Coughing and a-spluttering, death waiting at the door, a cold is never fun for the cyclist. No matter how much vitamin C you push down your throat, there is bound to be that one week where your nose starts glowing and your eyes begin to puff up.
And of course as every male cyclist knows, we get it worst. Honestly we do, Man Flu is real people!!
Joking aside - or am I?!?! - there is a saying in the cycling world, that if the cold is above the neck you’re fine to cycle, if below you’re not. Basically, when a cold hits the chest and breathing is more difficult, you get off the bike.
Indeed, there is a point in a cold’s life where discretion is the better part of valour. There is no point in forcing your body to exercise when the mucus and glands are up, the chest is wheezing and your head is swimming.
So you sit the day out, which becomes two days then three. Impatience begins to stalk the world as your family learns to avoid old grumpy bear with a sore head and no road miles on his bike.
By day four, you’ve had enough. Climbing gingerly on the bike, you set off. The first mile feels fine, so does the second. Then sometime in, or after the ride, the cold wakes up and demands to know why you took it out of its warm environment. And it will have revenge.
Recently I had a cold and coming back on day four, I took the bike out for a 20 miler to check if I was over it.
All the way through the ride I was fine. The miles went by, the legs felt good, even my breathing wasn’t that laboured.
Then I stopped.
And had a little cough.
Then another.
And another.
Pretty soon I thought my lung was going to escape through my mouth. Tears rolled down my face as I coughed and my chest spasmed. But all of a sudden it stopped. I wasn’t dead. Indeed, I felt better than before the ride. Something had shifted in my chest and my breathing cleared.
Now I am not advocating jumping on a bike before you’re actually feeling better. Indeed, my advice is to not follow a bear on a trike and think you are fine for a bike ride just because you managed to walk round the corner to the shops without fainting.
No, take it from me, cycling is an extreme way of getting mucus out of the system.
I’m a bit behind on the training log so bumper rides!:
Training Ride: 12
Distance: 31.9 miles
Average speed: 17.5mph
Elevation gained: 918ft
Training Ride: 13
Distance: 21.7 miles
Average speed: 16mph
Elevation gain: 362 ft
Training Ride: 14
52.5 miles
14.8mph
2,273ft
Total mileage: 462.5 miles
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