air quality: how is riding in the Bay Area today?

[Veronica]

We went to Guerneville yesterday so I could do the swim portion of my race. It was pretty nice there.

V.

[maillotpois]

Wow - they canceled the Western States 100 for the first time in 31 years. Wild.

Our ride yesterday would have been fine. It's okay on the coast. Oh well. I'll ride today.

[dachshund]

We started seeing blue sky over here on Saturday. Yay!

I'd be more happy if I didn't also come down with laryngitis on Saturday.
Think it has anything to do with the air last week?? My partner says no, but I feel some suspicion...

Has anyone else gotten a cold or congestion from the smoke?

My voice sounds a little like Wall-E.

[velogirl]

we rode to the coast yesterday and saw a bit of blue sky as well.

I noticed my riding partner had some post-nasal drip going on and he was a bit hoarse as well -- and he's never had it before. he lives in an area where the smoke is pretty dense so I'm speculating that it's related.

[nic840]

We just got back from camping in the mountains...between I-80 and 50 outside of Foresthill and it was wicked.

Thursday was bad, Friday a little better but would come in waves, Saturday was okay but not great...Sunday was the best. As we were driving home through the canyons it was amazing how it just got trapped in the valleys.

My 2.5 year old has developed a nice smokers cough...probably shouldn't of had her out there in it at all - but there was no escaping it no matter where you were.

Rode yesterday afternoon when I got home - much nicer than earlier in the week.
Sacramento is much better today with blue sky and light breeze.
Here is a picture from Friday afternoon....

[Trek420]

Rode to work today, just could not resist. It seemed foggy in the morning, now I'm seeing some blue unless I look towards the hills.

[nic840]

Tried to ride out of Auburn area today and it was ugly and smoky at 8am! It had cleared for a few days and now its nasty again.

Drove down to Folsom Lake to hopefully have the air get a little better. Did 30 miles on the trail and the smoke moved in by the time we were done. The AQI in Auburn/Colfax was over 200! Nasty.

Hope the air quality was better in the Bay.

[Veronica]

We rode up near Ione today. I wanted to see the run course for my tri next week. We rode a chunk of that. It amused me to be riding my "tri" bike on a fire trail. Then we rode the bike course from Rancho Seco out to Ione. Just as we turned around at Ione the smoke started coming in.

I hope it's gone next when I have my race. I figure I'm going to have to suck it up and train in it this week.

V.

[michelem]

Smoke came back to Folsom on Saturday mid-morning. It cleared a bit later in the day and overnight, only to come back this morning. I can even smell it in the house. It's supposed to get over 105 degrees this week again, so no trainer for me this week either (I'm not willing to crank down our a/c that far). Guess I'll focus on running and weights at the gym this week . . .

[dachshund]

The air around the East Bay was ugly yesterday, a brownish haze.

Blech - 100 degree temps this week.
Good week to stay inside and watch sports on tv.....

[maillotpois]

any idea how it might be in the Sierras? death ride's this weekend.

[michelem]

EPA's AQI site: http://www.airnow.gov/

[JennyPi]

It's definitely going to get much more hazey out this week. I live on the peninsula so we don't get the worst of the haze, but I'm definitely noticing that there aren't clear blue skies out today. I feel for folks in the eastbay (and in other areas who have poorer air quality). On my way home from class this morning I could see the brown haze sitting on top of the eastbay. I'm not sure if I'll ride to work today. Today, the deciding factor isn't the air quality but the heat. When I ride to work during 90 degree heat, I can't stop sweating even well after my ride in an air conditioned building! It's a bit embarrassing

[roadie gal]

Up here in Truckee it's good in the morning, but seems to get bad in the afternoon. I rode on Rt 89 from Truckee to Alpine Meadows yesterday about 4pm. It was beautiful until I passed Squaw. Then it suddenly got terribly smoky. I had to turn around at Alpine because I couldn't breathe. North of Squaw it was good again. I guess the mountains just funnel the smoke down in places.

[maillotpois]

Roadie gal - I'm wondering if perhaps it is better higher up and the smoke settles lower down?

I can't find any data from the AQ board on the Sierras south of Tahoe. I guess we'll see when we get there. As someone with a history of pretty scary lung disorder, I'm a little nervous about the whole thing. Hoping higher elevations are better. Seems ok in Nevada.