thehammerdog

Went for a winter ride since is was about 32 degrees and not snowing/raining in NJ.....Almost nice. About a mile in I nearly puked as I went out to fast as I felt good. Soon I found my self nearly choking as I had on a tight turtle neck zipper jersey and a tight wind vest zipped up and a too tight chin strap. As I pounded up the hill feeling kinda good the effort made me dizzy and I needed to stop pull over unzip jersey and remove my helmet . Between my racing heart rate, burning lungs and poor winter fitness I began to feel like I was being choked and could not get air....scarey stuff. Pulled over took a minute undid the jersey and loosened the helmet but man scarey.....never happened before....anyone ever experience something like this? Ended uo doing about 15 miles felt OK

shoota 

It almost sounds like adult onset asthma. Of course I'm no doctor by any means but it may be worth looking in to. Or maybe you're sick? Either way a trip to the doc may be in order. Or maybe go for another, VERY easy ride to see how you feel and progress from there? Tough to diagnose across the interwebs..

Clipped_in

Sorry you had a tough time, and glad the outcome wasn't worse than it was.

Most of us in colder climates should be thinking about base building efforts right now unless you have been working on some other specific plan.

cruiserhead

sounds like you hyperventilated

Myosmith

Glad you are doing OK. Cold air and physical exertion have been known to trigger asthma attacks. If you are concerned or continue to have problems, you might want to check with your physician. If you're like me, I don't do well with tight fitting clothing around my neck. Get a loose fitting neck gator or something similar and wear it under your vest with the zipper left down enough to allow you to breathe unrestricted.

Jakedatc

sounds like he had tight things around his neck and it choked him. i always keep my jersey and outer jacket undone just a bit

FLvector

It sounds like you went out of the gate at full speed with no warm up at all, then attacked the first hill around the first mile while you were already struggling. Combined that with lack of fitness, restrictive clothing and you just couldn't get enough O2 into your lungs. Next time, do a nice warmup and make sure your breathing is normal as you slowly begin to ramp up. Don't push yourself too soon, especially if you haven't been riding much.

Fleabiscuit

How old are you? Have you had a physical exam lately?

I've thrown up a couple times from eating right before hard training rides. How do you turn down fried chicken? Anyway, don't mess around! Call your doctor or call a clinic or med center and describe what happened to you. And don't eat fried chicken right before a ride!

bonz50

plurisitis, i had an attack like that once in the cold as well, not a big deal, calm down, go inside and rest.

RJM

Take it a little easy when you ride and feel like that. If I nearly puked on a ride, I would slow the hammering down.

rpenmanparker 

I have recently been diagnosed with sport/cold induced asthma and cannot breathe with exertion at temperatures below about 60 deg F. Even with an asthma rescue inhaler I can't go much lower.

Slackerprince

Yeah, might see a doc on that one.
Would recommend slow, spinning warm-up next time.

S

YOJiMBO20

Can't ride outside when it's SoCal freezing? Don't worry. We can't either.

Beaker

If you kept going, chances are it wasn't exercise induced asthma. On the rare occasion I have an asthma attack/exacerbation it takes a lot more than a minute to resolve. It's also not associated with throwing up. I agree with what others have said about thinking about checking in with your doc, but odds-on the conversation will go like this

OP:" hey doc, it was freezing cold, I went out without a warmup, hit the road full-on wearing tight clothing got all dizzy, threw up and felt like crap. What do you think?"

OP's doc: " I think you should avoid going out when it's freezing cold, going full-on without a warmup while wearing tight clothing. Please leave your copay with the receptionist on the way out. kthnxby"

Grambo

+1. I experience mild cold air induced asthma when riding in temps below 25 degrees and also find that wearing clothing (balaclavas for example) that is snug around my neck makes me uncomfortable with a sensation that my breathing is constricted.

thehammerdog

I agree with you. I felt choked then kinda got freaked out mentally thought I was gonna drop.......felt better after the adjustment. Just scarey .

StanSeven

This sounds like a panic attack from anxiety. You went hard from a cold start, needed air, had lots of restrictive clothes on, and a tight helmet strap. All that gave the sensation of restricting your breathing. That probably made you take rapid, shallow breaths which made things worse.

Next time it happens, just try long slow deep breaths and calmly unzip your clothes.

Jakedatc

For colder rides I have a Buff neck gaiter for covering up my neck and can cover my chin if i need to. It is light and not very tight. that way i can have coverage but not have to zip everything up. can find them at rei or online stores. or really cheap on ebay from Korea if you are ok with waiting a few weeks

gsa103

Also probably made the classic mistake of dressing for standing around not working out.

If you're warm BEFORE starting a hard ride, you're going to over-heat almost immediately. Combined with things wrapped around your neck, that's a recipe for bad time once you start hammering. Always wear layers you can easily reduce once your body heat catches up.

knobster

You know cyclists are wimps when they can get choked out by their jersey.

indyfabz

I first experienced something like that riding a new Free Spirit 10 speed home from Sears when I was a kid. The bike would not fit in the car. To get home, I had to ride maybe 3 miles home through a somewhat rough part of town. It was pretty cold out. Fearing getting jumped for my bike, I flew. By the time I got home I felt like I could not breath. Very scary. I went inside and ripped off my shirt in a panic. Took maybe 10 minutes of warm air before I returned to normal. I have had it happen a couple of other times in my life. Try putting a bandana or someting similar over your nose/mouth to warm the air you are breathing in.

cyclezen

has happened to me a number of times, when I was much younger.
always in cold (under freezing) conditions, always when I was overdressed, always when I went out too hard without a decent warmup. Happened a couple times at XC races (ski) when I got to a start late and didn't warmup. Also during some very early season bike races...
I had to immediately stop and strip off clothing to cool down and relieve the nausea. Needless to say I had to 'abandon; the race... took about 10 minutes to get back to normal feeling, then everything was OK.
Know of others who have also experienced the same thing.
I'm now very careful to warmup properly in cold weather, and dress for the 'effort' not the immediate chill.
I know a guy who passed out while trying to 'run' in cold weather with one of those stoopid weight lose suits on....

One thing I learned from a very high level XC racer - dress down on the body and dress up on the head. More important to keep the head at a good operational temp and start with a light chill to the torso. Most people do the opposite - they over-dress the torso and don;t cover the head well. Not enough ventilation on the torso really spikes the internal temps and overwhelms the internal thermostats. I think he was right.