Smoking & Cycling

And I just made 10 months smoke free...If I can do it, anyone can do it.

 

How interesting. A personal friend of mine who was one of 2 MTB racers in Asia that qualified and raced in the Athen Olympics smokes, too. I guess you can be quick to say, "Ah, that's why he is no where near the podium." IMPO, he's not there because his country does not give the same attention to cycling compared to the other sport. His smoking doesn't stop him from kicking a** in all the regional championships held here, against cyclist who doesn't smoke.

I'm not trying to put up a challenge here as whether to light up or not. Just stating a fact I know.

 

Well i've started training properly this week, i've found difficulties and have noticed that my fitness has suffered imensly so i have purchased the nicorette nasal spray since the patches don't work, or rather they don't stick to the skin during vigorous exercise (sweating), and there to damn expensive to use more than 1 patch aday.

So hopefully if all goes well i will be attempting no smoking again, Yip i've said this before, but hopefully i'll be successful this time around.....

Corrrr! i need a cigggy!!...lol its horid being a slave to the weed.

 

My response to this, and I've heard variations on the theme many times before, is talk to me when you're 45 or 50. The damage done to the lungs/heart etc etc etc is cumulative. It doesn't happen overnight. Sure, it "cool" when you're 20. Not so cool at 40 and decidedly uncool at 65.

Smoking didn't bother me either when I was 18. Or 25. ... 42...different story coming down the pike. Now I'm praying that 25 years of hard-core heavy duty smoking (pack to pack and a half daily) will not result in permanent damage, that my lungs will heal, and that the inhaled steroids (twice daily thank you) will clean up the inflammation in the bronchial tubes in the next 5 or 6 months. On the bright side, it's not COPD or lung cancer or...or ... or...or....yet.

Best of luck to your friend but both of you are kidding yourselves if you think that smoking isn't detrimental to long-term health.

 

i stopped this morning and the nicorette nasal spray actually works, okey i craved ciggerettes once or twice but i got around it with normal gum, plus i been riding properly again for 4days today being day 5 and i have already completed my 17.9 miles in under an hour which i am very very pleased with

Smoker 1.02.54 non smoker for 1 day 52.34 so if that ain't encouraging enough, bring on day 2 as long as i keep on seeing improvements i guess i'm going to remain cigerette free!

 

Respiratory therapist here... DO NOT SMOKE TOBACCO!!!! there is no drug that is harder to quit. Please, as a child of the 50's- 60's I've quit quite a few. Now, that wackyweed is not as bad, but, coughing up black or green shit is really gross and stops that nice ventilation-perfusion matching. I'm just so tired of the politics and the good peoples lives ruined because we won't decriminalize pot. Come on people get real... don't wait until your kid or uncle or parents are busted for smpking a weed that does help many people in many ways. At the risk of total exhonoration; I run,(1:45 half) and ride,(18mph avg) have a very successful carrer,(now retired at 52) own my Victorian house and love life. Contrast that with the anti commercials you have seen! What's important to you? BAN ALCOHOL and TOBACCO now thats worth fighting for.

 

I meant excoriation not exhonoration... either way

 

I dont drink alcohol but still I agree with you 100% about banning alcohol and de criminalising cannabis, since it isn't responsible for half as many deaths as alcohol is, if they don't want to de criminalise it for the general public then it should be made legal for the RastaMan Since it is a religious thing, but if they do i wonder how many will be growing locks and not mind wearing a turban.


5 days non smoker!!!! yes and i do feel better, no more awake early hours to clear my chest, 17.9miles seems to just be getting easier i can maintain 90-100rpm for alot longer.

