Is it safe to go out cycling this weekend?

[beachcomber]

Did a 24 hour ride Friday am to Sat am. Conditions perfect. York to Oundle nr Corby and return.No smog and believe my I was taking deep breaths. Misty morning today which quickly burned off to reveal a lovely morning. 5.30pm Today on the East coast, thunder storm and torrential rain. I do like a good storm and especially the post storm fresh air.

[pga]

Better to make the motorists stay indoors and let the rest of us breath clean air for a change.

[niggle]

Better to make the motorists stay indoors and let the rest of us breath clean air for a change.

+1 They should be telling people not to drive their cars rather than not to go outside, restrict car journeys when the pollution levels get to a certain limit, seeing as they are the source of the problem. Only dreaming of course

[Mick F]

Cars? Traffic?
We drove back from Gatwick yesterday - left at lunchtime and here by teatime - 230odd miles and the roads were a dream!

M25 was clear, M3 too, and the A303/A30 was devoid of traffic in both directions for mile after mile after mile. Never ever seen the roads so empty of traffic.

[Cunobelin]

I remember last year doing the Kennet and Avon then coming into Lon along the Thames on a hot spell a bit like this

YOu could feel the visibility change and the "taste" of the air as well.

I did read somewhere that exercise is better as the travel of air in and out of the lung is faster so the PM10s and other particulates have less time to settle, but I can't remember the source

[hubgearfreak]

I tried that path for the first time a few weeks ago. How nice can it get? I loved it.

it's a good one, for sure. once you're out of hull.

yesterday, we rode some rough and hilly bridlepaths around market weighton. a fantastic, if knackering day out. 35 miles of that is harder than 80 miles of lincolnshire lanes.

thanks for the route, the chauffering from the big-bridge and the company steve. i fully enjoyed it.

and i'd recommend wensleydale bitter to anyone that can find it

[Greybeard]

And not the slightest possibility of smog (or smaeg, they probably would call it, if they had any).

Nah. That close to the 'watter', it'd be a sea roak
Steve

[niggle]

and i'd recommend wensleydale bitter to anyone that can find it

Is it as good as the cheese? In fact does it go well with the cheese? Most Yorkshire bitter is pretty good IME and especially compared to the majority of Cornish ales, though there are at least a couple of half decent ones now. I grew up in Suffolk and was introduced to beer drinking with the likes of Greene King IPA, Adnams and Tolly Cobbold, and I miss them at times.
I did 50 miles around the west of Cornwall today, which is below average for me on a Sunday. Anyhow had a slight cough on return home, coincidence or pollution, or it could be pollen? Who knows, but I am sure that over all benefit of the exercise outweighs any risk.

[hubgearfreak]

niggle, it's very pale, and perfect at the end of a hot day. if you've tried exmoor gold, it's like that but at a more resonable 3.7%. i understand the attraction of adnams and the sadly missed tolly, but greene king would never rate amongst my favourites.

of course, i feel sorry for the other 61m people in this country who don't live within a short walk or bike ride from a batemans tied house

[vjosullivan]

There is talk of a smog this weekend and recommedations that we stay indoors.

Well, if it wasn't safe to go out, this weekend, then it's not safe to go out, ever. Brilliant weather and a four day weekend and there's still another day to go. It's as good as it gets (for the likes of me who works MF95 hours). My only worry is that 2009 and 2010 both had excellent springs and miserable summers. I hope it doesn't happen again.

Where was this "talk of a smog" taking place? Down the pub?

[niggle]

niggle, it's very pale, and perfect at the end of a hot day. if you've tried exmoor gold, it's like that but at a more resonable 3.7%. i understand the attraction of adnams and the sadly missed tolly, but greene king would never rate amongst my favourites.

of course, i feel sorry for the other 61m people in this country who don't live within a short walk or bike ride from a batemans tied house

Hmm, I'm sure the draught Greene King IPA of my youth tasted more bitter, and their Abbot Ale was more refined as well compared with what I have tasted in recent years, seems like they are trying to make it more like the trendy 'real ale' with excessive sweetness and maltiness at the expense of the hops.

As for Exmoor Gold, I have sunk rather too many pints of that stuff at the Staghunters in Brendon, just up the valley from Lynmouth on Exmoor, used to go there every June camping for the weekend with the MZ Riders Club, back when I was into those funny old two-stroke motorcycles. Often we drank the pub dry of the stuff on the Friday night and had to make do with Exmoor Ale or worse on the Saturday. Go to Scotland a fair bit, but the only ale I have found to be worth drinking up there is the Red Cullin from the Isle of Skye brewery.