Inhaling dust from passing cars.

[Globalti]

Out on the night ride last night, the roads were dry and when a car overtook us I was a bit surprised to see the amount of dust and debris that showed up in the beam of my LED light. In the rural areas where we ride I guess this is mostly composed of dried mud, cow slurry, grass and hedge debris, as well as a bit of tyre rubber, brake dust and diesel fumes. I sometimes have a tickly chest the morning after a ride, which I blame on the hard breathing but I wonder how much of the dust lodges in the lungs or how efficient the self-clearing mechanism of the lungs is at removing it all?

Admittedly most of the bacteria in the slurry will have been killed by UV light but you hear about farm workers being affected by fungal spores from hay and I do worry slightly that by breathing deeply in the wake of a passing car I'm exposing myself to something.

I guess the answer is to breathe through the nose for a few seconds after being overtaken by a car.

 

[jay clock]

a bit like worrying about the quality of tap water, probably nothing to worry about.

 

[I like Skol]

You are definitely over thinking this. However, on a similar note, when I am working the weekend nightshift I really notice the drop in air quality when cycling home on the Monday, especially when it is still/dry. You can really taste the rush hour car fumes when cycling in these conditions and I do wonder about the harm that these fumes could do to a heavy breathing cyclist with regular exposure?

 

[Globalti]

I had an interesting experience in that respect last Spring when I cycled over the Cote de Cray into Bishopdale. It was a bright anticyclonic morning with a very light air movement from the east and slight air haze. When we topped out on the col the air was clear and bright but coming up Bishopdale from the north east was a light mist, which was creeping in wisps over the col, clearly visible in the low morning sun. As we dropped down the descent my nose picked up sulphur dioxide; I work in the perfume industry so have good odour memory and recognition. My guess was that it was traffic and industrial pollution coming from Eastern Europe and England and finding its way right into the heart of the Yorkshire Dales. We hadn't noticed it driving to the Dales and climbing up the Cote de Cray; it wasn't until we got to clear unpolluted air and re-entered the polluted air that I smelled that distinctive tang of sulphur dioxide. The human nose is poor at distinguishing differences in odour strength but excellent at distinguishing differences in odour quality.

 

[I like Skol]

Yep, the difference between the Sunday and Monday is quite striking. Don't notice the fumes the rest of the time!

 

[Globalti]

I remember once flying into Istanbul in winter when the buildings were heated by poor quality brown coal and before everybody went over to natural gas. As the 'plane descended into the smog about 300 feet deep a stink of sulphur came into the cabin, which made some people cough. It's a much cleaner city now.

 

[Jody]

High powered LED lights definitely make you think about the amount of particulates in the air, especially after an older lorry or bus passes you on a hill. I often wonder if the cold air coupled with pollutants is the trigger for my winter excersize induced asthma. It only seems to start playing up when cold and I ride on the road.

 

[jay clock]

I do wonder about the harm that these fumes could do to a heavy breathing cyclist with regular exposure?

i seem to recall some study that said the benefits of exercise far outweighed the extra air and therefore pollutants inhaled when comparing bike vs walking

 

[keithmac]

I wonder about all these knackered old coaches driving round, the amount of black soot that gets expelled when they do a spirited set off is a sight to behold..

 

[Drago]

But near empty coaches belching carcinogenic particulates are sooooo environmentally friendly.

 

[Globalti]

Another surprising experience last Wednesday - we rode our evening quickie that goes about 18 miles around Clitheroe. We vary the route from week to week and last week we rode past the cement works. It was a very cold night with no wind at all and from a distance you could see a pall of layers of pollution around the works, presumably caused by the smoke going up, cooling and then descending again. As we passed the cement works you could clearly see a grey haze in the LED headlight beam and worse, tiny particles glittering in the air, illuminated by the bright light. There was a stink of sulphur dioxide. A mile up the road the the headlight beam was clear again. I do worry about inhaling that crap.

 

[DaveReading]

I remember reading somewhere that ailments such as Delhi belly and Montezuma's revenge were nothing to do with what you ate or drank, but a consequence of breathing an atmosphere that was rich in pulverised sh*t. I don't know if that's true.

 

[ColinJ]

Another surprising experience last Wednesday - we rode our evening quickie that goes about 18 miles around Clitheroe. We vary the route from week to week and last week we rode past the cement works. It was a very cold night with no wind at all and from a distance you could see a pall of layers of pollution around the works, presumably caused by the smoke going up, cooling and then descending again. As we passed the cement works you could clearly see a grey haze in the LED headlight beam and worse, tiny particles glittering in the air, illuminated by the bright light. There was a stink of sulphur dioxide. A mile up the road the the headlight beam was clear again. I do worry about inhaling that crap.

Isn't that the company whose pollution is supposed to be destroying forests as far away as Scandinavia?

Blimey, you could be right about that cement works pollution!

Lord Earl Ferrers, Environment Minister, has written that plume grounding at Clitheroe is not in dispute. Temperature inversions are more frequent at Clitheroe because it lies in a valley, averaging 16 days a month. In 1995 conditions were so dangerous that the Environment Agency (ex HMIP) declined to publish the results of the cement works chimney emissions onto the public register. The Public Health Department discovered that deaths in people under 75 years of age in four Clitheroe wards had risen to 40 percent above the national average, and a repeat primary school asthma inhaler usage survey around 1st October 1996 showed a steep rise in the local schools to almost double the 1995 figures, for example Chatburn school had risen from 10.8 percent in June 1995 to 19.0 percent October 1996, St James Clitheroe from 10.2 percent to 14.2 percent and Bolton by Bowland (zero until 1990) from 7.9 percent to 10.2 percent. By comparison Great Harwood school (industrialised Accrington, outside Ribble Valley) is 9.3 percent, and Barnoldswick, protected from the cement works by Pendle Hill, has a rate of only 3.8 percent. Even Waddington was affected by easterly winds and the rate doubled from 2.9 to 5.8 percent. This shows, I believe, that the effects of SLF burning plant emissions are cumulative, even from sub-lethal prolonged exposure. For example their lead, industrial solvent and halogenated hydrocarbon content are cardiotoxic quite apart from other health damage.

 

[Globalti]

Any time you get downwind of Clitheroe cement works you can smell the stink of sulphur dioxide. The roads for a mile or so around are pinkish-grey with the dust, which can only have come from the chimney. I think we will avoid that road in future when there's no wind. There's a bike shop 1km SE of the works.