We hit 235 today for the air quality index in the northeast. It’s purple, a color I didn’t even know it went to. There’s a thick haze over everything and my car is covered in a layer of ash. Needless to say I’ll be training indoors next to my air purifier. Any Canadians on here? Y’all doing ok up there?
Side question: what number is your cutoff for outdoor riding?
AQI of 50-70 is when I stop riding outside. But I’m conservative.
During some forest fires in NorCal I’ve seen the AQI hit 400-600 in Sacramento, California. The skies are apocalyptic when you see those numbers.
PurpleAir.com and the AirNow app are good resources.
AirNow app. Fixed it above.
Western Canadian… We had ours a month ago. Supposedly we have it under control now. 
I disagree looking at this chart.
Yeah! @WindWarrior
I remember when we got evacuated August, 2020. Definitely an apocalyptic experience seeing a sun fire at night time and chunks of ash falling down.
hoping for a good summer!
We’re around 180 outside DC today. Canceled tonight’s mountain bike race 
Probably do a slow ride outside, because I was on vacation last week and I just need to move my body.
Worth a read:
In particular, the Guide for Particle Pollution as you want to avoid getting PM2.5 or PM10 deeply embedded in your lungs.
You can see my AQI of 50-70 cutoff is conservative:
But seriously I’ve only got one set of lungs. No need to risk them by doing hard intervals outside.
AirNow will give you a breakdown:
and because of where I live, sometimes its rideable in one direction, but not other directions.
Here in Folsom I remember going for a ride during the 2017 fires with smoke in the air, it was so dumb, felt it for quite a while afterwards and now I’ve very conservative also.
This has been an ongoing issue in the western US for several years. Unfortunately, we can go months without a green number. I tend to judge things on a case-by-case basis. If it’s above 150, I’m not doing anything outside. If it’s 100-150, it gets to be a judgement call. Can I get what I want from riding indoors with my air purifier? That is often the best option, but if an event is approaching and I need to work on real world skills (technical skills, pack riding, etc), then sometimes I might head out with something like 125. Obviously, there is no magic difference between 99 and 101, and likewise 101 is not the same as 150. Intensity and duration also play a part in the judgement. At the very end of AACC 324, Jonathan Lee mentioned having a no-go AQI of 85 for Park City P2P, which is a very long day on the bike. I actually rode that race even though it was close to my number (125 I think?) at the start. Thankfully, the air cleared during the day. I’ve also had to cut training short when AQI worsened dramatically mid-ride. Below 100, I mostly choose to ride outside as it could be months before we go below 50 again in the late summer/early fall.
We are about 130 right now in eastern panhandle of WV. Sky was gray until I looked out now some blue coming through and a few clouds.
My parents sent some pics from central NJ, looks like a movie set in Mexico, looks like they are about 160.
Bailed on a swim this morning and considered a ride after work, guess that is a nope.
The irony is that although there are fires burning all around me where I live in Canada the air quality has been, for the most part, pretty good.
Sorry we’re sending it south.
Just landed in Newark on our way to Finland….descending through the smoke was creepy. Weird glow to the sky and you could smell it in the plane.
Just like thick fog everywhere here……
Was literally deep orange/brown in NYC today. I’m not going to be biking indoors or out, my house isn’t sealed all that well. I could even see and smell it inside my office.
If you have NO underlying health conditions, you can ride outside up until 150 AQI.
I have a lot of empathy for people on the receiving end of this because seems like we are constantly getting dumped on in CO by other people’s fires.
Last few years we’ve had tons of bad air quality because of NorCal, Oregon and Washington burning. Damn jet stream. Few weeks ago it was our turn to get the smoke from Canada but fortunately it’s abated some.
The smoke coming from wooded areas to the west, and now apparently the north is really starting to become a big issue in the mountain west. Summers are already short if you live in a northern or high altitude climate, then if you start losing half the summer to bad air quality then what is the point of even being here.
While I’m very far from being a ‘climate refuge’ I am already very strongly considering where I may need to move to in the future to try and avoid worsening effects of climate change.
Awesome topic. I live and ride in Phoenix and Tucson Arizona. Until this thread I’ve not paid too much attention to PM2.5, PM10, O3, NO2, SO2 and CO levels save for the occasional dust storm. Just a very quick look at historical values I will probably do a little more inside riding during high AQI periods which is often. And historically high in the morning when we ride the most.
Unfortunately, this is what we were warned about with climate change. Nowhere is “safe”. Move to the south and you have more frequent and powerful hurricanes. Move north and the winters and summers are getting worse. Move to the mountains and fires are causing all kinds of issues. Increased drought and rivers are drying up. Tornadoes and earthquakes are increasing. Oceans are rising. We did too much damage and waited too long.
