Cycling as an activity during the Covid 19 outbreak

[pwa]

I've said it before and I'll say it again.It's a virus,it's random.If you're going to catch it you will,if not you won't."social distancing" isn't going to prevent you catching it and is just another pointless excercise.
If you think it will help and want to do so then do so that's your choice.There are plenty out there who don't an that's their choice.
When all this has blown over people will look back and say......why?

I'm not worried for myself. I'm nearly 60, and male, so perhaps I ought to be a little worried but I'm not. But I am worried for my Mum (85) and for kids I know of locally who have underlying conditions such as asthma. And others treating this casually and not minding whether they are carrying it from one household to another is a threat to them. It is a threat to those who are weaker.

In my work I often come close to the old and the vulnerable, and in recent weeks I have been doing my best to keep them at a distance, even when they seem not to care, because I am a threat to them. Somehow we have to protect these people until a vaccine is available.

Has anyone noticed when in a supermarket it seems to be mostly the old who are not obeying the SD guidelines?

There does seem to be a problem with some (not all) very old people being unaware of how close they get to others.

[Oldjohnw]

Nothing to do with the employer.They're following all the guidelines as best they can.They don't decide on how/when/where we take our breaks,we do.
Two of us have had it.Both our wives are NHS staff tested and confirmed(if the tests are reliable )We had our forced "isolation" period off work.We both caught it at home.As for the others,well,as I stated in another post there's far more serious things than a virus to worry about that we breathe in day in day out at work.If those who hadn't shown any symptoms are worried I'm sure they'd do something about it.Evidently they're not.
I've said it before and I'll say it again.It's a virus,it's random.If you're going to catch it you will,if not you won't."social distancing" isn't going to prevent you catching it and is just another pointless excercise.
If you think it will help and want to do so then do so that's your choice.There are plenty out there who don't an that's their choice.
When all this has blown over people will look back and say......why?

So good that you understand viruses and how they are transmitted so well.

You seem to have a bit of a bee in your bonnet regarding my opinion on this matter?
As I’ve said you do what you think is necessary and I’ll do what I think.
At the very least when I look back in 12 months I will do so safe in the knowledge I didn’t succumb to all the hysteria and ridiculous paranoia.

You overlook that someone could pass it on to someone much more vulnerable than them. You also dismiss the scientific consensus that anyone can get it.

[pwa]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-politics-52396683

The Welsh Government has brought in new regulations which say that people cannot stay in second homes and cannot exercise outside their local area. That makes me wonder what my "local area" is. It could be wider than they imagine. I'm thinking a zone extending maybe 15 miles from my home. Perhaps a little more.

My local cycling campaign covers this borough and its neighbours, so I'd say that's our local area for cycling purposes. OTTOMH, that's about 80 miles diameter.

The local enterprise partnership covers Norfolk and Suffolk, which is about 100 miles x100mi, and that's a government-created thing, so I think they'd have difficulty arguing against my smaller definition.

New regulations are at https://www.legislation.gov.uk/wsi/2020 ... tents/made

I can't search it easily here but I didn't spot any area restriction on a skim through. Can you? More confusion from government?

I quite like the vagueness in this particular instance. It allows me to make a sensible choice in line with what I consider to be the spirit of the thing. I'm reading it as allowing me to go wherever I can from my home in, say, a couple of hours, but not allowing me to stick the bikes in the car for a day's cycling in another region.

Edit
Correction. It appears we (in Wales) are limited to cycling within walking distance of our homes. Does that mean that the furthest point of our rides must be a place walkable from home? That's what I'm going to read it as because I can walk thirty miles at a push, twenty with ease. And that still allows me enough cycling to keep me happy.

[Oldjohnw]

I imagine it is deliberately vague. At one level that might be frustrating but if they were precise it would require policing. Then would you fault someone who was a bit late? You could potentially be criminalised because an adverse wind got up.

So vague, whilst often criticised, is generally useful. What is needed - and appears to now be the case, unlike at first - a consistent approach by the police.

[pwa]

I imagine it is deliberately vague. At one level that might be frustrating but if they were precise it would require policing. Then would you fault someone who was a bit late? You could potentially be criminalised because an adverse wind got up.

So vague, whilst often criticised, is generally useful. What is needed - and appears to now be the case, unlike at first - a consistent approach by the police.

If questioned by the police (very unlikely) I think I am a good talker and would win them round. I'd point out that I am on a regular route that I know like the back of my hand, the cycling equivalent of a local jog, and that I am very self-sufficient and don't do accidents. I'd make an effort to keep it at friendly banter rather than confrontation.

[Oldjohnw]

I imagine it is deliberately vague. At one level that might be frustrating but if they were precise it would require policing. Then would you fault someone who was a bit late? You could potentially be criminalised because an adverse wind got up.

So vague, whilst often criticised, is generally useful. What is needed - and appears to now be the case, unlike at first - a consistent approach by the police.

