Magic juju all gone

[johnridley]

Dammit, I took 3 days off cycling, and it's had a predictable effect. I'm coming down with the cold that the rest of the house has been passing around. I caught one for a little bit a few weeks back too, when I took two days off cycling.

There's been no study, but a very substantial weight of anecdotal reports on bikeforums shows that people who cycle at least several miles daily through the winter just don't seem to catch colds as much as when they aren't cycling, and when they do the symptoms are quite mild and brief.

The best speculation I've seen is that the reason is a combination of elevation of circulation and respiration, and also that the cold air causes the respiratory passages to really start a lot of mucous flowing and that tends to wash out infections that might otherwise sit and breed.

It's entirely possible that I'm just an asymptomatic carrier when I'm cycling. Still, I'll take it. Beats moping around with a fever. I started driving to get more time to do some work, but when the day after I start driving I start getting sick and lose all energy, it's not doing much good.

I wonder how the roads are going to look on Monday...

Comments

[madtechie2718.livejournal.com]

Interesting!

I cycle to work throughout the year and have noticed that the incidence of headcolds is way down since I started doing so 7 years back.

In fact, the only colds I've had are when I stop cyling, get on an aeroplane and visit the US. The combination of no cycling and 8 hours in a tin can with 300 people seems to be a sure-fire recipe....

[backrubbear.livejournal.com]

I'd speculate that it's just keeping the mucous moving. I tend to get colds whenever things in my head "freeze up". The neti pot helps me since I just can't seem to get into any sort of cardio.