turned around on a training ride because of the air quality being so bad that I thought it would be detrimental to my health to continue. This burning stuff in Kansas has become a very discouraging happening. I’m not sure what the deal is. Something about the EPA not wanting the air quality in Kansas City to go over some limit, but the time frame for burning has expanded from a couple weeks to over a month. And everyone seems to be getting in on it. Anyone that has any extra grass in a ditch next to their house. Maybe they have some extra wood laying around. It should be permitted only to those that are using their land for cattle grazing. That isn’t the case. Today was horrible. We met and rode out less than 10 miles before I cried “uncle”. I still have a head ache. It is not isolated. It is everywhere. It encompasses all the surrounding counties. The air is like it would of been in England in the 1700’s when they burnt coal for heating and cooking. The only thing I can compare it to is racing around the Rose Bowl in the mid 80’s during a red smog alert. Or it also kind of feels like when I was racing in China last year. But, there you couldn’t see the smoke so much, but felt the burning in your lungs. But, this isn’t a race and I don’t have to ride in this. So I’m not gonna.
See for yourself below.
Awesome pictures, Steve! It is so sad to see this when we are trying to go greener by using energy efficient light bulbs and buying hybrid cars. But when you see this and knowing that it produces a huge amount of CO2, it makes it seem silly to even try to consume less energy to save the atmosphere.
Yeah, it does burn just a bit in the lungs. Like when you mix ammonia and bleach when cleaning a bathroom, only not quite as bad…. But I guess the entire prairie used to burn all the time, every year really. It just sucks that it’s so controlled and all at once now. BUT, I’m not really in the mood to mow my yard. I live in North Lawrence so anything goes right? I’ve got a garden hose, six pack of beer, and some matches. I’m gettin’ on the bandwagon- Yeee HAW!
It’s nuts!! Thank goodness the wind is blowing at 40 mph today. Smoke or wind? Hmmmm. Guess maybe some power riding into a 40 mph head wind isn’t so bad after all. Grrrr. I feel tougher already.