Pollution Masks

Headhuunter

Apologies if this has been covered before, but does anyone use those pollution masks? I sometimes find that I cough a lot when I have arrived at work and am not sure whether it's due to breathing all the filth and pollution as I ride up the Old Kent Road and through the City, or just something that happens after pushing things a bit on the bike.

Admittedly I sometimes cough a bit after finishing a long run or weekend ride through Kent too, so perhaps I am needlessly worrying, however I would be interested to hear people's thoughts on these.

I have heard some say that they inhibit breathing and therefore performance quite a lot and the area around the mouth and nose gets sweaty and condensation builds up. Is this true or are they worth investing in? If so, which particular models?

lost_in_thought

I've been wondering about this for a while, I've tried a few on (I know - ewww) and found that they might well not allow for a fast enough airflow.

Never tried one out on the bike though. Since it's now been over a year since I quit smoking I'd be less of a hypocrite if I did wear one...

il_principe

Total waste of time. If you actually work on your commute then wearing a mask is like ccling with someones hand over your face - v hard to breathe. They aren't needed anyway. That Dr Alice thingy who has the BBC show did a pollution test on her bike in central bristol, conclusion was that fumes are nothing to worry about:

"But could my choice of exercise be doing me more harm than good?
My routine involves cycling eight miles to and from work every day, often in heavy traffic. I sometimes wonder whether the pollution is bad for me.
Dr Anthony Steed has built a portable pollution monitor, which will measure how much carbon monoxide I'm being exposed to on my way to work.
It should take me about 40 minutes, I think, down into the middle of Bristol and back again, so I'll see you then.

Dr Anthony Steed: OK.

Dr Alice Roberts: Carbon monoxide can limit the amount of oxygen my blood can carry. But I'm also worry about the dangerous ultra-fine particles in exhaust fumes. Some people wear masks. They do cut out the big stuff, but they don't block out the ultra-fine particles, so the jury is still out on just how effective they are.
The pollution monitor in my backpack was hooked up to a GPS system so, rather cleverly, the computer knows exactly where I've been.

Dr Anthony Steed: Right. Let's see. This is where we started, outside in the countryside, almost. There's quite low levels, that's what the blue means.
Coming into the centre, there's still quite low levels here.
Round the square, but then you can see when we hit the city centre, we're getting a very high level just on this bit of the street here. We'll be able to see...
You're coming down Queen's Road?

Dr Alice Roberts: Yes, I'm coming in this direction. I was behind a lorry just there, where it goes pink, belching lots of fumes at that point.

Dr Anthony Steed: It's not a particularly high level. It's a high level on this route. I'd expect to see the pollution go you when you're following traffic or stuck whilst you're behind something.
Now, the interesting thing is when you go back up the same route, we can see here, if we zoom in again. Coming back up, you're going slower, of course, because it's uphill but it's not as polluted, so what that tells us is overall, we could expect that if you're in a city centre, there's really not much to worry about. But if you can stay away from the big juggernauts, that would be sensible.

Dr Alice Roberts: That's actually really quite reassuring. Because it means that even right down in the middle of Bristol, the carbon monoxide levels aren't too high. I'm going to carry on on this route and it doesn't look too bad, but tomorrow, I'm not going to cycle up behind lorries."

In fact if I cycle in London and then blow my nose there's rarely any nasty dark cr@p in there, however if I've been on the tube there is always some nasty residue.

Headhuunter

I must admit I had serious doubts as to the ability of those masks to block those microscopic PM10 particles which are supposed to be so bad. I do tend to use my commute as a training ride and push it pretty hard, so anything that's going to inhibit my breathing is not going to be good I guess.

jonginge

jashburnham wrote:

Total waste of time.

In fact if I cycle in London and then blow my nose there's rarely any nasty dark cr@p in there, however if I've been on the tube there is always some nasty residue.

+1

Also, better to be on a bike in traffic than in a car with its recycled bad air

lost_in_thought

JonGinge wrote:

jashburnham wrote:

Total waste of time.

In fact if I cycle in London and then blow my nose there's rarely any nasty dark cr@p in there, however if I've been on the tube there is always some nasty residue.

+1

Also, better to be on a bike in traffic than in a car with its recycled bad air

I used to get the black snot a lot when I was going from Liverpool Street to Mayfair/Kensington - I mostly blamed the tunnel under the Barbican and Oxford Street with its buses.

I have to say that my new ealing-kensington route is black-snot-free.

jonginge

lost_in_thought wrote:

JonGinge wrote:

jashburnham wrote:

Total waste of time.

In fact if I cycle in London and then blow my nose there's rarely any nasty dark cr@p in there, however if I've been on the tube there is always some nasty residue.

+1

Also, better to be on a bike in traffic than in a car with its recycled bad air

I used to get the black snot a lot when I was going from Liverpool Street to Mayfair/Kensington - I mostly blamed the tunnel under the Barbican and Oxford Street with its buses.

I have to say that my new ealing-kensington route is black-snot-free.

I used to work just off Oxford street: black-snot city :shock:

biondino

I do work off oxford street and blacksnot is minimal :?:

That Dr Alice thingy

Be still my throbbing, um, heart...

jonginge

biondino wrote:

I do work off oxford street and blacksnot is minimal :?:

It was ten years ago

biondino wrote:

That Dr Alice thingy
Be still my throbbing, um, heart...

Indeed

biondino

Is it a long-haired ginger thing?

jonginge

biondino wrote:

Is it a long-haired ginger thing?

Careful now

il_principe

I'm not clear, does Biondino fancy Alice or Jon (or both)?

biondino

If the option was either Alice AND Jon or nothing, I'd have to have a long think about the correct course of action...

philbill1973

I scalped Dr Alice last week, then I let her pass me just so I could be sure it was her and scalped her again.

gert_lush

I scalped Dr Alice last week, then I let her pass me just so I could be sure it was her and scalped her again

hahah I have seen her going in the opposite direction a few times but never a confirmed scalp, good skills, does famous scalping get more points?

tardington

I've got a bandito it tends to shoot hot breath up my glasses if I don't get the nose bit right...

When I smoke (only when pissed, sorry!) I have to hoick out the black snots for days afterwards... Never had it from traffic though!