Viewing 27 posts - 1 through 27 (of 27 total)
  • What causes a post ride cold?
  • oldgit
    Free Member

    For example yesterday. I left just before 6am in the freezing cold. By 12pm it was pretty warm and by 2pm it was raining.
    I never wear a windproof, preferring several layers and not stopping
    Felt fine the whole eight hours, and fine afterwards. Today I have a stinker. Problem is I get this a lot?
    Edit; I should be asking how to avoid these chills.

    grumm
    Free Member

    I read an article somewhere suggesting that heavy exercise stresses your immune system, and that you are most at risk of picking something up immediately afterwards, ie in the hour or so after doing the exercise. I get it a lot too but I put it down to CFS/ME knackering my immune system. 🙁

    hels
    Free Member

    What grum said.

    Did you eat enough ??

    Fresh Goods Friday 696: The Middling Edition

    Fresh Goods Friday 696: The Middlin...
    Latest Singletrack Videos
    Onzadog
    Free Member

    I’d heard the same. A cold is nothing to do with outside temperature but exercise does lower the immune system. Keep other people away from you for 30-60 minutes after exercise.

    senorj
    Full Member

    It was cold yesterday and windy –
    I always swear by my windproof gillet to keep the cold off my chest.
    Also getting warm & dry clobber on v.quick after stopping has helped my snivel ratio.

    hels
    Free Member

    When I used to train loads all the chat was about the “magic hour” e.g. you have an hour to get dry clothes on, washed and warm, fed and hydrated then curl up in front of a heater with your feet up. 8 hours is a good long ride !

    anc
    Free Member

    You’ll have had the cold virus before the ride, the symptoms usually take a few days to appear. That said heavy training does suppress your immune system and therefore can make you more susceptible to viruses.

    grumm
    Free Member

    Also getting warm & dry clobber on v.quick after stopping has helped my snivel ratio.

    Me too – never used to bother with taking a change of clothes but it does seem to help a bit. I suspect being in an enclosed car with other people + cold wet clothing straight after riding is probably a fairly bad recipe.

    fontmoss
    Free Member

    im with them, immune system depleted virus gains an advantage-schools and unis not that long back so proper mixing pot of illnesses in most communities another reason possibly

    TandemJeremy
    Free Member

    I don’t think its anything to do with the bike ride if it is a cold.

    It could however be rhinitus – which is a drippy nose but no infection symptoms which can be an allergic reaction

    heavy exercise does stress your immune system but I thought that was highly trained / overtrained athletes not someone who goes out for a bike ride. Exercise should be beneficial there.

    A cold takes a day or two to incubate IIRC so a cold you have today you actually caught 2 or 3 days ago.

    Catching cold is nothing to do with beng cold and wet. Zero

    grumm
    Free Member

    Also, it’s very non scientific, but I found making sure I took a big dose of vitamin C on riding days seemed to help.

    speaker2animals
    Full Member

    I’m not sure anyone really knows why we get colds. I live under the assumption that most if not all the time we have cold virus knocking around our bodies. Then something happens that allows it to infect us. An air borne irritant (I used to get colds after nights in very smoky pubs), exercise, physical damage such as a scratch on the lips/nasal passage.

    I too often find a cold can start after a lot of riding. But generally if I have been doing a LOT of riding rather than just a single ride no matter how hard/cold/wet.

    As advised get washed, changed, fed and warmed up as soon as you can after finishing a ride. Try Echinacea and Vit C on big days. I use the Barroca type Vit C soluble tabs for one of my post ride drinks now.

    chiefgrooveguru
    Full Member

    Colds are not caused by being cold. They’re more common in the winter because people stay indoors more and thus germs are spread more easily. It’s the exercise temporarily weakining your immuse system.

    BadlyWiredDog
    Full Member

    I’m not sure anyone really knows why we get colds.

    It’s a virus that’s mostly transmitted by snot or saliva or sneeze / cough-born vapour from an infected person. Hard exercise or overtraining tends to suppress the immune system making it more likely that the virus’ll get a foothold. Don’t stick unwashed fingers in your nose and/or mouth, wash your hands after being out and particularly if you’re in contact with snotty kids, sneezing co-workers and so on. Oh, and don’t tread on the cracks in the pavement, which’ll probably do you as much good as snuffling down overpriced supplements 😉

    uluru
    Free Member

    I always thought that although viruses cause colds and not the temperature, getting cold makes you more susceptible to coming down with something.

    Oh and large doses of vitamin C just make you produce vitamin C rich wee. We tested this in biology class.

    grumm
    Free Member

    Taking a daily supplement of vitamin C will not protect most people from common colds, scientists say.
    A review of 30 studies, involving 11,350 people, also found doses of at least 200mg per day did little to reduce the length or severity of colds.

