Hello,

I like to pretend I'm in good shape. I climb mountains, I stay relatively active, but I don't really do anything that pushes the cardio spectrum harder than hiking (which, with a pack 1/2 your weight can) but I've recently taken up bicycling.

Now I'm hacking up my lungs... a LOT.

I'm tempted to say "well, duh, you live in LA, breath in crappy air all day long, and now you're riding up hills as fast as you can" but I presume beyond some point I shouldn't have any more fluid in my lungs to hack up.

At what point does one know whats normal and what might be a problem?

Thanks.

-- James

i dont know your answer but if you are still living in the same place, riding hard, and sucking more wind it would stand to reason that you are sucking more crappy air too.

Maybe you should see a doctor about the fluid in your lungs. That doesn't sound normal.

I do the dirty old man thing the evening and next day after a hard, wind-sucking ride. Moderate rides are not a problem. I have exercise induced asthma which I control with a mild steroid inhaler. It could be that your lungs just need to accustom themselves to the new activity level. Or maybe you need to see your doctor. You can search the forum for asthma threads.

Depending on how "new" you are to cycling this could be normal. When I started cycling for the first time in my adult life (after a life involving near zero cardio work) I felt like the things were going to explode the first week or two, and when the cold weather set in, I hacked a lot after those cold morning rides but it was a continually diminishing thing (this took about 6 months). I had to take a 2 week break on account of the weather just being completely rotten, afterwards I haven't had any problems.

Not that you shouldn't see a doctor, just that if you're not a cardio person this is probably the first real work your lungs have had and they're adapting.

That's what happened to me. I went from no physical activity, and smoking, to running and biking (and not smoking). It's gone now.

Go to the Dr and get tested for Exercise Induced Asthma ... that's basically how mine started. Several years later it got MUCH worse.

wait a second....you mean you can get asthma from riding alot?

Is it like everybody's at risk, or are there just some people who could be prone to it?

will I eventually get it if I keep riding alot?


...sorry to go strait into a panic, but I never knew you could ride your way into asthma

Like it says in large friendly letters on the cover, "Don't Panic!"

I think (totally personal opinion here) one gets asthma from air pollution. Just look at how asthma rates track pollution levels. So it stands to reason that the more pollution you pump through your lungs, the greater your chance of acquiring it. That being said, some people are susceptible and other's aren't.

EIA is not the same as chronic asthma. If I don't climb 'til I see bits of lung on my shoes, I don't get it. If I didn't ride, I'd never have noticed it. People with chronic asthma have trouble breathing all the time, if they don't take their medication, that is. EIA people just have trouble when they push.

I believe that what Machka is saying is - if you get EIA, take care of it and don't ignore it. It will get worse if you don't take care of it.

There's also another angle here: When you're going hard you're sucking air pretty deep into your lungs. Polluted, dusty, contaminated air adjacent a roadway. Your body may--may--just be expelling that crap in a perfectly normal manner.