May flowers... and bike rides

[Crankin]

So yesterday, I started feeling better around 10 am. Decided to err on the side of caution, so we walked into town for our exercise, ate a light lunch, and walked back, for 4 miles. Late in the afternoon, I began feeling somewhat yucky again, but that is kind of normal for me when I am getting better.
Wanted to do a long 40-50 mile ride today, but I woke up with a full head and not feeling great. I am still "better," in that my ear isn't hurting like hell and I am not about to lose my voice. But, because of the fullness in my head, I feel a bit out of it. My nose is running.
I am beyond upset. Normally, I'd chalk it up to a few days off, but I am seriously scared I am going to die on my cycling trip. Realistically, I know I can suffer my way through it, but I don't want to...

[emily_in_nc]

Normally, I'd chalk it up to a few days off, but I am seriously scared I am going to die on my cycling trip. Realistically, I know I can suffer my way through it, but I don't want to...

Bummer, Crankin! I am sorry you haven't been feeling well. When is your trip?

[Crankin]

We leave Jun 21, the cycling starts on the 23d or 24th, I can't remember.
So, I ended up riding 25.5 miles today. Not the bigger hills, almost 50 miles we had planned, but what started out as a slower local ride of 18 miles, turned into a faster and longer ride. We rode to Ferns to get lunch, under some pretty dark clouds. No rain on the radar, though. When we finished eating, I suggested we make it a little longer, instead of heading right back. When we had about 8-9 miles left, DH asked me if I had felt bumps on the road, and I hadn't. So, we stopped and he found his tire had actually become unseated in one spot. He really did not want to fix this on the road, so he let air out and we picked up the pace. Then, we got to an intersection with a 4 way stop/blinking light. There was a group of like 10 cyclists, with about 4 of them just standing in the road, talking. The rest were on the sidewalk. There was a car behind us wanting to turn right, but no other cars. We slowed, and as we rolled through, DH said something to them for blocking the road. One of them said, "well, you didn't stop." Yes, because if we had, we were afraid we'd get hit by the car and didn't know what the driver would do! This is a busy intersection, right near where we used to live. On we went. We made it home and DH fixed his tire.
Now, my head is full, I am sneezing, but my criteria for riding was it's not in my chest. That still is true. Hopefully, it should diminish tomorrow.

[north woods gal]

Go easy, Crankin. It's been my experience that any respiratory thing can get aggravated while biking. I used to have a heck of a time beating colds, back when the bike was my only means of transportation.

Good day for me, today. Road the pavement four miles out to a pretty challenging MTB trailhead that I hand't ridden since last summer. The trail was in rough shape with downed trees blocking the way, so lots of detouring. The Pugsley took it all in stride, though. Funny thing is that the technical sections weren't anywhere near as tricky as I remembered them. In fact, no big deal. Guess all my constant trail riding since then has improved my skills. Still plenty challenging, physically, what with lots of nasty steeps to climb. Nothing leisurely about this system.

Ended the day with 10 miles of pavement and about eight on the single track. No bears, seen.

[Crankin]

My head was pretty full last night, and it still is, but it seems to have opened up, as I can breathe. I am in constant fear it might travel south, but so far, it is more like I feel I am going to lose my voice and everything is feeling "foggy." I slept 10 hours, but it's not resolved. I don't feel worse, though. The thing is, I never get "colds," only sinus infections, bronchitis, allergy induced stuff. But, this is a cold. I am not coughing and my sinuses don't really hurt. I don't do well with nose blowing, etc...
Don't want to cancel my granddaughter's visit today. I am not really sneezing, so I will wash my hands voraciously and hope for the best. My son and DIL are not crazy about this stuff.

[ny biker]

When I first started having asthma problems every cold I got turned into a bad cough. My pulmonologist always focused on treating the nasal congestion to prevent the mucus from heading down to my lungs. So I always take a nasal decongestant when I get a cold, even though I don't like the side effects, and I sleep on a pile of pillows so I'm almost sitting upright. And Cold-Eeze (zinc losenges) seems to help if I start using them as soon as the symptoms start. I also make a point of resting my voice to avoid laryngitis, ever since I ended a cold with a paralyzed vocal cord a couple of years ago.

I rode 40 miles on Saturday. The morning was sunny and warm but it soon became cloudy, actually good riding weather because it wasn't too cold or too hot or too humid. Towards the end we had some light rain, but it didn't last long. One person joined me, and together we met up with another friend for a portion of the longer ride that he was doing. All in all it went well. I think the saddle problems I was having are gone; I did have some soreness for a couple of days but after three weeks off the bike that's not unusual. The important thing is that things seemed equally sore on both sides, with no unusual inflammation on the right.

We appear to still be in a rainy pattern, so I'm not sure what I'll be able to accomplish this week. I think there will be some dry periods, but am not sure when they'll occur or how long they will last.

[Crankin]

I take an antihistamine daily, along with an antihistamine nasal spray. If the nasal symptoms or my eyes start up, I do a saline nasal rinse 2X a day. I also use allergy eye drops twice a day, every day. My symptoms often start in my eyes. When I had asthma symptoms, it was called "specious," in that I never coughed or wheezed. My chest just felt tight. So I already do the proactive stuff. As soon as my throat started feeling off last week, I increased my water intake, to lubricate my vocal chords. When I first moved to MA, for the first 5 years I got laryngitis in the fall, when the weather got cooler. Since I was teaching, it was horrible. One thing I learned was not to use hot drinks to treat that, just drink lots of water. It worked, but last Thursday I thought i might have to leave work early as it was on the edge.
When I say go into my chest, I mean bronchitis or pneumonia. I haven't had any real asthma issues in many years. Occasionally a wheeze if I am sick. In fact, I haven't had bronchitis, either. I had pneumonia in 2005 and while I only missed 2 days of work, it took me 6 weeks to be able to get back to exercising normally. But, the fear is always there. I did use my albuterol inhaler a couple of times during the weekend.
I feel better today. Been sleeping well. My sinuses hurt a bit, but I am not going to the doctor, unless I feel suddenly sicker again. Going on a 35 mile local ride tomorrow.