Got Balaclava?

Balaclava As N-95 Mask:

I was just reading the new dose of sanity - that ppl should wear mouth, nose & face protection when in public in the US. To that end I just wanted to remind everyone, if you have a balaclava, you have the best possible face mask. There's no leakage around the edges, because there are no edges. A balaclava covers your entire face & neck.

I have both the Barrier and the Thermal  Pearl Izumi balaclavas, but in warm temps I prefer the Turtle Fur balaclava. Wash in anti-bacterial soap containing BENZALKONIUM CHLORIDE, or soak in alcohol, or probably, just leave out in the sun for 4-6hrs.

If you are headed for a high-risk situation you can't avoid, like taking someone to or picking them up from a hospital, you can tape a HEPA filter vacuum cleaner bag over the mouth with duct tape.

I suppose a cotton balaclava would be best, but that wouldn't be at all warm, so guessing nobody has ever made one. I guess you could boil it to shrink to fit tighter, but if there's any kind of elastic in it boiling it will ruin it. Ditto for bleaching.

Turtle Fur Balaclava

When I ride, and I DID ride, ~ 100 miles last week, you can pull the hole down under your chin for unobstructed breathing. If you stop to talk to someone, pull the mouth cover up, and keep the wind blowing BETWEEN you, so whatever comes out of your mouth or their gets blown away by the wind.

If you ride in a group you'll be inhaling the breath of everyone in front of you UNLESS you have a crosswind. I'd RX a min of 20ft of distance between riders if riding in a group, and practice rigourous pace-line rotation to min the risk. When in front you should be in clean, sterile air. Not so much the further back you go. Line up to get a crosswind between everyone when stopped.

Up here at ~ 3,000ft the sun is roughly 30% more intense, so that and a strong, dry wind make it hard for any micro-organism propagated in a water droplet to last long, but the best protection for me as a rider is there are plenty of places to ride where you won't see a living soul, or perhaps one just in passing.

When passing a rider, assuming a closure rate of 30-40mph, that's  ~ 50ft/sec, so you'd be in a "danger zone" for ~ 1/10th of a second. You aren't going to get much of a viral load in a tenth of a second, and if you and they are healthy enough to be out riding at that pace, not much chance of infecting each other with ANYTHING.

This is more true when there's a crosswind, because then the "window" is narrower than 5-6ft. With head or tail winds you might want to hold your breath for a few seconds just as you pass, but still a very tiny chance of getting infected by anything.

Cologne As a Distancing Indicator:

I was riding down Apple Valley Rd here and came up behind a ped up-wind of me in a 25mph wind who was wearing a ton of cologne. It occurred to me that if you can smell someone's cologne or perfume you're probably getting too close. I did, for about 5 seconds but the wind still mixed a lot of fresh air with his breath.

Do consider wearing cologne when on a group ride, and explain the logic of it to the rest of the group. This idea could be a break-thru in public health. Maybe someone in the group could bring a spray-on bottle to share. Rotate that duty.

Be safe, and exercise to stay healthy!

PS:
Dead Wrong about no cotton balaclavas. Tons of them out there - some as cheap as $3.00. Just Google it. This will scare the crap out of the kids!

Cotton Balaclava from Amazon

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