 

5 days non smoker!!!! yes and i do feel better, no more awake early hours to clear my chest, 17.9miles seems to just be getting easier i can maintain 90-100rpm for alot longer.[/QUOTE]


Cigarettes are the Devil! You must HATE them with all of your inner strength. All of your problems are not going to be solved by quitting but you will handle them better and have self esteem and pride in yourself. The latter is going to help in a month or 6 months or a year when you think " I could have one cigarette." When I teach smoking cessation and all the smoking stories are being told, I still after 20 years have cravings... is that a devil of an addiction or what? JUST RIP THAT CIG TO SHREDS AND SMILE... RIDE, RUN, GET OUT OF THE HOUSE. YOU ARE STRONG AND CAN BEAT ANY ADDICTION WITH EXERCISE.

 

Keep truckin' man...you're through the worst of the heebie-jeebies... baby step, baby steps and pretty soon, you'll be a month free, then a year free....

Congrats on being a NON smoker again.

 

day 6 stopping smoking is a doddle using nicorette nasal sprays, patches and gum fail, within 3 days i was dreading the smoking sensation using the nasal spray

 

i love to have me a ciggarrette every now and again while i'm doing a century. Ciggarrettes contain nicotine which is a bronchodilator and boy it helps me when i'm out of breath. I hope to get lung cancer too by the way. I'm just kidding by the way. Smoking and cycling? SAT analogy: ciggarrettes is to cycling as crack is to __________.......
a)running
b)crispy cream donuts
c)golden corral
d)all you can eat breakfast at the dwarf house in woodstock georgia BABY!

if you can't quit smoking try anyway. Those of you who are too dumb to quit smoking for yourself, at least don't do it around me and definitely not your kids.

 

Being DUMB has nothing to do with quitting smoking. Really smart people can rationalize anything.

 

sorry didn't mean to offend anyone. many smokers i have ran across are very inconsiderate. nothing matters to them except for their niccotine fix. When i was in Athens, ga, i remember one guy even having the nerve to light up under the bus stop, rain shelter. and i can't even begin to imagine how difficult it is to quit smoking because it is an actual addiction, but many people have done it.....and again, i don't mean to be offensive

 

Thats like saying stop drinking, never touch another drop again or whatever you love the most to eat and drink, your not allowed to do it anymore.

Ok! your a vegan, you gotta eat meat
your a veggie you gotta eat meat no veggies
your a carnevoire you gotta eat veggies, no meat.

unless you can get every part of you to agree then its not going to happen is it, its okey saying i want to stop smoking but its an adiction at the end of the day and your not going to unless you really really want to, and not a single part of you wants to touch another ciggerette again or wants to feel the affects of the nicotine, smoking is like drinking its a social thing.

 

I thught you were trying to quit? Is this an attempt to rationalize not quitting?

 

yip! you hit the nail on the head. i managed 2 1/2weeks then got a cold! flu whatever and i couldn't use my nasal spray so here i am again a smoker! i will succeed at somepoint

 

you said it brotha! HOLLA!

 

I think you are a great person to be able to admit that! You will quit, just keep trying. Very few people are able to quit the 1st, 2nd, 3rd etc time. I hate to admit it, it took me about ten tries. The more you don't smoke the closer you are. Other people can help, like in smoking cessation groups. Good luck and just keep going for it. You got to get that leverage, find that point where you understand how cigs are THE DEVIL. Don't wait for lung CANCER or some other dreaded disease to get it into your head... it ain't easy man but it gets eaiser.

 

I'm going to chip right in behind Antone...think of this attempt as a trial run, a practice session on your way to returning to your natural non-smoker state. You weren't born a smoker. Smoking, in addition to being a physiological addiction to a noxious substance called nicotine, is also a learned behaviour. The quit smoking aid (patch, lozenge, Zyban, whatever) can only help you with the physiological. You have to use the time wisely to cope with your smoking behaviour.

Why do you smoke? When do you smoke? What patterns are there? After a coffee? You need to know that a coffee (actually the break, sitting down more than the beverage) will trigger a craving. How will you deal with that one next time. Learn from this attempt and never give up.

Like Antone, I hold an impressive record for quit attempts. I'm now about 2 weeks shy of a full year. It can happen to you too.