Mask for Cycling?

Problems with masks for the general public:

Potentially diverting masks that are actually effective at filtering virus, away from health care professionals and care staff working with vulnerable patients.

Ineffective, even if the mask is adequate, unless people know how to use them properly.

False sense of personal security at expense of more effective measures, i.e washing hands.

False sense of panic and alienation seeing them being worn in public places. You think putting someone on a bicycle makes them inhuman? Just add a face covering.

Uncomfortable and inconvenient for the wearer.

Disposable masks being dumped in the street that some poor bugger on minimum wage is going to have the pleasure of picking up.

Personal experience: a week before the lockdown I picked up Mrs M and her business partner from Heathrow. On getting out of the car at home we discovered a used disposable face mask stuck to her coat.

I prefered the olden days when we argued about helmets.

Ages ago, I tried a Respro "pollution" mask, but it was too hot and uncomfortable for use whilst cycling.

I'm doubtful that face masks are much good in stopping viruses as people do tend to touch and fiddle with face masks (as Ktache said). There's also the problem of removing and putting them on - people are unlikely to remember that the outside of the mask could be contaminated, so every time you touch it you should go and wash your hands again.

That said, I might get around to making one from an old T-shirt just for going to the shops etc - especially if they become recommended.

I've tried all sorts of masks over the past year and a bit. I've got a narrow airway and it doesn't like cold air or diesel fumes.

I basically found that anything other than a P3 respirator didn't filter out fumes properly. Also, if the mask is loose fitting, then the moist air you breathe out ends up fogging up any eyewear (with the exception of ski goggles - yes I've tried it).

They also get moisture inside of them after a while, so you really need a proper rubber P3 jobby with one way valves to keep the filters dry. Then after your ride, you can just pop the filters out and give the mask a good wash in warm soapy water ready for next time.

I've settled on the Trend Stealth as the best one. It's upper fabric strap fits well under a helmet. The vent port is at the base of the mask, so your out breath is directed away from eyewear. It is quite good at allowing condensation to purge from the lower valve, but also has a drain plug you can pull out. The filters are covered with a protective plastic guard, which offers some protection from rain etc.

But you'll be lucky to find anything in stock at the moment.

https://www.trenddirectuk.com/stealth-ml-air-stealth-half-mask-small-med...

I won't ride at the moment without wearing a Buff style neck warmer. I just feel that I breathe deeper when cycling (aka 'lack of fitness') and as ktache says, it's probably more effective at me not , inadvertently, infecting other people than getting infected myself.

Yes, I've been watching all the '101 things to do with a neck warmer' vids on YouTube and once set up I don't notice that I'm wearing one. I am actually 'FaceFitted' and as ktache said, these masks only work if you are clean shaven. I have a few basic N95s at home and they always get uncomfortable after a while.

I got a nice* one from Primal and then saw that Chapeau had some merino ones in a sale. Again nice, but a tad warm for this unseasonably warm weather .

The other reason I like to wear one is just to red flag to other people how serious this shit is. 

*they are all much of a muchness, just find a nice design. I would pay a tenner tops. 

I grabbed a Respro after Bunscombe, the reflective City, then fitted it with Powa valves and techno filter.  Carol said one summers morning that the pollution was proper high so I tried it, still very hot and sweaty, couldn't drink (or spit, not a problem now).  Could breathe, but wouldn't want to be doing big hills.

Now I know from work that any sort of facial hair, even stubble, means you cannot participate in a face fit test, and I was allowed to obtain a powered 3M respirator with inflateable hood thing, which having previously worn standard face masks, was wonderfully comfortable, cool air being blown on my temple.  (Only downside is that the power and filter unit is worn on the lower back, sometimes you forget, relase wind and are hit very quickly and powerfully with the smell.)

So with my love of facial hair and hatred of regular shaving a pollution mask probably has no real effect in protecting me from pollution, as a proper seal would not be able to be maintained.  It also hurts my nose, putting a bit of plaster on the bit of the filter that touched my nose helped.  It might help minimise pollution levels.

Now it's effect on the virus, hmmm.

It might help, it could help prevent breathing in of the tiny droplets that pass it on, but one of the things I notice of others wearing masks is that they cannot stop touching the masks, their noses and the rest of their face.  Contact transfer to the mucas membranes of the nose and eyes is a serious way of getting it.

The mask might help not giving it to others, catching the droplets, but the best way is to isolate yourself if you think you might have it.  And of course to maintain good distances from others.

I have been wondering about how asymptomatic people who are asymptomatic really are, I can see no fever, and not coughing, but if there is no runny nose then the probablity of giving it to others would be lowered, and if it knocks you out at all then the desire of going out on a ride will disapear.  (let alone doing a century, I would want to be in peak physical form).  Anyone know about this?

A slight cold makes me not want to ride, and (apart from being a microbiologist and REALLY not want to be giving a disease to others) it is the thought of the commute that dissuades me from going into work.  So unless there is something that I ABSOLUTELY HAVE to do I don't go in.  Spending the last 20 years trying not to touch my eyes and nose with my fingers (lab thing) helps me get less colds so it doesn't happen much, even with a train ride (with bicycle).