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On the BBC news either yesterday or the day before, they had an academic who had modeled the slip stream of cyclists and concluded that if you are in the slip stream of another cyclist you need to give more than 2 metres to maintain social distancing.
When we have been been out on our road bikes we keep being passed at close quarters by lots of road cyclists.
Please give us a bit more space.
I've seen a piece that discredits the research (by a Dutch academic), I'll see if I can find the link.
Also you have to be symptomatic (AFAIK) to be able to pass on the virus, unlikely to be riding a bike if you are.
Pretty sure that research was discredited - it got publicised prior to any peer review iirc.
If you ride faster you won't get passed. HTH 🙂
Too late to edit my first response but here you go - https://www.vice.com/en_uk/article/v74az9/the-viral-study-about-runners-spreading-coronavirus-is-not-actually-a-study
I don't get why people insist on passing so close at the best of times. There's only so much room you can give on shared paths but I'm perplexed by people who pass at speed, and within inches on wide traffic-free roads. Takes nothing to move over a bit, whatever your mode of transport.
You're referring to being overtaken by other cyclists as "close passes" ? Shoulda said that in the subject line, cos to me, close passes are what vehicles do.
Anyway, I've not experienced a close pass by a cyclist since lockdown.
When we have been been out on our road bikes we keep being passed at close quarters by lots of road cyclists
Sounds like someone needs to pedal faster 😉
Yeah, I’ve been having eggs every day for weeks, anybody who close passes me will get the full benefit of my custom slipstream.
I would love to pedal faster but I am 66 and my heart rate post heart attack is restricted by my meds. It might give people a sense of superiorty but I would like to be able to ride on the road and be given a little more than 2 feet clearance it this to much to ask?
I would love to pedal faster but I am 66 and my heart rate post heart attack is restricted by my meds. It might give people a sense of superiorty but I would like to be able to ride on the road and be given a little more than 2 feet clearance it this to much to ask?
Twas a joke, but I agree. On the rare times I overtake someone on the road, I give them a huge berth
I reckon the practical upshot of that is that if you pass someone, pull in a bit later than otherwise.
Alternatively, if someone passes you, pull out a bit yourself so that you're not sitting directly behind them.
Just brushing elbows is probably okay as far as transmission risk goes.
Disclaimer: Just my interpretation, no actual knowledge.
My local trails are just on the edge of the city so get quite busy. Its still easy to avoid people so not a big issue but there are a few who struggle with overtaking etiquette. I think I've only had one close pass but it was from a chap I've seen there a lot, doing laps, so he must pass quite a few people every day. he nearly took me off and maybe landed on me which definitely be a social distancing fail.
I rarely pass anyone but there are a few families there so I can sometimes catch them. I've taken to just pulling off the path and doing an extra short loop (the trail snakes through the trees so there are cut-throughs along the way) rather than close on them as while it easy to pull over it is hard to pull over very far. Still get a few people who sit on my wheel waiting for me to move over. I would normally but I don't think it is appropriate to squeeze past at the moment. There aren't many wide bits but the sections are short so I'll wait until the end of a section so I can get clear off the trail. Everyone has seemed friendly enough and said thanks so I'll carry on doing that.
Disclaimer: Just my interpretation, no actual knowledge.
If you read the debunkings of the "study", you have pretty much zero chance of catching anything from a cyclist or runner going past you. Their assumption was basically that exposure to a single virus was enough for transmission, whereas you actually need to inhale a thousand or so to be at risk.
Also you have to be symptomatic (AFAIK) to be able to pass on the virus
No, that doesn't seem to be the case. But you still aren't going to catch it from someone passing you on a bike.
Also you have to be symptomatic (AFAIK) to be able to pass on the virus, unlikely to be riding a bike if you are.
One can also pass the virus from asymptomatic people, these people can get on a bike and ride it as they have few/no apparent symptoms.
I am not saying the risk is enormous but it costs nothing to either give other cyclists the requiste 2 metres.
My prize of the week go to the elderly couple who overtook us a close quarters entering a narrow blind bend and then berated the drive of the car they met for driving to fast.
That "study" is yet another pile of fake news being bandied around by the ignorant ****ing NIMBYs who are out scattering tacks and writing "Go Home Covidiot Cyclists!" on the roads.
People who will quite happily lean over you in the supermarket or stand chatting to their neighbours but then throw themselves into a hedge screaming "2 metres!" if they see a cyclist the other side of the road. 🙄
Some cock on my last road ride looked behind him (while I was catching up) twice and then fired off a snotrocket when I was about 20 feet behind him.
I was fairly close to pushing the ****er into a hedge but obvs that'd have involved being too close