Anti Pollution Masks

"Yesterday I was behind a bus for 6 minutes doing around 32mph."

Maybe don't do this in future then ? Where you right by the exhaust or just stuck in its wake ? Yuk. 

Interesting looking back now at a rise in chest infections at the tail end of 2019 isn't it ?  Hope you're fully recovered now. 

"Yesterday I was behind a bus for 6 minutes doing around 32mph."

Maybe don't do this in future then ? Where you right by the exhaust or just stuck in its wake ? Yuk. 

Interesting looking back now at a rise in chest infections at the tail end of 2019 isn't it ?  Hope you're fully recovered now. 

3M make several forced air breathing systems for industrial applications, one of which is a face mask fed from a waist mounted filter and pump. I haven' t tried it myself but could this be you answer? Filtered air but without the need to draw it through the filter using lung power alone.

Wish I had something like that back in my Army days, running in an S6 respirator was no joke; hot, sweaty and exhausting.

Well in the summer you could at least take the mersey path from the Pyramid to Parrswood. It has less climbing, no traffic and pollution.

Im not familiar with the area but from describing the route. looking at Google maps, there are many residential areas which would take you away from the main roads.

Health or speed?

I have a Respro but I took the filter out, it did nothing but get me out of breath. It is still good to keep the chill of your chin though. 

Have you tried the Fallowfield Loop? It is off road and wonderfully paved. Maybe not great in the dark without strong lights, but if you can get to the Levenshulme end it will drop you off in Chorlton and you can go up the quieter Seymour Grove to the Quays. Much better than going into town via Kingsway or the A6. Tell me your route and I might be able to improve it.

Repeating the above, any mask you can comfortably breathe through will be useless for removing the worst bits in traffic pollution.
A study of pedestrian exposure to pollution demonstrated that the most effective way of reducing exposure was to stay away from the edge of the road. Just walking on the inside of the pavement and standing back when waiting at lights was enough to have a significant positive effect. Since reading this I always try to stay back from vehicles infront when waiting at lights or in traffic.

I got a reflective Respro after the Bunscombe fire, riding home on the Sunday evening was hard, breathing in thick, pollution laden fog.  I just couldn't breathe, proper scary, chipped off the ride to work on the Monday and got me the mask on the way to work on the Tuesday morning.

Wore it for a bit, not pleasent, hot and sweaty, the nose rubs, not too easy to breathe.  I couldn't drink or spit while riding, which I found to be very annoying.

I got some Techno filters and valves, just in case.  One morning when weather woman Carol warned of very high pollution I wore it, still an awful experience.

Try and modify the route so it's slightly greener, quieter and less polluted, if possible, might be a better proposition.

Oh, and my liking for facial hair probably makes the benifits of the mask redundent.  With any sort of beard/moustache (even light stubble) the H+S people will not do a face fit test with a standard mask, and to do my job they purchased a powered respirator for me.  A much more pleasent experience,  until you forget about it, and break wind, the position of the power unit means that the smell reaches you very quickly.

I'd be done if I did 32mph for 6 minutes. I can only hold 30 for about a minute.

I don't see any type of mask that's effective at stopping small particles work on a bike if you like to go fast, breathing resistance will quickly become inacceptably high.  Don't know if you've ever been in the military but if yes:  remember running whilst wearing a gas mask?  Further, the particulate filters will do nothing to stop noxious gases (nitrogen oxides, carbon monoxide....).

Maybe you just overdid it yesterday, 32 mph is a good clip, even behind a bus (which will have exposed you to plenty of exhaust gases, among which carbon monoxide that might explain some of your symptoms (I'm not a medical doctor, I hasten to say).

I commute every day and my solution is to simply accept a longish detour (8 km extra one way) that largely allows me to escape traffic.  Obviously that's not an approach that's feasible for everyone.

By taking a less busy route or quiet roads will significantly reduce vehicle pollution exposure.

I personally dont commute or go outside in winter. I train in-doors.

Another option would be an ebike so reduce the deep breathing effort and lessen pollution drawn deep into lungs.

Mask will do naff all. You're talking about particulates of 2.5 microns in size. Only a full breathing mask to filter out 2.5 or smaller will work. Darth Vader cycling