    But people exposed to periods of high stress, like marathon runners, could reduce their risk of catching colds by half if they took the vitamin daily.

    http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/6901405.stm

    And yes we all undergo similar stress to marathon runners with our uber-hardcore exercise. 🙂

    anc
    Free Member

    Don’t think temperature has anything to do with susceptibility, lots of studies over the years have proven this beyond doubt as far as I know.

    oldgit
    Free Member

    Long ride Sunday, felt fine all day.
    Monday I’m on my back with man flu, nose and eyes streaming.
    Tuesday, fine as if nothing ever happened.
    What’s all that about then?

    missingfrontallobe
    Free Member

    hels – Member
    What grum said.

    Plus I’d guess you were probably going to get a cold anyway. Bit like people who always say the flu jab gives them flu, it can’t, it’s inactive, so if you get flu after the flu jab, you were going to get it anyway.

    Hopk1ns
    Free Member

    Try this – Beconase – available from most chemists

    Had a problem last year with a re-occurring cold after every ride that would last a few days. Never went throught the cooking a cold phase just went straight to blocked up, can hardly breath feel crap.

    You can’t catch a cold from the cold but cold air weakens the nasal passages lining that leaves you vulnerable and more likely to catch a cold.

    Beconase is a Hayfever nasal spray that is steriod based and helps to build up the strength of the nasal lining. Take it as directed on instructions in the morning and evening before bed for about two weeks. Then drop down to about once a day until used up. This should really help and works for me during the winter.

    Dont take too much though, use up a bottle and leave it a while as too much can have the effect of weakening the lining. If symptoms come back after a break, repeat..

    Went to see a Doctor and he recommended it and never had a problem since

    scu98rkr
    Free Member

    Colds are not caused by being cold. They’re more common in the winter because people stay indoors more and thus germs are spread more easily. It’s the exercise temporarily weakining your immuse system.

    Im sure this is commonly quoted by doctors as an easy way of explaining things but Im not sure its completely true. Was nt there that paper recently where subjects had there feet put in cold water and it seemed to suppress there immune system in comparison to subjects who didnt ?

    Also if your cold your having to expend more heat to stay warm. Which is a form or exercise and you just stated exercise depresses the immune system, which is a bit of a contradiction.

    Also isnt there some research showing that the immune system works better at high temperature which is the reason people get fevers. Although fever can become dangerous so doctors just started handing out things like paracetemol which lessen the danger of fever(and the immune response) and also numb pain because then the patient doesnt notice their so ill but it takes longer to get over the illness.

    I would imagine its a good idea to get warm quickly after exercise its just one less thing for your body to deal with after exercise (the main thing being repairing damage to the muscles)

    grumm
    Free Member

    Try this – Beconase – available from most chemists

    I’m not sure this is going to help

    😛

    TandemJeremy
    Free Member

    Try this – Beconase – available from most chemists

    Had a problem last year with a re-occurring cold after every ride that would last a few days. Never went throught the cooking a cold phase just went straight to blocked up, can hardly breath feel crap.

    That is not a frikking cold!

    Beconase will do nothing for a cold or to prevent one and I thought it was prescription only. Do not use steroids without medical supervision IMO

    ChrisF
    Free Member

    Beconase is available over the counter as a hayfever spray.

    I have used it to deal with sinus problems (on direction of a GP). But it does damage my nasal passages to the extent that I get continuous bloody bogies (eewww). It isn’t for colds.

    Hopk1ns
    Free Member

    If it damages your nasal passages then as with all medication – get an adverse reaction – don’t use.

    When he says after each ride he gets bunged up it may not be a cold virus, more of an irritation to the nasal passeges causing swelling and stops the mucus membranes working correctly

    Don’t get all panicky at the use of the word Steriod. The steriod in question is Corticosteroids which uccurs naturally in the body.

    I my doc advised me that I couLd be suffering from vasomotor rhinitis and said try beconase and it worked.

    TandemJeremy
    Free Member

    hopkins – does sound like rhinitus not a cold and indeed beconase is IIRC the first choice treatment.

    It is still a steroid with side effects albeit low dose and low incidence.

    missingfrontallobe
    Free Member

    Nasal bleeding with use of Beconase is most likely due to thinning of the nasal mucosa (skin lining the nasal cavity) & associated irritation from the hayfever. Steroidal skin thinning can be long term/permanent, so some caution needs to be exercised in the use of Beconase.

    Can’t see how Beconase could or would make a difference to a true upper respiratory tract infection, as the URTI would be caused by one of many virus, which Beconase wouldn’t do anything to treat. All the beconase will be doing is to reduce the local inflammation & irritation that is producing a blocked & congested feeling.

Viewing 27 posts - 1 through 27 (of 27 total)

The topic ‘What causes a post ride cold?’ is closed to new replies.