and see what happens [No, don't!]-But in smaller doeses, those poisons can actually be beneficial. Ditto with tobacco. This vendetta against any smoking/second-hand smoke is no different than the other myths of our culture, like "global warming" or "they hate our freedom".

When will they do an about-face with smoking, like they have with eggs/salt/butter/hydrogenated oils? ["OOoopps! Everything we've said for the last 40 years has been wrong, and the diametric opposite is right....sorry about that, folks!"]

***Of course, none of this applies to people who ingest exponential numbers of cigarettes on a daily basis. It doesn't take a "scientist" to know that such will kill you!****

And of course vaping can be detrimental to health. Nicotine, in large quantities, no matter how delivered, will produce the same effects.

Corben

When I quit smoking over five yrs ago I used this very same forum for support. It was a tremendous help.
So if and when you decide to kick the habit we're here for you.

Leebo

Quit, spend the money ,not on cigs but a nice ride. $10.00 a pack, how much $ did you spend on butts last year?

obed7

possible but not probable. Decide which you want to do.

andr0id

I'd guess you'd get blown out the back within 10 minutes of the start even in a Cat 5 race.

Go ride a Saturday or Sunday morning A ride with the local club or team and see how you fare.

gpburdell

Hey, I get it. Tobacco has you firmly in its addictive talons and you don't want to let it go. It truly does mess with your head as any former smoker will attest. Been there, done that.


Simple fact is, whatever you may choose to believe about the science, you already know that it will impact your athletic performance else you wouldn't have posted your question. Between inflammation and carbon-monoxide, your aerobic capacity is compromised to at least some degree so long as you're a smoker.


You'll just need to make a choice as to which is more important to you.

Red Tornado

1998 at the start line in a Cat 2 (Sport back then) mountain bike race, 30-34 age group. Towards the end of staging this cat pulls up next to me on what had to be a several thousand dollar bike; Manitou frame & fork, Easton cockpit, custom wheels, full XTR & cigarette in one hand. Takes one last looooong drag and flicks it into the DRY grass/weeds next to him.
Our age group gets called up, race starts and he's up with the front group almost immediately. He finished in the top 10 (7th I think maybe) in a 40-45 rider age group.
Never saw him again after that day. Imagine what he could've done tobacco-free.

Stucky

LOL. Thus far, in 2015, I have smoked....3 cigarettes. For 2014, I smoked a total of: 3 packs. I enjoy a cig on rare occasions. I get sick of them very quickly if I have several within a short space of time.


I can guarantee you that I inhale far more pollutants just riding my bike; walking down the street; or mowing the lawn, than I do from an occasional cigarette. I don't know how much Eddy Merckx smoked, but I suspect it wasn't a lot. Again...moderation.

CliffordK

In the short-term it probably won't make a big difference, if you aren't coughing and wheezing from the cigs now. Quitting can take a few months for the body to clear the congestion from the lungs, and apparently can seem to get worse before getting better.

Nicotine is a stimulant, which might not be bad for racing, and smoking is often associated with weight loss, also not a bad thing for racing.

HOWEVER, it is also associated with carbon monoxide, so, less oxygen transport. So, you're doing the opposite of many blood dopers.

In the long-term, smoking is bad for you, and WILL lead to permanent lung damage, and can also be associated with lung cancer as well as other cancers.

Take the advice of others, quit smoking now, and enjoy the fresh air around you.

gpburdell

Apologies, I confused you with the OP given the apparent defense of smoking. You probably had already figured that out though.

Stucky

No problemo. I should have realized....

Hey, we can both agree that habitual (especially heavy habitual) smoking is detrimental to life and health. I wonder sometimes, for a heavy smoker, like the OP if it is just better to quit entirely, or, to just cut way down?

AlmostTrick

Long ago, when I was in grade school, one of the female students was bragging to the entire class (including the teacher) that she smoked. I was not impressed, and for some reason found it annoying. So I corrected her and said: "Actually, the cigarette smokes, you just suck!"

The classroom exploded in laughter. Even the teacher had a grin... and no admonishment for me.

