I only really get a chance to ride at weekends and with this cold/flu going around at work i was too unwell to ride last week. I feel better now but still not great. The question is.. Should i go for a short ride today or wait another week to get better? Will i be better off missing 2 weeks and suffering when i go out next week, or just suffer a bit now and hope my cold doesn’t get worse?

Who else still rides with a cold?

I ride & have riden plenty of times with a cold – find it clears quicker when I just get on with it.

#manup 😉

Sometimes I help to find it helps to sweat it out. Only when your body’s recovering, I wouldn’t go mad at it either!!!!

Isn’t there some old chestnut about a cold/flu type thing above the neck being fine to carry on with, but below the neck needing taking it easy / easier?

Just ride

As long as you haven’t a sore throat you should be ok.

worst case scenario is you die, not joking!!!!

listen to your body, take it easy and you should be fine, try and do a training session and it may do far more harm than good.

I’ve phoned sick to work with a cold* and gone riding loads of times, been fine. I’ve found it clears it quicker too. There’s an ace cold remedy that I use called ‘contac’ drys it right up.

*not always with a cold

pretty keen on mtfu here but take it easy like much much much more easy than easy – had a friend – keen fell runner ended up on life support – pushed hard with a cold ended up with some sort of cardio shock thing – suspect pushed very hard rather than just did something but be careful

now im sure im gonna get shot down here but the trouble is when the OH has got a cold he stops doing anything and just sits n suffers and feels sorry for himself, thereby elongating the suffering and making it seem like hes dying… i personally ignore the ruddy thing and carry on as usual, this includes riding in grotty conditions when i have a full blown cold and I tend to therefore not take any notice of the fact ive got a cold and get over it a lot quicker…. although my OH is useless with illness, so much so when i was into week two of a broken jaw in 3 places he told me his water infection was the worst type of pain imaginable…. i struggled to hold much sympathy I have to say!

I’ve had a cold that’s almost lasted 2 weeks and TBH I felt best while riding & at night less people see me doing snot rockets 😉

GolfChick if your OH was talking about Kidney Stones I would believe him!

Cold – snot or a bit of phlegm but no temperature or bad sore throat = probably OK to ride but take it easier. No massive heart zone efforts at all which means no big hills.

Sore throat, feeling slightly feverish or recovering from flu – no riding at all for fear of it having been a viral infection. Very rarely virus’s can get to the heart muscle and cause irreversible cardio myopathy – ie kill/significantly weaken the heart muscle. 99.99% won’t but it’s really big issue if it happens to you.

no riding at all for fear of it having been a viral infection.

This is very good advise.
I did some medical training while in the army, and one thing I learnt a lot was how easy it is to get asthma when one pushes themselves while thinking they only have a cold! Please do NOT listen to that nonsense of people saying “I’ll sweat it out” you can not sweat a virus out. If you feel it on your chest or have a cough with it then please rest it out another couple of weeks, I used to do a lot of fell running and competed quite a lot, even though I aren’t a ‘runner’ I used it as a training tool for my riding and rowing, I’d always finish at my worst the top 5 but one year I knew I didn’t feel right, right from the start I felt quite bad but being an ex para is something they drum into you to forget about pain and so I just kept running, I managed to finish top 10 but later that day got sent straight to hospital suffering from hypothermia! Take it easy out there.

I did some medical training while in the army, and one thing I learnt a lot was how easy it is to get asthma when one pushes themselves while thinking they only have a cold!

How’s that work then?

Viruses can both cause asthma episodes and make people with asthma more sensitive to other asthma triggers.

Viral triggers include:

The rhinovirus (common cold)
Respiratory syncytial virus (RSV)
Certain flu viruses,

It really should be taken with extreme caution drac. We were really pushed to the max while para training and so obviously this is something I saw frequently.

I wouldn`t riding with a cold anymore… …especially not with a sore throat…
some years ago a mate didn`care about a sore throat and feeling weak…..he just went on with riding and running..
seemed not too serious..but lasted a while..
at the end he spent some time in hospital with pericardial inflammation..
for me…lesson learned

Viruses can both cause asthma episodes

Never heard of a non asthma suffering having an asthma attack I’m intrigued of where this has come from as not something I’ve ever come across.

When I was in the SAS I once took part in the olympic 10,000 metres for a laugh

turns out I’m pretty good at running – only silver, mind 🙁 – but I had to take a break from competitive shark wrestling due to neurosyphilis as a result

RMBG – sounds a bit like ‘Jay’…..sure its all real though

“At my old school…..blah blah blah”

I always find it’s best to just get on with it 😉

Had some kind of bug/flu last weekend and was off work Monday & Tuesday, felt better Weds so went back to work and did 18 miles at Haldon afterwards, then had a cold Thursday & Friday, managed 6 laps in the 4 hour solo at Oktoberfest yesterday and apart from aching legs feel back to normal today 😀

Unless your really bed bound, get out there, ride it like you stole it, get back and have a cold beer and a hot curry followed by a hot bath.

Cold be gone tomorrow. 😆

Thanks for all the replies!

I stayed in yesterday as i felt really tired and just didn’t feel up to it. I was planning on riding today without pushing myself but it was heavy rain and quite cold all day so i didn’t ride again.

Instead I did an 8k run on the treadmill but had to take it easy. My HR maxed out really early when I wasn’t even pushing myself hard. But feel better now after doing something.

I have a cold.
I have had colds before .
Amazingly, I know what I am going to do about it without asking the internet,and no,I am not going to tell you how I manage to cope.I iz just awezum
😛