The Weather Channel “Pollen Hot Spot” puts Santa Clara County, California, at the top of the list.
My nose already informed me of the “very high” pollen counts in northern California. Supposedly, this area has the highest pollen counts in the world, with a county in Oregon and a couple of spots around the Mediterranean matching our nasal misery index.
We received a lot of rainfall over the winter with very little killing frost, and now the trees, weeds, and grass rejoice at the life giving sunshine and warmth, celebrating with an orgasmic explosion of vegetative sperm cells that happily swim through the air to invade your bodily orifices.
If you feel a strangely mucosal mist in spite of clear skies on your group rides, you’re a second hand victim of the allergic rhinitis plaguing other cyclists in the peloton. This time of year, sucking a stranger’s wheel can be especially hazardous as a wayward snot rocket just might smack you in the face.
How about you? Do you just put up with the mess and the snot in clear weather group rides? Or will you avoid the hassle and go solo until pollen season blows over?
(H/T to Byron for the inspiration.)