Virus And Riding.

[sychen]

Mybe not directely, but in the case of accident, you can be placed in the ICU, taking the bead off somewone in serious covid-19 respiratory condition. Or you may not get a level of medical help as you would in normal circumstances.

I'm not worried. Over the past 40 years of "serious" cycling I've not been hospitalized. Traffic is minimal. I'm really not concerned about me as 200,000 of 7.5B ppl have the virus. I wash my hands, work from home, etc. I'm going riding. If it makes anyone feel better, it rained all day, and I was limited to my home gym.

Ciao!

It's not about you.

It's about you taking up a bed and doctors time when avoidable.

It's about statistics 2000 riders in a weekend.. Likely someone will crash. It's about lowering the burden on the system.

It's also dependent on if your medical services are at breaking point or not.

If your area isn't asking you to stop.. Then it's mostly OK to risk it. If your government says don't do it.. Then don't be an ass just to ride a bike.

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[kgt]

It's about you taking up a bed and doctors time when avoidable [...] If your area isn't asking you to stop.. Then it's mostly OK to risk it. If your government says don't do it.. Then don't be an ass just to ride a bike.

+1

[ico]

Mybe not directely, but in the case of accident, you can be placed in the ICU, taking the bead off somewone in serious covid-19 respiratory condition. Or you may not get a level of medical help as you would in normal circumstances.

I'm not worried. Over the past 40 years of "serious" cycling I've not been hospitalized. Traffic is minimal. I'm really not concerned about me as 200,000 of 7.5B ppl have the virus. I wash my hands, work from home, etc. I'm going riding. If it makes anyone feel better, it rained all day, and I was limited to my home gym.

Ciao!

It's not about you.

It's about you taking up a bed and doctors time when avoidable.

It's about statistics 2000 riders in a weekend.. Likely someone will crash. It's about lowering the burden on the system.

It's also dependent on if your medical services are at breaking point or not.

If your area isn't asking you to stop.. Then it's mostly OK to risk it. If your government says don't do it.. Then don't be an ass just to ride a bike.

Sent from my Pixel 2 XL using Tapatalk

Then preventive completely stay at home don't drive a car, don't walk, don't .... I respect what government say, if they say stay at home I will, untill then it is completely ok to ride a bike, it will keeps you healthy and fit.

[rainerhq]

Been riding pretty much every day for the past 3 weeks. Go ride people!

Well done moron. Who cares about a dangerous virus as long as you can play on your tricycle. Enjoy.

M3 please stay home for the next 50 years.

[rajMAN]

Still encouraged to ride here in Uk but decided i'm going to tolerate the turbo each day!

[tymon_tm]

it's a tough call - the risk of having an accident (no matter how small it really is) vs. staying home for countless days or weeks, giving in to relentless eating, drinking, losing your mind over not being able to do stuff, and god knows what else.. well, for now I pick the former.

sure, if your area is a war zone, you need to consider the fact the help either won't arrive or you'll be better off licking your wounds rambo style in a ditch, than getting in one of those over-crowded hospitals, where the risk of getting the virus in is basically a sure shot. but let's answer this sincerely - how many of you had a cycling related accident that needed medical care? I had one i 20+ years, most buddies I know had none. I think I'm OK with riding outside, and honestly - that's the only thing that's keeping me sane after staying home for 1,5 week and counting...

[bilwit]

Pretty contentious one, here in Seattle they have told us that it's "okay" to go out for a bike ride, and now that we finally have the first decent weather since October many cyclists have taken this as an opportunity to hit the roads, I'm even seeing daily group rides on Strava.. Personally I don't think it's a great idea at this time, especially at the center of the outbreak in the US. It's insensitive at best (risking a potential trip to the hospital when they don't need any extra strain) and naively idiotic at worst (group riding and everyone getting sick). For now I'm on the trainer, but it's increasingly tempting to go out at least once on the weekend

[basilic]

I'd like to see some actual numbers. Injured bicyclist must generate a fraction of a percent of ICU bed-days. If the authorities wanted to seriously reduce the pressure on ERs and ICUs, they 'd had to ban alcohol. Don't sell any, and quintule the fines on any OH-related offense. I could get behind that, but try that in France, Italy, or Switzerland. Plus contrary to cycling, alcohol has hardly any health benefits. I say that as someone who enjoys a good red, regularly.

I was out riding today (individual cycling is not banned in Switzerland yet), tons of people out on bikes, families, old people... and virtually no traffic.

[Alexandrumarian]

Never had a problem for like my whole life then packed together 3 crashes in about 1 year: caught sand descending, luckly only lost skin and a few cracked ribs- finished the ride and managed on my own; hit by car, landed on my head, cracked helmet, had to call 911 and go to hospital for obvious reasons (police, insurance, blabla) and finally caught some wet dirt near a curb - broke the frame and again cracked ribs - was pretty tough to limp home but again survived with no doc. So shit can happen but yeah, overall it must be a drop in a bucket compared to car, work or plain home accidents. But i am talking outside the city, real road riding. Within the city, commuters, leisure riders or couriers are tumbled pretty often as I can see from the local cycling facebook groups I subscribe to. Still, car accidents are by far a bigger problem. In the hole I live in around 2000 ppl die every year from traffic related accidents. Imagine how many more end up in hospitals. While typing I googled for more statistics and saw some whole-EU numbers - about 25k deaths a year of which 8% cyclists. I would have never imagined such a large percent.

