May flowers... and bike rides

[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.

[north woods gal]

Best of luck on your ride, Crankin. Hope you get some decent weather.

50s, today, with showers and drizzle. Cold enough for me to wear leggings and gloves to be comfortable. Brrr! Did a little trail riding, though, between showers. Fortunately, warmer weather is on the way.

Going to give the road bike another try on a long ride, despite my less than comfy last ride with it. Think it was mostly my body not having been in that drop bar riding position for awhile. Might just have to stay with flat bars for my road riding if it it proves to be a problem switching back and forth as far as getting comfortable. Don't need the hassle. For sure, I can do flat bars on the road for long hours and have done it a lot, but I can't do drop bars on the techy trails. Okay on the mild stuff, but definitely not in tight twisty sections.

[Crankin]

Rain.
Again.

[Pax]

We're seeing a few days of sunshine for the first time in forever, but the temps keep staying below normal. Very weird spring to match the equally weird winter.

[north woods gal]

Same, here. On top of everything else, we're still getting very springlike high winds, 20-30 mph stuff. By June, winds have calmed down in normal years. Those winds have little effect on my trail riding, though, so another reason I've been doing more of that than the road work. Had enough of high winds out on the road in my lifetime of bicycling out on the prairies. The forests do help to cut the wind on our roads, up here, but still very much a factor, especially when you find yourself with a headwind. On a more positive note, those winds out on the road do help keep the mosquitoes and black flies at bay.