CliffordK

With alcohol or smoking, some people can successfully cut down from excess to very occasional. However, those people are rare. Most seem to do best with all or none.

What is the cutoff between an OK dose and not ok? 1 cigarette a month? 1 a day?

There are meds to help quit smoking. Obviously the patches, but also consider Zyban/Wellbutrin. Apaprently also a new drug, Varenicline/Chantix that can also help.

tcarl

Back to the original question. Years ago one of the people I rode with was a heavy smoker. Comparing his lung capacity with ours, and then picturing the pace I see in local amateur road races, my thoughts are that you'd be dropped within the first quarter mile, and if it was a criterium you'd probably be lapped within 10 laps. When this guy quit smoking he became one of the best hill climbers in our group. But that didn't help him long term . . . .

Wolf Dust

There's no way in hell that anyone could convince me that smoke inside your lungs can be a good thing...that simply makes no damn sense at all! Lungs weren't meant to have smoke in them!

whatapickle

For me, cigaretes and moderation were two words that could never be used in the same sentence. I bought a bike to help me quit and it has been over a year smoke/tobacco free. Coughing up a lung after a good climb is a great incentive to stay off the smokes but to initially quit, it was tough. To quote Mark Twain "Giving up smoking is the easiest thing in the world. I know because I've done it thousands of times."

Along with the chemical addiction, the habit aspect was just as strong. I even tried to chew tobacco to give my lungs a break but still had the urge to light up. When I quit, I did use the e-cig for a month and a half starting with the high nicotine dose and tapering every 1.5 weeks to the zero nicotine cartridges - which I did not need much because by the time I was on the low dosage cartridges, it would be 5-6 hours between puffs. The e-cig experience did not match that of a smooth menthol cigarette, but it kept me from killing someone, getting a divorce, or being fired.

Notgrownup

When I was a kid I smoke and a buddy and I bicycle camped all over the province in the summer...I guess our lungs were stronger then but I quit 12 or 13 years ago and am o happy...My lung capacity I really don't worry about now , even on my short 10 mile rides....

Stucky

Just as our bloodstreams weren't meant to have viruses injected into them; our teeth weren't meant to have holes drilled in them and and then filled with mercury-based metal; nor our stomachs to absorb mold spores.....but ya call 'em "vaccinations"; "fillings"; and "penicillin pills" and the same people who tell ya smoking is so bad, will tell you that such poisons taken in moderation will be beneficial......

YouthInAsia

Yes, you could compete. I know of at least one pro basketball player who smoked like a chimney and yet he was a quality player. Surely there's others. But I'd also say you're hedging your bets.

gpburdell

Hey, if we were meant to walk around naked we'd have been born that way!

moobot22

I smoked for 9 years. In the year or so after I quit there were a few different times when I felt my lungs open up suddenly while I was running or biking. I think you'll be surprised how much air you're missing out on. It felt like a good extra half breath or so suddenly become available.

If it helps you quit though here's my apparently successful process:

1. Try earnestly to quit and/or switch to patches several times over a period of years. Each attempt breaks down a bit of the mental barrier saying "I'll never be able to quit these"
2. Quit drinking and avoid people who smoke and hang around people who ride your ass about or who you'd be embarrassed to smoke in front of so until you're more annoyed by your own need to smoke than you are having people tell you to quit all the time.
3. Work out and exercise. Set goals and push yourself further that make you physically how weak smoking is making you.
4. Get an injury of some kind working out (a hernia, in my case) anything that will make it so you can't drive to the store for several weeks.
5. Schedule surgery for right around November/December. They make you quit a couple weeks before.
6. Get prescribed Oxycodone for the pain(pretty sure it's an opiate. It's addictive as **** in any case)
7. Buy every awesome video game getting released that November, preferably something with just obscene amounts of stuff to do. I was fortunate to have surgery right after Skyrim was released.
8. Leverage temporary doctor controlled chemical dependency, the a physical inability to go buy cigarettes a mental addiction and tons of laziness right through until Christmas if you can get that much sick leave.
9. Emerge from the drug/game/sloth cocoon on the new year with no desire to smoke whatsoever!

Unorthodox but effective.