Riding through head colds
 

I spent yesterday walking around with cigar-sized rolls of tissue stuffed up each nostril because my nose was running so much it was cheaper just to plug it up and just deal with it less often than having it drip like a faucet on my clothes etc.. A bad head-cold.

Over the weekend it was coming on as a bad feeling, like inflammation/swelling in my ears, throat, sinuses. I went for my usual Saturday morning ride in very high winds and cool temps, probably did not do me much good, when I got home my t-shirt was wringing wet under the wind-breaker I had on. I had cut the ride off at 20 miles because of the wind and sick feeling.

Yesterday morning despite having worse symptoms and having to blow my nose out periodically as I rode, I did as brisk a 20 miles as I could stand to do, and while riding it was not too bad, but afterwards the cold ramped up with a vengeance and kicked the crap out of me. I could not finish mowing the yard even using a self-propelled push-mower, and took a couple hour nap in the middle of the day. And of course did not sleep well that night.

This morning still the watery eyes, runny nose, and throat kind of tickling me to cough, it was such a beautiful day outside I just said F-it and went out and did as easy a 20-mile ride as I can remember doing in a long time and it felt really good. Despite having to blow and wipe my nose here and there while riding it seemed better, and now after the ride I feel in better shape than I was after yesterday's ride. Boy it would be great if I was on the way back out of this thing.
I was thinking that to continue riding might prolong the cold or make it worse, but it does not seem to be doing that, and I figure whatever it is doing to screw up the rest of my body, at least I am maintaining some leg muscle I otherwise would have lost if I had sat on my butt for four or five days.

This probably works differently for each person and with each different sort of bug that they catch, but this time it is working out for me. This is the first cold/flu bug I can remember having for three or four years, and I am 60 years old and things are supposed to be a little tougher as you get older in fighting this sort of thing, but whenever I get the next bug, I will remember to try and keep riding through it. Looking forward to maybe not riding while being sick a few days down the road.......

When riding with a sinus cold I usually take Ephedrine. Would disqualify one in competition, but it clears the sinuses nicely on a recreational ride.

I'm not sure what the point of your post is, but you did yourself no favors by riding while sick.

I recall when my kid shoved a bunch of toilet paper up her nose for some reason. It's amazing how much you can shove in there!

Hopefully that "bug" isn't something more serious.

My dr said that it's okay to exercise if the symptoms are above the neck, within reason of course. If down in the chest--forget it. I'm fighting the same thing right now. I got in good rides Fri-Sun but yesterday was definitely a no-go, especially with our record heat.

(One in the household tested negative for covid last Thurs with a home kit; another went in for a PCR test yesterday and we're awaiting those results. If covid, our luck finally ran out.)

it’s probably covid, im sure he’s fine. Cyclists are pretty much immune, nobody in my squad got sick and some of them are old dinosaurs

Cyclists are immune to head colds? Or COVID? Either is easily disproved.

Should have told these guys: Riding post-Covid? - Page 2 - Bike Forums

My wife had it first and it came and was gone in a week, so I am guessing I will be on the same curve. For now it is staying upstairs. hopefully tomorrow I will not have to use so much tissue, and will not have to blow my nose into the slipstream as I ride. I just remember 25 years ago after training all summer for a race I wanted to do well it, I got something like this the day before the race and it knocked about 2mph off my top speed, made me really tired etc.. I got a race I want to do in a few weeks and I did not need this setback, it pisses me off.

At this time of year, it is far more likely to be SARS-2 than rhinovirus. Given that, it would be prudent not to push until you clear it. It is also probably a good idea not to push it if you have a common cold.

40 some years ago I was at a college party and broke a large pretzel stick in two and jammed half up each nostril so I could impersonate a walrus, ever since then I get a chronic bloody nose out of one nostril, usually when I get a head-cold and have to blow my nose and play with it a lot. Cauterizing did not help.

So you are approx. 60. All the better reason not to try to tough this out. The likelihood of having a heart attack or stroke when you have a cold goes up significantly; obviously more-so if it is COVID.

My daughter picked some of the foam out of her car seat when she was very young, and snorted it up her nose, unknown to us, where it festered for a month or two until it was obvious something was really wrong. The doc pulled out a very long forceps and extracted it. The nose was all infected by then, and she still (20+ years later) gets nasty nose bleeds.

Get some (pure) saline solution.

In 2022, that is covid unless you prove otherwise with a test.

I haven't had a cold since I took up cycling. I did catch Covid and stopped riding until fully healed. It took a year of training to get my performance and weight back.

In some areas of the U.S., tree pollen is insane right now. Just spent a week touring Vermont. I had pollen on clothes I hung up to dry. My black cooking gear got dusted overnight while out on picnic tables. At one campground the wind kicked up one morning and created a yellow haze over the pond. The cars of people camping in that area were covered with pollen.

Update. Yesterday went for a good ride of thirty-some miles, did not have the runny nose problem hardly at all. It was in the high 80s temp-wise. Felt pretty good for most of the ride but was noticeably still tired and weak compared to normal. Had some weird luck breaking the rear axle on the bike which delayed me getting home as soon as I would have otherwise. Took it easy the rest of the day. Today I did not ride at all, took the day off and just weeded the garden etc.. Cold seemed under control except for the occasional tickle in the throat. My voice was pretty much back to normal, wife said I looked good. Still felt tired but that was maybe from getting up before the sun. So I rode over 90 miles so far since I started feeling crummy and it did not seem to make any difference in how long the bug has lasted compared to how my wife fared against it. I want to ride really bad, but if I do I will either skip tomorrow and hit it hard Saturday, or if I ride both days I will keep it real easy one of the days. The way things are going I am guessing that reasonable exercise does not seem to affect recovery from virus infections, at least in my case. My wife is a yoga instructor for over 20 years, and when this was kicking her butt she of course kept practicing all she could too, even taught some classes online.

Friday and Saturday racked up another 40-odd miles on the Marin mtb and the road-bike. Feeling better and better. A few more good nights sleep and hopefully will be able to get back to normal. I had no trouble today on the road-bike riding around in the 52/19 gear I used regularly before the head-cold came along. Now will try to start using the 52/18 as much as possible.