Honestly, the ride's got to be worth the bike cleaning, tow paths and so on are just soul destroying!
Unfortunately nearest place isn’t local so it’s towpaths or road and really didn’t fancy Road ride on a Saturday afternoon.
I’m saying it’s not worth the angst of worrying about driving all that way to ride on a thick mud motorway
Ah, okay. It's mostly rocks round here. I have to drive if I want proper mud.
I wish I hadn’t read this thread.
I never realised quite how crowded the countryside was until we were told to ‘stay at home’. When the retail parks reopen will it go back to normal?
Not driving has become quite normal. Not sure I want to go back to it and to paying for fuel. I know that once we are given freedom to travel that the places I would go to will be rammed. I am thinking of staying local for some months yet.
As per ferrals.
We've got about a square km of open space near us. It's about the only easily accessed green space without transport for about 18,000 people (last census).
It's a complete mudbath. There's harder to reach/more challenging walking/biking about 20 minutes away. Where 500m from the car park you would get much better dispersal because of the variety of routes/options and harder going.
That’s because you’re lazy 🤷♂️
Ha ha...lazy bit still quicker than you boyo 🤣
But no, it’s not laziness, rather if I’ve got a couple of hours to go riding, I’d rather not spend them on a bridlepath slog to the trailhead and back or crappy lanes that go in every direction other than direct to where I want to go!
I’m sure pre Covid you’d never have driven 3 or 4 hours before, for anything, right?
Not very often and never just for one days biking.
Not driving has become quite normal. Not sure I want to go back to it and to paying for fuel. I know that once we are given freedom to travel that the places I would go to will be rammed. I am thinking of staying local for some months yet.
Very much this. Between work, play and runningr ound after after kids activities we are saving about £300 a week.
I’m sure pre Covid you’d never have driven 3 or 4 hours before, for anything, right?
Not very often and never just for one days biking.
To be fair, I can do my kind of riding from home or only an hour's drive away for Cannock or Sherwood Pines, or the Peak if I want natural and gnarlier. Trips to "proper" trail centres fit in with holidays in those areas.
Very much this. Between work, play and runningr ound after after kids activities we are saving about £300 a week.
What on travel?
Or travel and other associated costs?
I do roughly 500 miles a week for work (still!) and only put in around £60 each week.
Another gem of a superiority thread on stw. Some of you just do border on ridiculous
I’m probably saving £300 a month by not commuting. Got enough local riding/running but I’m itching to go for a surf (30mile and the next county).
I could probably get away with it but...
End Outside Sports Ban - says scientist
Pretty soon I reckon...Thing is, I think as mountain bikers and as just cyclist in general, we've been pretty bloody luck really, I know right now, when conditions are always at their worst it doesn't feel like it, but I've friends in 5-a-side leagues who've not been able to pay for more then 6 months, and another who runs for a track team teams who's not been bear a stadium in nearly a year..!
. Between work, play and runningr ound after after kids activities we are saving about £300 a week.
Did you mean week? That’s like four or five full tanks of fuel; and you could lease a tesla for half that.
Link to the £150 a month Tesla please?
Link to the £150 a month Tesla please?
Did you mean week? That’s like four or five full tanks of fuel; and you could lease a tesla for half that.
The clue here is the use of the word week.
I think as mountain bikers and as just cyclist in general, we’ve been pretty bloody luck really
Yes, very lucky, and I do appreciate that. And it's really good to see so many more people out, even if they are making trails wider and ruining my Strava times.
😉
I’m probably saving £300 a month by not commuting.
I appear to be saving £300-500 per month, but my commuting costs were only about £150/month max. And I almost always took a packed lunch. And only went for drinks a couple of times a month.
Anyone else with inexplicable savings?
The clue here is the use of the word week.
Fair point, in my defence, I was reading it on my phone, while driving to my local riding spot
I’m sure pre Covid you’d never have driven 3 or 4 hours before, for anything, right?
My general rule (nothing to do with Covid) is that total drive time must be less than total ride time 🙂
People’s circumstances are different and so this guidance relies on people to use their common sense to determine what is and is not a reasonable distance for their outdoor exercise
Nigel Huddleston, minister for sport
I spent late December and January riding from the door and all I saw were people driving and parking up for exercise, a coffee, sledging, dog walking, kayaking and mountain biking.
I've been driving up the road to the most local decent mtb trails and smashing out some loops. It has helped me stop going out of my head. I think it is reasonable and there are places further a field I'd rather go and trails with more jeopardy that I have been avoiding.
