There is an article in the Grauniad…
although it doesn’t specifically mention mtbing though.

Given the bulk of their readership considers the patch of grass round the bottom of a plane tree “accessible green space” is that much of a surprise? May as well encourage yachting in the dry valleys.

On my easy mtb ride yesterday. I say loads of people mostly over 70 out dog walking on their own. Then a few people walking in the countryside actually obeying the social distance rule.
Tomorrow I’ll be out again staying away from people, riding easy stuff on the mostly deserted trails.

Lifetime odds of dying in a car accident are about 1/100.

Covid-19 seems to be <1% if you catch it (assuming that once you’ve survived it youre immune).

So by that measure you’re still more likely to die in a car, just that your lifetime odds are potentially compressed into the next few months.

Lets all remember that these odds aren’t applicable to everyone in the population. I’m sitting at my desk with a prescription for a long course of immunosuppresants and if I start them I’m going to be at much higher risk from this virus and will likely have to isolate for 2-3 months. Im not even particularly badly affected as I have a choice as to whether to start them or not. There will be others much worse of than I am, quite a few of who will be reading and posting on this forum.

I think we will be going full lockdown in the next couple of days so you would be better going out on your bike sooner rather than later.

I’m planning on checking out Cannock Chase for the first time tomorrow. I’m betting it’s going to be rammed though since the sun will be out and it seems to be a pretty popular place already. I’m sure a lot of people will have the same idea.

Royal Parks are still open, so I’ll be taking in a few laps of Richmond Park Tamsin Trail.

Far cry from the week long bikepacking trip I’d planned for my holidays next week…

Been wanting and tempted to head out for a 20+ mile loop into the South Downs lanes the last few days, but my cautious sensible head stopped me, even though I’m not coughing yet under household 14 day isolation .

I’m even more confused after a ~35min pootle locally on the fatbike, it felt really hard work in the nippy North easterly breeze… Is my body currently wrecked, was it the ~14Kg fat bike up those tiny inclines, that stiff breeze or all the above? 😆

I could eliminate the bike, but I’m not sure I can be bothered to detach the ~8.5Kg road bike from the direct drive turbo, given the high likelihood that the subsequent ride would be a virtual one!

so is the TL:DR to this for the UK (for those not in 14 day quarantine);

Ride your bike for travel and leisure.

Ride on roads, lanes, gravel, familiar and relatively easy offroad.

Ride with household members, or solo.

Don’t do anything to risk an accident and an additional burden on healthcare services.

bout right?

That’s pretty much what I’m going for. With added ‘don’t travel to ride’.

At today’s press conference the deputy chief medical officer was asked about children playing. Her reply was that obviously team games shouldn’t be done but cycling was fine so long as social distancing rules were followed.

Government advice – go cycling! 👍

I was safe today at Glentress. Took my DH bike down Berm Baby Berm and the Admiral.

Just been VCing a colleague in France who is under their lock down. They are allowed to go out “for exercise” as long as they take their bit of paper with them saying that’s what they’re up to.

My read on that is that we are ok to pootle about too.

This

Days are getting longer, weather is improving and for the first time in years our evenings aren’t taken up with kids activities so as long as I’m not breaking any laws I’ll be getting out lots on the bike. I’m self employed so try to avoid hurting myself anyway and it seems pretty important from a mental health point of view to do the stuff that keeps me sane.

lovewookie
Subscriber
so is the TL:DR to this for the UK (for those not in 14 day quarantine);

Ride your bike for travel and leisure.

Ride on roads, lanes, gravel, familiar and relatively easy offroad.

Ride with household members, or solo.

Don’t do anything to risk an accident and an additional burden on healthcare services.

bout right?

You’d think so, but you’re reading that thread on GMBC too and I cannae win 🤔

So we’ve agreed the answer is “yes” then?

So we’ve agreed the answer is “yes” then?

It is indeed a strange old world at the moment.

The answer was always yes …..

The answer was always yes …..

But take less risks. The health service will not be able to cope with the extra burden if you injure yourself

At today’s press conference the deputy chief medical officer was asked about children playing. Her reply was that obviously team games shouldn’t be done but cycling was fine so long as social distancing rules were followed.

Government advice – go cycling! 👍

The key bit being stressed is the closure of all places of social gathering even for exercise. Hence leisure centres even outdoor if gathering there.

Trail centres and popular ride destinations people drive to might be put under pressure or feel they have to close access. Have to wonder about Swinley. At least the car park.

I’m going to ride on my tod tomorrow. Nothing crazy, no risky stuff.

