As my place of work is closing for the foreseeable future, my initial reaction was, woo hoo plenty of time to go out and play on my bike.
Then I thought about the implications of going out, falling off and needing some help, hospital, ambulance even just the AA. This made me think about if it would be a selfish act on my part to go out for fun but still be a burden on the already stretched emergency services.
I am not suggesting we should curtail all our activities, and I'm not thinking there should be any official line, I'm just not sure myself what to do.
The ACU have told all their members to stay off their competition bikes (I'm aware we are not competing but the risks are similar)
Second that. Hopefully, we might be able to do a few lanes very carefully, isolated from everyone, but certainly not now. Weve locked down fully today and we are going to see how the next 10 days or so goes before doing anything vaguely irresponsible. Clearly worrying times. Lets hope we all make it. Take care.
-- Edited by Jerry atterick on Thursday 19th of March 2020 01:25:43 PM
Put into perspective. Belgium has in place a proposed Triage system. 3 doctors on duty, 2:1 majority decides whether to treat or not. All other governments will have, and must, similar in place. 9 italian doctors have died. They aren't old!!!
Maybe, time for reflection.
One bloke describes riding his bike as "physically and mentally really helpful" and I agree
Having had to call an ambulance only once in all of my time trail riding, (and not for me), I will continue to ride, but as ever while riding alone I will take more care.
Unless we are told not to go out at all that is...,and as a key worker without whom Lidl would have empty shelves I won't be stuck in the house anyway so I could take the scenic route to work....
Lots of divorces, lots of babies (well not today!)
Yes, a gentle bimble is such good therapy!!
I suspect patience might be a bit short over the next few months.
Worrying times
Take care.
I guess most of our bloodletting is a result of a lack of concentration ........
in a hurry
tired
distracted
gung ho attitude
Is sawing wood for the fire more risky than a gentle bimble ?
Is a fall from an e- bicycle less risky than a fall from a trail motorcycle in broadly similar circumstances ? ( at least you are not pinned down and smelling burning flesh )
Do we add to the risk by being over cautious and becoming more like a novice wobbler ?
My instinct is that we could go out in twos or threes and ride well within our limits, turning back if a new challenge offers itself ( like riding over large fallen trees )
If we travel separately to the start point and maintain a sensible distance when we stop to chat, we really do not create any more risk than food shopping, which we would obviously combine with the outing ( heh )
And perhaps we have a few more days of relative freedom before we become Italy .............
Yes Pete i went out on my road bike today nice to ride dry roads, saw lots of bikes out lots of people walking in Dawlish and Teignmouth and a lot of push bikes.
Today 35 outdoor activity organisations backed the Prime Ministers call for outdoor leisure activities to be carried out close to home, according to a press release from the Outdoor Industries Association. GLASS would like to mirror that support.
While the government and all supporting organisations consider active outdoor recreation as essential, especially under the current circumstances, it is vital that we refrain from travelling to popular tourist areas and carry out these activities close to home while adhering to current advice re personal hygiene and social distancing.
Various national park authorities have requested that people do not travel into their parks from outside the area. GLASS have received direct requests from park authorities asking that we advise our members, and the laning community at large, to respect those wishes.
We all face repercussions if we do not follow current advice; today we received warning that should people continue to travel outside of their local area to green lane, or if usage of lanes with voluntary restraints or other restrictions imposed on them continue, we may face closures in some areas. Once we lose our legal rights to drive a lane it is extremely unlikely we will ever get them back.
We want all green laners to stay safe, if that means restricting our movements for now then we must all do our bit. We all need to work together to ensure that once this situation is over we have helped to preserve our hobby for the future.