jyl

I've ridden home with the flu a few times. Keep it in the lowest gear, spin at 8 mph, and you can usually keep riding. But is it really worth it? You are sick, you need rest, not exertion. More importantly, when you're really sick, you're not alert and riding in traffic is more dangerous. Leave the bike and call a friend, spouse, or cab. If you absolutely have to ride, take side roads and stop to rest.

Bike Gremlin

I get home riding, no big deal, but then I'm in bed until I get well.

bigbenaugust 

That incident was actually one of the very last times my inner ear gave me dizziness or vertigo... whatever the deal was, it presented like Meniere's disease, in that the symptoms continued intermittently for years until the receptors in my inner ear burnt out and all I am left with now is near-deafness and ringing in the right ear. I am just too young for it to actually be Meniere's disease. It has thankfully been 5 years since I have had any issues.

OT: It also happened while hurtling down US-101 in Monterey County at 75mph in my '89 Civic, back in 2000... I shut my eyes and pulled over to the left (I was in the left lane), then ended up about 2/3rds of the way across the median. I drove through the spot for years afterward, and I never figured out how I missed all of the concrete drain covers in the center median.

El Cid

I haven't done a commute sick, but I did it with a broken collarbone once. I was riding to work one summer morning -- not in a rush, nothing crazy -- and I wiped out in a way that sent me over the handlebars. I got up and could see part of my right clavicle sticking up. I knew I would get injury pay effective immediately if I went to the hospital from work. So I got back on the bike and finished riding. My foreman sent me to the hospital in a cab, and I didn't have to wait a week for my supplemental pay to kick in.

spare_wheel

There is no clinical evidence that light exertion is harmful to individuals suffering from typical respiratory infections. "Common sense" and other anecdotes have a terrible clinical track record.

jyl

I think this thread is asking about riding when one is sicker than just having a cold.

spare_wheel

I've continued to ride to work with broken ribs (multiple times), a broken ulna, and a broken scaphoid without any problems. Riding one handed is not unsafe for an accomplished cyclist or motorcyclist.

spare_wheel

Medscape: Medscape Access

El Cid

MULTIPLE TIMES?!?! You sound like you should be wearing body armour before stepping out of your front door.

spare_wheel

i have never been seriously injured while riding for transport/commuting. (definitely some close calls though)

TransitBiker

I don't really puke unless i am REALLY sick. Other than that, i've been unwell out and about dozens of times, just ate the wrong combination of things, had to go out & do some kinda errand or something important that could not wait. My best advice and what i do every time, is just focus on your route and realize you have a lot more strength in you to get where you need to be than you realize. Once you are there, then you can... take care of... your. business.... or such.

- Andy

JakiChan

[QUOTE=bigbenaugust;17368549]That incident was actually one of the very last times my inner ear gave me dizziness or vertigo... whatever the deal was, it presented like Meniere's disease, in that the symptoms continued intermittently for years until the receptors in my inner ear burnt out and all I am left with now is near-deafness and ringing in the right ear. I am just too young for it to actually be Meniere's disease. It has thankfully been 5 years since I have had any issues. [/

Hate to necropost, but actually no it's not too young. Meniere's can happen at any age, it just USUALLY shows up over 40.

fietsbob

I caught a bad Cold in the Midst of a Bike tour on the Irish West Coast .. fisherman's friend throat lozenges

bigbenaugust 

So to make a long story longer (2 years longer?), I am missing my vestibular aqueducts and so have some fluid circulation sorts of issues up in there, which would do the same stuff to the ear as Meniere's. The hearing loss and vertigo started very slowly and very young (elementary school in the 80's). It confounded every ENT and audiologist until the imaging technology caught up. Things are stable now and I wear hearing aids, so I haven't seen an ENT in a long time.

To drag this back vaguely on-topic, when I lived in the Bay Area, my audiologist encouraged me to wear the hearing aids on the bike. When I moved to the South, my new audiologist told me that was a terrible idea because of the humid climate. Welcome to the South!

