terrymorse 

Three days in a row stuck indoors is getting really old.



There's not even anywhere within driving distance with decent air, so a drive-to ride is out.

The windows are closed, the makeshift air filters are running full blast, it still smells like smoke.

How harmful could it be to ride when the air is this bad? Asking for a friend.

Bald Paul

It can be really bad. You're sucking in huge amounts of gawd-knows-what out there.

terrymorse 

I'll tell my "friend", but he won't be happy with the news. He's getting stir crazy.

AndreyT

Maybe bicycle riding implies less of that "princess on a pea" syndrome. I remember real bad air quality in Bay Area a year or two ago, when the coast was burning. Not that it prevented me or other people from riding, but I'd understand if individuals with certain medical conditions opted to stay indoors. What the buzz is about this season is not clear. The air is fine.

If at noon it doesn't look like Mars outside, it is safe.

genejockey 

Apparently what we're sucking in is bits of Oregon.

genejockey 

I took this week off from work, because I was at maximum vacation accrual. I figured I'd stay home, get some stuff done around the house, go for some mid-day rides, where I wouldn't be fighting the wind I'm always fighting on my post-work rides. Tuesday, I decided to do the OTHER thing you can do on days off - a nap. I thought I'd go for a ride after.

Then this happened....




The next day, it cleared out in the early afternoon, so I did some of the yard work I'd been putting off. I figured I'd ride after.

Then this happened.



So, I've been riding ITG instead of IRL. But at least it's supposed to clear out by Sunday. 4 hours on Zwift is not my idea of a perfect day.

3alarmer 

.
...supposed to be an early atmospheric river storm series, coning into NorCal and maybe Oregon this Sunday or Monday.
This will help a lot with those fires that are the source of all this particulate matter down here. If it happens... which it probably will.

3alarmer 

....why read those stupid air quality monitor sites, when I have this as encouragement ?

terrymorse 

The Eastern Sierra looks amazingly nice right now. AQI in the 20s, temps in the 60s.

And the hotel rates are shoulder season low. About 6 hours by car. "Friend" likes this idea. Friend's wife -- not so much.

AndreyT

Exactly. Some people breathe air quality monitor sites, apparently. Those bizarre quirks of hive mind societies...

genejockey 

Ah. One of those.

3alarmer 

....the avatar makes a lot more sense, now.

Trakhak

Hive mind is all there was before science.

AndreyT

Come to think of it... kinda my point exactly.

terrymorse 

The "Spare the Air" alert has been extended to tomorrow (Saturday). That will be day 4 of unhealthy air.

The surface smoke forecast through 10 P.M. today (Friday 9/22):



Source: NOAA

Iride01 

Do you know what the air quality actually is in your home?

While it might not be as bad as outside, it's probably not so much better that a few hours of riding outside will seriously cause you issues.

3alarmer 

...breathing fine particulates at elevated levels is kind of a cumulative thing.
I guess maybe you haven't done enough of it yet. This might be a challenge for me, but an opportunity for you.

Polaris OBark

I just bought my own Purple Air monitor, to contribute to the hive.

Although I recognize data and objective measurements are now out of fashion, and science really is just another political opinion, I still do see some degree of merit in keeping 2.5 micron particles out of my lungs.

I'll sit this one out.

3alarmer 

...it dropped into the green here last night, about 7 PM. I have lost my enthusiasm for riding in the dark, but that's on me. I had a chance.

3alarmer 

... when I was breathing a lot of smoke, someone was paying me to do it.

AndreyT

I agree. In about six or seven hundred years of continuous inhalation it might accumulate enough contaminants to cause a fit of hard coughing. Or maybe two.

Depends on the objective against which that "enough" is measured... Enough to tell bad air from good air without an internet connection. Not enough to start seeing things in people's avatars on internet forums.

genejockey 

It's the time of the year when I construct an Excel file using sunset times to calculate when I need to stop work and go get changed for a post-work ride before dark. But then along comes the end of DST, and that's it till March.

terrymorse 

I submit it's not at all easy for humans to detect the difference between "good" AQI and "unhealthy" AQI. At this moment, the air doesn't look very different, and the smell of smoke is barely detectable. But the AQI is definitely "unhealthy".

Who could have guessed that humans are pretty bad at detecting the concentration of 2.5 micron particles in air?

3alarmer 

...we get too little hard science in this forum. Thank you.




...what am I seeing here ?

tomato coupe

It's funny how some people revel in their ignorance of science.