If my local (from the front door) road ride this afternoon is anything to go by, everyone else seems to think it's fine to drive. Roads all the way around Lyme Park rammed as usual with ****wits parked on all the verges. Same in the Goyt Valley. I've not been up Mam Tor for a while but every time I have, the roads all the way around the top from the Mam Tor car park down to Blue John Caves and all the way along to the top of Winnats Pass have all been bumper to bumper parked cars.
Judging by the number of cars parked at Dartford Heath today I thought the no driving to exercise rule had already gone???????
Probably because there has never been a no drive to exercise rule, just like there has never been a time limit. 🤦♂️
Did you mean week? That’s like four or five full tanks of fuel; and you could lease a tesla for half that.
No, I didn't mean week, sorry, that's a monthly saving.
I agree with Rocketdog, and its been commented about by others near me; all the footpaths, bridaleways, permissive paths etc are all much wider, much muddier and churned up by foot fall.
Its hardly surprising though:
1) its been a wet winter
2) more people are walking beacuse there is nothing else to do
3) people cant drive to the places that are typically drier to walk so have to make do with the muddy paths whatever the weather
4) people are stepping off the paths to one side to socially distance making everything wider.
The mud is so bad my way that silly old people are getting stuck in the mud and having to be rescued by the fire service. I shit you not!
https://www.dailyecho.co.uk/news/19106242.hampshire-fire-crews-rescue-women-mud-denmead/
You right no time limit or no rule of not driving for exercise but we were told to stay local, for me that’s birmingham city Center not driving to Cannock, it’s been widely publicised in papers and Facebook pages that Stafford police fining anyone driving a car thats parked at the chase that’s not registered locally, now I guess if you could prove you lived local then you could get away with it, but again as they have just said stay local it’s a grey area so to keep within the rules i stay at home no driving to Cannock to mtb, as much as I want to.
This says I can drive to get exercise.
https://www.cycling.scot/covid19-information/cycling-advice
I think I was being a dick driving to the Pentlands and meeting up with another household then going mountain biking but apparently I'd be legal to do so.
It does make you wonder what goes through people's minds at times.
The rules in England differ to the other home nations taken from British cycling (below) although it’s a grey area and the threat of fines from local police is do you risk it or not, been told police at Stile Cop Cannock today doing checks and fines again.
There is no definition of ‘local area’ within either the regulations or the guidance. The guidance advises people to avoid travelling outside of their village, town or the part of a city where they live. It also states that they can travel a short distance within their local area in order to exercise, though, again, the distance is not defined.
There is no definition of ‘local area’ within either the regulations or the guidance.
Why doesn't that surprise me? There's no definition of "essential" either. What a bunch of useless tosspots this govt are.
That's one of the few good decisions they've made IMO.
If you want to ride Cannock just park in High Town, Hednesford or somewhere else urban and ride in. When I was student we'd ride from Wolves to Cannock for a days riding and ride back...full rigid early 90s bikes are a bit different to todays mtbs!
Why doesn’t that surprise me? There’s no definition of “essential” either.
because its hard to define especially when its bills that go though quickly. Just like other forms of legislation there are terms such as "reasonably practicable" and "reasonable force" the bar ends up being set by case law. People who are going to push the rule will push the rule, but traveling to exercise outside has a tiny effect on any transmission. Trying to over define it ends up leaving as many holes or restricting people who need to travel outside what is "defined" as local.
If your concern is "rules is rules" then ok get upset. If your concern is about getting the things sorted that make the real difference to transmission then concentrate on people not having covid secure workplaces, poor social distancing nd mask wearing in super markets, pop up pubs, people not self isolating when they should (this may be due to financial reasons, or not but concentrate on this!). The extra risk of people driving to travel outside is tiny, you're into small chance of transmission if someone buys petrol a way from home, or slight chance of a car accident.
Personally I think traveling 30 min is fine say once a week to exercise outside, but that's influenced by where I live but really an hour would be fine and result in no real practical difference in transmission, which is what I am concerned about.
BBC are reporting an expected date of 29th March for outdoor activities with up to 6 people, and a removal of the local enforcement rule, ahead of tonight’s announcement.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-56148160
I thought it would be May so 5 more weeks isn’t too bad. I believe in the science and have followed all the rules carefully since the beginning but enough is enough now.
Frankly it’s been frustrating seeing people (including friends and family) come up with their own empty justifications to break the rules since the beginning, based entirely on first world privilege and a total lack of basic perspective, only to see the numbers ramp right up and lose access to outdoor exercise in the woods miles from anyone that causes no harm at all in reaction. I fully appreciate it’s more complex than that, but each time a mate’s excused ‘just going round to one mates house for dinner’ during a lockdown, then another a few days later, I’ve made it clear how selfish they’ve been.