JakiChan

Interesting. I was diagnosed with Meniere's last April, but we're not to hearing aids yet. Unfortunately my hearing loss is in the left ear, which is the one closest to traffic.

bikemig 

I got altitude sickness when hiking in the San Juans CO. It was pretty bad. I had to hike 4 days to backtrack to the trail head feeling sick the whole way, as if I had a flu or something. Then we piled into a car and drove into a Taco Bell. We smelled pretty bad and people gave us a lot of space to sit down. But man it was good to eat something other than freeze dried food for a change, .

TenSpeedV2

Rode home Saturday evening after only being at work for less than 2 hours. Felt very nauseated and finally that got the best of me x 2. People were kind of annoyed that I felt alright to ride my bike home. Uh, yeah, that was my mode of transportation. Was actually better off because in case I needed to vomit again, I was already outside and didn't have to worry about the interior of my car. The cold air felt good on me and I just concentrated on my route. Slept a total of almost 11 hours after I got home.

CliffordK

Life happens.

Dec 23, I was packed up to head to Mom's house pulling the trailer with gifts and luggage. Neighbor's car alarm was going off so I was looking that way as I headed down the driveway, and the bike just slipped out from under me. I came down hard on the left shoulder and sprained something Anyway, so I had to get back on the bike for a 20 mile ride across town, half of it one-handed.

Last summer I was dropped off about 100 miles from home for a day and a half ride back. I ate something that didn't sit well with me, and halfway through the night the diarrhea started.

I actually didn't feel too bad for the ride back, but I will admit taking a couple of "extra" stops beside the road.

PatrickGSR94

Now just imagine a bad sickness or injury while on the other side of the world from home. Had someone in our group on a mission trip about 10 years ago who fell and broke her elbow, while in Brno, Czech Republic. Talk about spoiling a trip.

canklecat

I don't recall ever commuting to/from work while battling vomiting from illness, but did occasionally have to finish a ride with a migraine which is often accompanied by nausea and a bit of vertigo. I get so many migraines I just grit my teeth and try to finish, although I won't begin a ride if I have one or feel the warning signs or aura. Usually they pop up unexpectedly due to excessive physical exertion in heat, so I've learned to take it a bit easier and know my physical threshold. I do recall a long distance group ride in Baja California in the 1970s where I had to drop out after 100 miles or so and finish in the sag wagon with a nauseatingly horrible migraine.

Gotta admit, if I still had to commute the distances I used to I'd seriously consider an e-assist bike, if only to get through those unusual occasions.

Booger1

Over the years,I've ridden to the doctors and hospital many times.....I've ridden to the hospital for shots for blood clots in the legs(2) and neck(1)....3 times......You should see the look on their face when I tell them....They can't believe I'm walking.

spivonious

I would occasionally get migraines after riding and it turned out to be that I was keeping too much tension in my shoulders. Since figuring that one out, I've only gotten a migraine from riding once in the past year and a half. It's worth a shot.

canklecat

Yup, many of my worst headaches begin with stress around a splintered C2 vertebrae injured in a car wreck 15 years ago. I can't handle drop bars anymore and ride a comfort/hybrid with upright bars and a long adjustable quill stem. A couple of weeks ago I lowered the bars 3" but after several rides I'm feeling more tension in the neck and shoulder so I'll need to raise it about an inch. On my last ride I had to stop several times, every few miles, to stretch and roll my neck and shoulders.

RubeRad

Closest I can think to OPs experience is, training for a duathlon (run/bike/run), I would run on the treadmill in the gym at work before riding home, those rides would be VERY slow. Not quite 1hr for 5mi though. And I would have to walk up the steep driveway at our complex.

If I was as sick as OP, I would make the 'call of shame' to get a ride from the wife, or if she couldn't, ask a co-worker. I've had multiple co-workers offer me (unnecessary) rides home when it was raining etc, so I would probably be able to find a ride.

There was a few-month period when I was struggling with a pinched nerve coming out of neck vertebrae, fortunately the worst pain was trying to tilt my head forward, so leaning my body forward and tilting my head up to ride a bike was about the only thing I could do!

Toomanytoys

"Call of Shame" are you kidding, life is too short to suffer.