Does air quality index make a difference if you bike or not?
- Thread starter AleksR
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indianajo
Well-Known Member
No. There is no alternative, I don't drive a car. When I'm out of supplies, time to shop! Low air quality is no longer my fault.
OTOH I don't have asthma. I do carry a 3m M95 mask if smoke gets too bad. Which I wear in stores, these days.
You would be shocked by what I spit up after shifts fighting chip fryer or bake oven fires. City fire department would come, but stand there and watch us maintenance men work. Shoveling out burning chips onto concrete floor & spraying water on them, mostly. Lungs & trachia are lined with cilia, and if you're not a smoker, they do their job pushing out bad particles.
Remember native Americans used to burn the prairies to keep down the weeds & tree saplings. Kansas ranchers still do. It's a tradition still be be adopted by California.
OTOH I don't have asthma. I do carry a 3m M95 mask if smoke gets too bad. Which I wear in stores, these days.
You would be shocked by what I spit up after shifts fighting chip fryer or bake oven fires. City fire department would come, but stand there and watch us maintenance men work. Shoveling out burning chips onto concrete floor & spraying water on them, mostly. Lungs & trachia are lined with cilia, and if you're not a smoker, they do their job pushing out bad particles.
Remember native Americans used to burn the prairies to keep down the weeds & tree saplings. Kansas ranchers still do. It's a tradition still be be adopted by California.
Last edited:
Leon S. Kennedy
Active Member
You should avoid outdoor exercise when the AQI is high if you don't want reduced lung function, bronchitis, heart failure, and early death. Wildfire smoke also makes you more vulnerable to COVID. You could use a particulate respirator (make sure its NIOSH certified; most KN95s don't work) when outside as it protects against both PM2.5 and COVID. A respirator adds considerable breathing resistance when exercising, but it's much better than breathing the PM2.5 from smoke.
Mr. Coffee
Well-Known Member
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During a severe smoke season in 2018 I made the mistake of being stubborn and foolish and rode several times during heavy smoke (the AQI was over 200). It took a most of the following winter before I felt like I was breathing right.
In general it is an extremely Bad Idea to exercise in severely polluted air. I would think hard about doing anything outside if the AQI is higher than 100.
From the following map I see that several places in CA right now have unhealthy, very unhealthy, or hazardous air:
waqi.info
In general it is an extremely Bad Idea to exercise in severely polluted air. I would think hard about doing anything outside if the AQI is higher than 100.
From the following map I see that several places in CA right now have unhealthy, very unhealthy, or hazardous air:
World's Air Pollution: Real-time Air Quality Index
How polluted is the air today? Check out the real-time air pollution map, for more than 80 countries.
waqi.info
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