Social distancing will be practiced. No car travel to go riding.

I was safe today at Glentress. Took my DH bike down Berm Baby Berm and the Admiral.

Having seen a video from today at GT already, I can only apologise if you met eldest_oab and pal doing thier best to leave all other riders and the virus behind them…

On my easy mtb ride yesterday. I say loads of people mostly over 70 out dog walking on their own. Then a few people walking in the countryside actually obeying the social distance rule.
Tomorrow I’ll be out again staying away from people, riding easy stuff on the mostly deserted trails.

On my gentle, mixed terrain, cross bike ride yesterday, I was kind of heartened to see so many older walkers out and about. Mostly they were happy to keep a decent distance, but one or two did the classic walking down the middle of the track thing leading to some interesting distancing diversions up onto grass banks etc.

To be fair, the government advice on what social distancing means is pretty woeful, so it’s hard to be cross. I also met a lovely old lady who told me that it reminded her of the war. I said I was surprised that she recalled it. Then she admitted that she was born a few years after it ended. I guess she’d just watched a lot of war films.

Pro Tip: three elderly ladies walking side by side at correct social distancing spacing down a narrow lane turn out to be quite unwieldy when you ask nicely if you can go past. Early warning is a good idea, it was all a bit like an oil tanker turning 🙂

As we now seem to have confirmation that cycling is ok (within sensible limits) do you think there will be an apology from all the earlier posters who said anyone who cycles is a dick, is selfish, only cares about themselves, is thick, etc, etc?

^^ Based on current info/guidance or after there is an actual lock down?

Not being sarcastic. I just mean that things are changing almost daily so too soon to judge much at all?

lightfighter762
Subscriber
I was safe today at Glentress. Took my DH bike down Berm Baby Berm and the Admiral.

Lol, this is me at the best of times!

Hahaha. Safety first!

Not being sarcastic. I just mean that things are changing almost daily so too soon to judge much at all?

Cycling is even allowed in France if you print off the correct forms so I think we will be ok for a while yet.

Cycling is even allowed in France if you print off the correct forms so I think we will be ok for a while yet.

In France exercise is allowed, but not cycling (except to go to work). There are also restrictions on distance from home (2km) (though in some areas the police are saying 500m) and length of time you should be out to exercise (30min).

the police are saying 500m) and length of time you should be out to exercise (30min).

Great! Even I should be able to run 500m in 30min.

500m radius. That could be 1km there and back or run in a big circle? Strava heatmap could start to look interesting 😉

That could be 1km there and back

Steady on.

My personal record for the 100m? About 80m.

Based on current info/guidance or after there is an actual lock down?

Based on facts. It’s OK to go cycling. It was always OK to go cycling. No one in authority is suggesting it will not be OK to go cycling in the future.

So there seem to be two conflicting opinions at the moment:

Riding = bad. You could be spreading disease across a wide area, you could fall off and put more strain on the NHS / emergency services, it’s not essential.

Riding = OK so long as you stay >2m apart from others, don’t stop at cafes (not that you can anymore…) and you’re fairly careful plus it’s important to stay physically and mentally active/healthy.

Or there’s the third option which the enormous group of MTBers I’ve just seen have obviously taken which is **** it, we’ll ride anyway. But then I saw the same with a group of ramblers the other day as well so who knows…

I’d suggest going with the facts instead of opinions. In my opinion.

NHS and gov websites both say exercise is fine, even if you’re self isolating, with no restrictions on what defines ‘exercise’. So unless something changes, I’m off out for a (gentle) ride – need to see how my grip is on my hand that I fell on 2 months ago as it’s still painful when gripping the bars.

You can also leave the house to exercise – but stay at least 2 metres away from other people.

Swinley now shut for MTB. Facilities closed and not allowed to use the trails for MTB. Crown Estate taking the risk and pressure on NHS stance. To be fair given the high number of incidents there it’s understandable.

All B1KE parks shut also.

I’d suggest going with the facts instead of opinions. In my opinion.

People are fed up of experts. 😉

I’ve been planning a wee bivvy trip. Fairly local but about 100km mix of road and “gravel”. The only thing putting me off is that it does go into a fairly remote area with which I am unfamiliar. Now thinking I’ll park it in favour of something shorter and that I know better. Ironically, that’ll increase the probability that I’ll encounter other folk.

One thing I would say about this. Anecdotally, people who claim to have all the syptoms also claim it can hit very quickly. Do you want you be 50km from home & suddenly starting to feel very ill. Personally I would be wary of going anywhere too remote.

Aye, that’s part of my reasoning.