Some sound advice here. Cold in and of itself cannot cause the infection. You were carrying the infection already, and it was probably actually the exertion of training, rather than the cold, that accelerated it's becoming symptomatic. As correctly pointed out, the cold can cause bronchiospasm - shortness of breathe and/or coughing, but usually you'll find this eases once your body has warmed up on the ride. For the pros (and I know most hubbers are in that category!) if they descend in the cold, and their chests (or more specifically the lungs beneath them) cool off too much, then their performance will drop off until they've warmed up again. Interestingly, many or even most of us carry the bacteria that cause throat infections (and often chest infections as a result), all the time, but they do not get sick. In very imaginative fashion, those people are called 'carriers'. One tip: It is in fact often the sinuses behind your eyes (and not the sinuses that aid in breathing through your nose) that get infected and cause post nasal drips which often lead to chest and ear infections. If you're using a nose spray, tilt your head as far forward as you can, to get the spray into those sinuses. Now, where are my antibiotics...?
