Coronavirus cafes

[Grandad]

Not quite the usual coffee and cake stop but well over 6 feet from the very occasional passing car - in fact more cyclists than cars.

[TrevA]

I started taking flask with me on rides, but most of my rides are between 35 and 40 miles, so I don’t bother stopping and have my coffee and cake whilst sat on my swinging chair in the sunny garden.

[rjb]

I've seen a couple of cyclists eating and drinking sitting on benches or on convenient walls at the side of the road. I feel uncomfortable about this. I wonder if PC plod would see this as cyclists having a picnic and put another nail in our lockdown. Just doesn't feel right when we are told to exercise near home. We restrict our rides and have our coffee at home when finished.

[Carlton green]

I really miss my ‘half time’ tea and cake at some out of the way Cafe and have wondered about taking a flask and biscuits out with me. As, as I understand it, the allowed exercise slot is just one hour long that’s been the notional duration of my rides ... sometimes they end up being a little bit longer but here in ‘the sticks’ I meet no one and influence nobody so any minor deviation is irrelevant to society. I try to keep with the spirit of taking reasonable exercise and worry that taking refreshment by the side of the road might be open to misinterpretation, best me thinks to ensure that one is well out of sight of any passing person. I vote for enjoying well earned refreshments but IMHO out of sight avoids unhelpful questions, etc.

[Paulatic]

I’m missing my cafe stops but I’m certainly not concerned about the police state some of you are seeming to create. Where this hour comes from is incredible.
I was sat on the roadside on Friday watching, what little world there is, go by. Police car came by I gave them a smile and a wave. I think they waved back.

[Oldjohnw]

Some police have made some errors. That hardly makes it a police state.

I have gone out on my 1 hour ride a couple of times at morning coffee time and had my flask outdoors.

[hemo]

My ride on Sunday was a 5hr jaunt through two local country parks and two woodland/forestry areas, all local to me and with in 8 miles of home. If there was a set rule of a one hour walk for exercise I would say needs to be four or five times that esp if you consider 70- 100 miles to be a good work out. At the weekend sea siders were fined in Brighton if found they were not from the county, county was the term used for being local. I could have cycled the 20 miles down south and would have still been local.

[eileithyia]

Not sure where this is notional 1 hour is from either, at the start of the restrictions and repeated since; you can cycle your normal sort of ride that you do for exercise.... I guess those making such comments are not aware that for most cyclists normal is anything up to 100 miles. As it is we have been doing our average 30-40 miles, some of those miles have combined two reasons for going out; shopping and taking food supplies to self isolating relatives.

On Sunday we sat on a bench for a flask of tea and hot cross bun, it was next to a bus stop.... if I was waiting for a bus I would definitely be utilising said bench as since my op last year I have very little tolerance for standing for any length of time..... is this any worse than passing cyclists. Oh and my cycling clothes would probably be more virus free than my normal everyday clothes inc my coat which I wear when shopping. With the rise in temps my spring kit that has been stored away on top of the wardrobe since October, has come out..... it was clean when put away and washed after each use anyway....... so any likelihood that when sat on a bench I am spreading the virus is next to zero.

[spen666]

Not sure where this is notional 1 hour is from either, at the start of the restrictions and repeated since; you can cycle your normal sort of ride that you do for exercise.... I guess those making such comments are not aware that for most cyclists normal is anything up to 100 miles. As it is we have been doing our average 30-40 miles, some of those miles have combined two reasons for going out; shopping and taking food supplies to self isolating relatives.

...

Too many "little hitlers" trying to control what people do by making up restrictions that are not in the regulations. The regulations do not say you can only exercise for 1 hour per day, nor do they impose a distance limit

[Mick F]

^^^^
Spot on!

Me and doggie were out for three hours walking the other day, and when I go out cycling, it's usually for three or four hours. I could be 20 or 30miles away from home before heading back.

Nothing whatsoever in the rules to tell you how far or how long for your once-a-day exercise.

[Carlton green]

Not sure where this is notional 1 hour is from either, at the start of the restrictions and repeated since; you can cycle your normal sort of ride that you do for exercise.... I guess those making such comments are not aware that for most cyclists normal is anything up to 100 miles. As it is we have been doing our average 30-40 miles, some of those miles have combined two reasons for going out; shopping and taking food supplies to self isolating relatives.

...

