ozone

Ok, I already knew all about ozone. Chemically sensitive people use ozone generators to decontaminate some things, but we're really, really careful around it because it can hurt healthy people. Here's what the EPA has to say about it. Anyway, upon reading that the air at the race today in Lafayette, CA would be Moderate, and the pollutant would be ozone, like an idiot I thought, eh, how bad could it be? I mean, Lafayette's supposed to be a nice area.

It turns out that Moderate ozone means that you have no trouble smelling it, and that if you're chemically sensitive, if you exert yourself at all you end up with ozone bonk. Or that's what I'm calling it. One minute you're going along doing your thing, and the next minute, you're really tired and it's time to go home. This is not such a horrible thing if it's after the race and you're just trying to walk fast enough to keep up with the guy dawdling on the bike ahead of you. It's not at all entertaining, however, if you're the guy in the race.

So it is my pronouncement that ozone is worse than particulates, but anything listed as Moderate means one or both of us should just stay home.