If questioned by the police (very unlikely) I think I am a good talker and would win them round. I'd point out that I am on a regular route that I know like the back of my hand, that is the cycling equivalent of a local jog, and that I am very self-sufficient and don't do accidents. I'd make an effort to keep it at friendly banter rather than confrontation.

Exactly. A sensible approach which I also would follow. A confrontation would get you nowhere. Most people I imagine are sensible and sensitive to others. We only hear about the clowns, who are sadly found everywhere, even on these pages, but are thankfully rare.

[eileithyia]

Out on the bikes yesterday, we were passed by 3-4 police vehicles, not one bothered us / stopped us to check if we were a household group etc.,
For the record I am carrying 3 bank statements 1 for each of us which shows we live at the same address and my son has taken to wearing his Sunfower lanyard when we are out so it is clear (hopefully) if we are questioned for being out together, why he is out with us etc.

[softlips]

Weeks ago when this all started I cycled through a Police checkpoint which was stopping all traffic to ask where you were going etc. They waived me through but I stopped and asked what I was allowed to do as a cyclist. They said so long as I started from home (this was when driving to exercise was said not to be allowed), rode alone or with people I lived with and met no one else, then cycled home then there was no rules against distance or time on the road. But he did add he’d recommend not going so far I’d need to buy food and water which would mean interacting with someone else.

[RickH]

Weeks ago when this all started I cycled through a Police checkpoint which was stopping all traffic to ask where you were going etc. They waived me through but I stopped and asked what I was allowed to do as a cyclist. They said so long as I started from home (this was when driving to exercise was said not to be allowed), rode alone or with people I lived with and met no one else, then cycled home then there was no rules against distance or time on the road. But he did add he’d recommend not going so far I’d need to buy food and water which would mean interacting with someone else.

Some folk will think you are making that up! The police being reasonable & sensible just doesn't happen now does it?

[nirakaro]

The rare interactions I've had with the police, I've nearly always found them to be reasonable and sensible. It's just that the ones that aren't are the ones that get noticed.

[Oldjohnw]

The rare interactions I've had with the police, I've nearly always found them to be reasonable and sensible. It's just that the ones that aren't are the ones that get noticed.

Personally I've never had a negative reaction with the police. Professionally, I know that some are on a power trip. But usually it isn't hard to diffuse or de-escalate a situation

[Oldjohnw]

Seems cyclists aren't immune from accident after all:

https://www.grough.co.uk/magazine/2020/ ... moor-crash

[pwa]

The rare interactions I've had with the police, I've nearly always found them to be reasonable and sensible. It's just that the ones that aren't are the ones that get noticed.

I went out for a spin on the bike today and I was playing leapfrog with a police van for a few miles. The officer was taking the numbers of cars parked in lay-bys popular as parking spots for walkers accessing paths down to the coastal path. She didn't display the slightest bit of interest in me.

[The utility cyclist]

Seems cyclists aren't immune from accident after all:

https://www.grough.co.uk/magazine/2020/ ... moor-crash

what do you mean "after all", who has ever said that people on bikes don't suffer self induced injuries?
What is the point of your comment exactly?

[The utility cyclist]

I imagine it is deliberately vague. At one level that might be frustrating but if they were precise it would require policing. Then would you fault someone who was a bit late? You could potentially be criminalised because an adverse wind got up.

So vague, whilst often criticised, is generally useful. What is needed - and appears to now be the case, unlike at first - a consistent approach by the police.

If questioned by the police (very unlikely) I think I am a good talker and would win them round. I'd point out that I am on a regular route that I know like the back of my hand, the cycling equivalent of a local jog, and that I am very self-sufficient and don't do accidents. I'd make an effort to keep it at friendly banter rather than confrontation.

Why not simply ask them what reasonable grounds do they having that you've committed a crime, you also have the right to remain silent, you need say nothing at all. they have to prove you've committed a crime, not you prove you haven't.
Carrying ID, 'proof' etc, seems just like a police state to me. I don't even take my phone out when cycling anymore.

Today went a reverse route to one loop I've only done a couple of times, very up and down and some quite steep sections early on, tough for me whence I've not got the muscles warmed up especially and the down sections were littered with gravel and broken up edge of lane plus bends so not remotely getting the pay back for the uphill bits.

Again every Land Rover driver speeding excessively three out of three today), almost everyone else aside from Mr I've got a powerful Audi so I'm going to throttle it and I don't give a @@@@ were pretty alright, some too close but not bad for me but for other less experienced and walkers just not acceptable.
I was going to go on the A road (between two small towns) as the surface is really good and would be a nice ride but given the 2 vehicles that were in excess of the speed limit by at least 50% (it's a 40 on the long straight bit due to many incidents previously when it was 60) just as I got onto it just made me think do I need the stress.
Given the excess speeds and general reckless driving it wouldn't surprise me if cycling KSIs go up, still some will blame cyclists for putting more strain on the NHS, not taking care enough as Northants police force just stated they should do with no reference to motorists doing same (and then changed their comment only after being pulled up ) and plenty of victim blaming inexperienced/children, usual trope, sad thing is other experienced cyclists are piling in as well, even on here!