SAGE are working on the basis that outdoor transmission is causing 1 in 100 cases, but it’s thought by their scientists the actual number could be between 1 in 1000 and 1 in 10,000. That all paired together has meant losing trips to trails has really pissed me off.
That in itself is a first world problem I totally appreciate. Others have lost their sport entirely. But cycling is one of the lowest risk activities, if not the lowest risk. Can’t wait to have those weekends back again and put this all behind us, the escapism is phenomenally important for the mind.
As it's topical, we made the mistake yesterday of riding through the cycle centre at PBA yesterday - given the fact it was literally rammed full of cars, 'stay local' is a concept lost on people.
Especially when you get buzzed by a group of 8-10 Welsh guys riding like ****s up the fire road on e-bikes & electric MX things.
Which is weird, because on Friday when I rode through it in the afternoon, there was literally one car there. Like a ghost town.
I suspect that by stopping people driving around they have helped keep the whole place quiet and stopped the inevitable crowding of people in certain locations that occurs when the only thing people are allowed to do is drive to somewhere to ‘exercise’. Whilst you can speculate on the minor impact that outdoor exercise has on virus transmission, as soon as they allow driving, some places will be rammed and this will be hard to manage and will cause issues.
Whilst I have been able to see the snow covered hills glistening in the distance but not been able to not been able to get there to enjoy them, I have really enjoyed the roads free of cars. Last year when lock down ended the traffic was horrendous where I live and I’m not looking forward to it returning to that in a few weeks. So I am in no hurry for it to open because when it does just cycling to do my shopping will turn from a pleasure to a chore.
Because we don’t want to stop doing it, I think that we ignore the harmful impact that driving to ride, surf, paddle, climb, etc has on communities and the environment. The lockdown has made me really think about this and realise that you can do things differently and whilst I won’t stop doing it altogether, I will certainly do it much less and with more care and driving to do something will become the exception rather than the rule.
Someone posting on the Dalby Forest Facebook page claimed as he drives about 600 miles a week for work, driving 30 miles for a bike ride is "local" to him. I live about 10 miles from Dalby and have resisted - Sometimes feel like a chump for sticking to the spirit of the guidelines. (not the law, as has been pointed out repeatedly there is no law that can stop you driving for exercise)
Personally I think traveling 30 min is fine say once a week to exercise outside
S'not up to you though is it? It's up to the cop who stops you and asks you where you're going and where you live, and they'll make that decision for you...
Sometimes feel like a chump for sticking to the spirit of the guidelines
Yep, me too, and in September I moved from literally one of the best places for mountain biking in the country (Hebden Bridge) to South Manchester, where it's fair to say it's less than stellar locally, There's the Peaks just over there, and my old stomping ground is less than an hour away, but...Them's the breaks..
Which is an issue as they don’t know, we regularly have the police in work, so I asked 2 of them what they thought about travel 30 miles to exercise, first one said no problem he knew there’s no where close by to mountain bike so it’s understandable plus going solo riding solo it’s low risk, second officer said he would fine as it’s clearly not local...so 2 officers same force on same shift together 2 different outcomes.
It's an annoying balance isnt it.
on one hand, the wife an I driving 30 miles into the peak, staying away from the honey pot cafes etc and riding seeing very few people outside, then driving home adds virtually no increase to the C19 problem.
Its temping to think that what I choose to do isnt the problem...
But the problem isnt what I choose to do, but what EVERYONE also chooses to do.
If you let people travel round the country you will get more people doing it, more people pushing the rules a bit more, and more associated problems.
Whilst you have to 'stay at home/local' in theory there is less traffic, less traffic accidents needing hospital care, less people in flip flops suck on a hill when it started raining....
Now the pressure on the hospitals is coming down, I had been holding onto the hope that they would lift the 'stay at home' part of the restrictions, still keeping the not mixing with others tight so we could drive away from the city and enjoy low risk outside activities but the tone of the messaging now suggests that it might be wishful thinking 🙁
so 2 officers same force on same shift together 2 different outcomes.
There in lies the issue of the Govt not defining their "rules" well enough, My view personally is "If you get stopped* do I think what I'd say (I'm just driving a wee way to go and enjoy myself on my bike) would sound reasonable to a bored cop, resentful of having to to do traffic duty on an early Sunday shift"
* I know the chances are slim, but...
second officer said he would fine as it’s clearly not local
a bit difficult to issue a legitimate fine for a law that doesn't exist, no?
I'm about 20 minutes from Whinlatter & 30 minutes from Keswick (where most of my rides start). I've not been to either since this lockdown started. No mountain biking from the house either.
But I'm really starting to feel like I need the headspace riding brings me. If people can meet for a coffee I think I'll be heading out for a ride.
