Fire/smoke
09-24-18, 03:56 PM
#1
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Fire/smoke or bad polution...
This year, 6 weeks of smoke has cut down my bicycling to 600Kms instead of the average 2,400Kms... anyone else effected like that.? Did anyone just wear a mask and kept on riding.?
Last edited by 350htrr; 09-26-18 at 03:14 PM.
09-24-18, 04:03 PM
#2
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Middle of the afternoon... Looking out my front window, for two day this year, it was that bad... 
09-24-18, 04:49 PM
#3
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It's awful! I'm not in B.C. for now; with any luck, retirement will take me back to The Island (Cowichan Valley; 'home') in a couple years, but ... I for one am sympathetic.
Sounds like the interior was terrible this year (and last?). My sister and bro-in-law still live where we grew up, and I know that last summer and this have been unusually bad. Smoke apart, the water temps. on the coast have been appallingly high. Sister reports that at one point in August waters in the straits were at 78F ... that's red tide/fish-kill territory.
I can well understand your not getting out on the bike much.
Sounds like the interior was terrible this year (and last?). My sister and bro-in-law still live where we grew up, and I know that last summer and this have been unusually bad. Smoke apart, the water temps. on the coast have been appallingly high. Sister reports that at one point in August waters in the straits were at 78F ... that's red tide/fish-kill territory.
I can well understand your not getting out on the bike much.
09-24-18, 05:25 PM
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The conditions out here have been so bad that I have stopped riding my road bike and switched to short rides on my MTB and SS.
Getting the heart rate up requires deeper breathing and that bothers the lungs. As I have said before it has made me consider giving up the Road bike and getting a E-bike.
I used to get in 8000 miles a year I will be lucky to get in 2200 this year. My climbing averages are down even more.
I have had to change the car air filter early this year. I also replaced the inside car cabin air filter. This in a car that doesn’t get 5000 miles a year.
Getting the heart rate up requires deeper breathing and that bothers the lungs. As I have said before it has made me consider giving up the Road bike and getting a E-bike.
I used to get in 8000 miles a year I will be lucky to get in 2200 this year. My climbing averages are down even more.
I have had to change the car air filter early this year. I also replaced the inside car cabin air filter. This in a car that doesn’t get 5000 miles a year.
09-24-18, 05:27 PM
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It was pretty bad last year. Bad this year, but just not as bad.
I just rode through it. There wasn't much else to do. I suppose I should think about a mask if it ever gets worse.
I just rode through it. There wasn't much else to do. I suppose I should think about a mask if it ever gets worse.
09-24-18, 06:26 PM
#6
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Here, I have actually SEEN 5, maybe 6 people wearing masks and still riding their bicycles in the last 6 weeks, I have also seen about 6 people wearing masks just out and about... Never in my life have I seen anyone wearing masks while out and about. (except on TV). 
09-26-18, 03:24 PM
#7
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I guess I should have included bad pollution days too as to what people do then, as around here you get to ride the busses free on/when bad polluted days "happen". Yes according to the news it "just happens & is caused by" the low pressure weather that comes around some days... Doesn't seem to have anything to do with the three huge smokestacks (pulp mills) & a refinery in this town... 
09-27-18, 12:04 PM
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I was in London (UK) for a conference last February, and decided to take a short ride on the bicycle superhighway along the Thames. The one thing that I found absolutely shocking was that most of the riders - what appeared to be a mix of roadies and commuters - were wearing pollution masks. I very well might pick one up for the next time I go to the more polluted regions of the UK or Europe.
It really made me grateful to live in a place with generally clean air. There have been a few bad pollution days due to the fires in western Canada, but not enough to warrant a mask.
It really made me grateful to live in a place with generally clean air. There have been a few bad pollution days due to the fires in western Canada, but not enough to warrant a mask.
09-29-18, 12:03 PM
#9
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I can imagine what it was like in PG. I went to Terrace for a little vacation at the start of Aug., just before it got really bad up there. Stopped at the Francois Ferry landing on my way home and you couldn't see the far side of the lake. After getting home, the smoke closed in for quite a while. Lots of people with surgical masks. I didn't bother with one and didn't stop riding my bike, either.
10-07-18, 11:06 PM
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I caught every break this year. All the major fires in Oregon were far enough away that we only had a couple days of bad air. I spent a month in the Sacramento Valley and lucked into between fires. The last day I was riding down there the County fire started (I actually had a ride planned that would have taken me right to it, but when we saw the hills aflame, we cut the ride short.) After we left the Mendocino Complex set a new record for the largest fire in California history. I was glad to miss that.
The change in our weather patterns, less snow, warmer temperatures year-round, means that the logging companies are closing their roads to all users much more often. I have some other reasons to connect with a couple of them, so maybe I can eventually convince them that people on bikes are about as close to a zero fire hazard as is possible. It would be nice to not lose that bit of summer joy.
The change in our weather patterns, less snow, warmer temperatures year-round, means that the logging companies are closing their roads to all users much more often. I have some other reasons to connect with a couple of them, so maybe I can eventually convince them that people on bikes are about as close to a zero fire hazard as is possible. It would be nice to not lose that bit of summer joy.
10-08-18, 06:43 PM
#11
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The change in our weather patterns, less snow, warmer temperatures year-round, means that the logging companies are closing their roads to all users much more often. I have some other reasons to connect with a couple of them, so maybe I can eventually convince them that people on bikes are about as close to a zero fire hazard as is possible. It would be nice to not lose that bit of summer joy.