[flying]

Another cycling & Covid article...This one about starting cycing during as an alternative transport
How to Start Biking During COVID-19

https://medium.com/@TransAlt/how-to-sta ... bbc5c87393

[mcfarton]

Mybe not directely, but in the case of accident, you can be placed in the ICU, taking the bead off somewone in serious covid-19 respiratory condition. Or you may not get a level of medical help as you would in normal circumstances.

I'm not worried. Over the past 40 years of "serious" cycling I've not been hospitalized. Traffic is minimal. I'm really not concerned about me as 200,000 of 7.5B ppl have the virus. I wash my hands, work from home, etc. I'm going riding. If it makes anyone feel better, it rained all day, and I was limited to my home gym.

Ciao!

It's not about you.

It's about you taking up a bed and doctors time when avoidable.

It's about statistics 2000 riders in a weekend.. Likely someone will crash. It's about lowering the burden on the system.

It's also dependent on if your medical services are at breaking point or not.

If your area isn't asking you to stop.. Then it's mostly OK to risk it. If your government says don't do it.. Then don't be an ass just to ride a bike.

Sent from my Pixel 2 XL using Tapatalk

Agreed. I don’t want to keep zwifting but I will. I will also run more often.


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[tymon_tm]

Agreed. I don’t want to keep zwifting but I will. I will also run more often.


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but what if you get bitten by a dog or twist/break a leg? if you feel outside activity is a risk, then just stay put

from what I gather, running is far more risky than cycling. sure, a chance of being hit by a car is smaller, but then there are tons of minor but painful injuries that are more likely to happen and do require medical attention.

[TobinHatesYou]

I might do one outdoor ride soon just to experience the serenity of empty roads and low single digit AQI, but yes I have been Zwifting for 10 days straight...I don't mind it.

Cycling is inherently dangerous, the statistics back it up. The two times I've been hit by a car were in low-traffic areas. I have no idea how the current situation alters the incidence of inattentive driving, but everyone's routines have been broken and lapses in judgement will occur.

It is also entirely possible that you slip in the shower or on your porch while watering plants. I personally think it's OK to ride solo as long as you don't bomb descents, don't ride in inclement weather / bad road conditions, stay away from other people and be mindful of the surfaces you touch. Really, really, really try not to stop at gas stations, coffee shops, etc. for snacks. I'm seeing cues/lines out the door for food, and people aren't heeding social distance guidelines at all.

[Chiva]

I live in a small town in northern Arizona. In my county there has not been any cases of coronavirus so far. I had a nice ride on my mountain bike outside yesterday. I am going to work tomorrow as usual. The only change is the elective surgeries I had planned for some of my patients are now postponed 4 weeks. That’s OK. The world keeps turning around. I can still perform emergency and trauma surgery if I need to however. I feel bad for the people whose businesses are closed and are not able to earn a living.

[Bigger Gear]

Obviously this board has a wide variety of people from different parts of the world. As a result, there are different levels of government intervention.

Here in Canada, we are not (yet) in a so-called lockdown or shelter-at-home state. The govt has been promoting social distancing, and while I think it is going OK there have been pocket areas like Vancouver, who like Seattle, had the first decent weather of the year coincide with the week we were trying to ramp up social distancing. As a result, lots of people were abusing the beaches and there were a lot of failures. In terms of riding, we are OK to do it so long as it can be done in a socially distant fasion. I've been riding the roads and to be honest they have never been safer in my area, probably a 50-70% reduction in cars on many of my routes. I am 100% avoiding the MUTs, gravel paths and our dyke network as they are very busy with walkers and runners since many people who planned to travel for Spring Break are now staying at home. I'm trying to promote amongst my cycling community to avoid the busy areas with pedestrians, and maybe keep the gnarly shreddy MTB rides on the shelf for now, but that solo road riding is pretty safe right now. My rides are 100% self-contained, I only ride as long as I can on 2 bottles and the food I bring, so 3-4 hours tops. No stops at gas stations or convenience stores. Honestly, I'm not pushing it too hard right now, it's important for the body not be in a heavily depleted state if you still have to go out in public for work.

I'm sure someone will want to judge me, but FWIW I am an essential health care worker and my wife is a doctor. We have had the discussions about social responsibility and the chance of accident putting additional burden on the healthcare system vs. the need for us to stay active and mentally healthy. For now, we've decided the decompression offered by riding is worth it for me, relative to the risk of me ending up in the ER. If the situation changes and we are not permitted to ride outdoors I will be the first guy to 100% stop.