Too many "little hitlers" trying to control what people do by making up restrictions that are not in the regulations. The regulations do not say you can only exercise for 1 hour per day, nor do they impose a distance limit

Yes, I would agree that the time limits for exercise are unclear; perhaps they have been deliberately left unclear, and of course the right to exercise could be taken away altogether. See: https://www.gov.uk/government/publicati ... nd-cant-do

As for the hour see Gove’s comment as reported here: https://metro.co.uk/2020/04/15/coronavi ... -12558487/

Personally I recon it best to cycle within near enough a half hour radius of home (say a generous 8 miles) and to advise anyone who should happen to ask that I was half an hour from home and half way through my hour’s daily exercise. The circumference of that (8 mile radius) circle is 50 miles and if it were allowable it would take me about 4 hours to cycle around it once, plus another ‘hour’ for reaching and returning from the circumference. I just do roughly an hour a day myself, maybe a tad over, and I’m not suggesting that anyone do such a devious thing as described: find your own safe balance for yourself and be prepared to accept any consequences. I’ve learnt the hard way that the best way to win a argument is not to have one. With that in mind having a sensible answer ready, being discrete, being safety aware and not overly pushing the boundaries should see us all happily cycling about indefinitely.

[Postboxer]

Not sure where this is notional 1 hour is from either, at the start of the restrictions and repeated since; you can cycle your normal sort of ride that you do for exercise.... I guess those making such comments are not aware that for most cyclists normal is anything up to 100 miles. As it is we have been doing our average 30-40 miles, some of those miles have combined two reasons for going out; shopping and taking food supplies to self isolating relatives.

On Sunday we sat on a bench for a flask of tea and hot cross bun, it was next to a bus stop.... if I was waiting for a bus I would definitely be utilising said bench as since my op last year I have very little tolerance for standing for any length of time..... is this any worse than passing cyclists. Oh and my cycling clothes would probably be more virus free than my normal everyday clothes inc my coat which I wear when shopping. With the rise in temps my spring kit that has been stored away on top of the wardrobe since October, has come out..... it was clean when put away and washed after each use anyway....... so any likelihood that when sat on a bench I am spreading the virus is next to zero.

I suppose sitting on a bench waiting for a bus for an essential journey is different to sitting on a bench halfway around a longer cycle ride, which is less essential. Then also who last sat on the bench? There's a chance you pick up the virus onto your clothes from the bench then a small chance you get the virus from your clothes, or you sit on a second bench, transferring the virus to the bench and to the next person who sits down waiting for a bus or sitting for a rest halfway around a cycle ride. I've realised to get to the strip of concrete alongside the Manchester Ship Canal that we've been taking the kids to cycle on involves opening gates, which we have to touch, or a style, hard to do without touching, especially if carrying a bike. Might have a look at another route onto it but it might be too overgrown.

[Postboxer]

It does seem whoever made the initial comment about a half hour run, hour long walk, cycle in between those times hadn't really considered the different amount of exercise that amounts to. I reckon if I walked for an hour, I'd cover about 4 miles, if I went for an hour long gentle cycle, I would probably be getting less exercise than an hours walk and far less than a half hour run. I haven't been going out since the lockdown because of the unclear advice leading to what appears to be even more of an anti cycling environment than before, when it could have been a far more positive environment for cycling in. It appears that maybe the best opportunity ever to promote cycling is maybe being missed.

[Navrig]

I'm not in the UK just now and not subject to these restrictions but from what I have read on various websites and social media sites the issue not so much the time but the increased risk of having to call on emergency services if you have an accident. Obviously the risk increases with time. Plus the risk of having to call for help (non-emergency) increases with distance so you could end up calling on your wife to come and collect you if you are 60 miles from home with an unfixable mechanical. The act of your wife then having to drive 120 miles increases the risk of having an accident and so it goes on.

You could walk 8 miles (and buy a new pair of cleats) if you have a problem close to home.

I am not being critical and in all reality if I were in the UK I would be doing exactly what you are all doing but the Government is trying to limit the demand on services which are dealing with the CV-19 situation.

[foxyrider]

If local is deemed to be your starting county i'm bgrd, Bristol isn't very big! less than a mile away is Gloucestershire where i have been doing the lions share of my Corona riding, i think i may have been as far as 25 miles from base, as the crow flies, a couple of times but i'm mostly within 20 miles. The most hazardous parts of my rides are the first and last couple of miles in a more urban environment, higher numbers of occasional cyclists and walkers/runners on shared paths - i've been trying to avoid the B&B path for just that reason.

Today i went for a walk, @ 8 miles, which was maybe pushing the limits of 'local' a bit as far as walking is concerned, if i was a marathon runner i'd barely be warmed up!

Doing 'as i would normally do', i take a break mid ride, these have been in fields, remote walls and yes, a bus shelter.

Yesterday i stopped in a field, 10 minutes, cheese sandwich, banana, leg stretch and away.

on the previous ride i dropped into Somerset

I have seen a couple of open food stops on my travels, a couple of 'burger' vans and a cafe welcoming cyclists but on a takeaway basis. I do know of a local cafe that remains open only doing takeaway.

Up to now, over the course of @ a dozen rides, i've been greeted, by the few people i've seen, only by smiles and apart from a Tesco home delivery van yesterday, more considerate driving than usual.