Bunch Riding or going Solo during corona virus risk

[AUbicycles]

Was running the bunch riding verses solo road cycling through my mind and in terms of risk reduction to prevent the spread of the corona virus that bunch riding should be ok, but the post ride coffee has to be skipped for a while.

Not an issue for me currently but a few other bunch rides are still active and the social aspect after the ride is the big drawcard.

[Alex Simmons/RST]

Social distancing is one of the best containment measures we have available to us, and one which we as individuals have the most control over.

Honestly, any activity involving close quarter contact with others in a group is not a good idea.

The threat is very real and serious (the paper published overnight in the Lancet should underscore just how serious this is). The more we do to contain the growth rate and the earlier we do it will result in lives being saved.

It may not be the fit and healthy cyclists who are in danger, but all those who they come into contact with later on and are immuno compromised and/or the elderly.

You can be infected and contagious while still asymptomatic.

To combat this thing will require a change in the way we operate at a social level. It sucks but that is a key learning from the countries who have successfully managed to drop the infection growth rate.

We need to:
- give our health system a fighting chance of keeping up
- buy time (1-2 years) for a vaccine to be developed and deployed

[ColinOldnCranky]

Social distancing is one of the best containment measures we have available to us, and one which we as individuals have the most control over.

Honestly, any activity involving close quarter contact with others in a group is not a good idea.

...

Strangely, lots of puffing, wheezing, sweating riding partners is not something that often concerns me. (Unicycle)

[bychosis]

I did wonder about if needing to self isolate, and not feeling unwell wether going for a ride (solo) would be frowned upon. Minimal risk of close contact with anyone, able to control not contacting other surfaces unlike going to work and using the same door handles etc as everyone else.

[march83]

I see a lot of zwifting in my near future...

[ColinOldnCranky]

I did wonder about if needing to self isolate, and not feeling unwell wether going for a ride (solo) would be frowned upon. Minimal risk of close contact with anyone, able to control not contacting other surfaces unlike going to work and using the same door handles etc as everyone else.

Unless you expect to be getting laid up by countless friends on the route then, IMO, it would be quire reasonable to go for a ride. And no end of ride coffee stop of course.

[Tim]

I think bunch riding might entail a risk of transmission.
More than once I've felt a mist of spray from a poorly aimed snot rocket launched from a rider up ahead.
A cough or sneeze, maybe even heavy breathing upwind could send infected particles back down the line.
Just a thought, I'm not certain.

[queequeg]

I’ve been doing spin classes a few times a week, and may have to reactivate the Zwift membership instead. I go to a place dedicated to cycling, so it’s not like dropping into a Fitness First.
My outdoor riding during the week used to be commuting to the office, but I have been working from home most of the time since late last year. With the virus, management has now instructed people to work from home if they are able to, and if they can’t then teams are being split over multiple sites to reduce the risk of whole business functions getting taken out.
My current outdoor activity is Audax. The way that goes is I see everyone at the start to collect my Brevet card, and 4 minutes later I am 1km in front of everyone and that gap just continues to get bigger over the ride. I’d have a brief interaction at the checkpoints to get my card signed, or have a coffee.
I just did a 150km ride yesterday (Sat) and was solo for most of it. I’ve got my monthly 200km Audax ride next weekend, but doing it as a permanent (i.e. it’s not on the ride calendar) so I will be solo. I’ll be avoiding group rides for a while regardless, at least with riders I am not familiar with. I’m somewhat risk averse since having my DVT and don’t want to get taken out by someone with poor handling skills. Also why I don’t race anymore.
I am supposed to doing a 12-hour charity ride on May 1st. That could well end up getting cancelled.

[g-boaf]

From CNSW regarding COVID-19

https://mailchi.mp/cycling/covid-19-170320

Some of the training studios I know are putting in place special procedures for cleaning the equipment and reducing the hours they are operating to facilitate that.

I’m avoiding larger bunch rides at the moment. I might ride with one or two others but that’s about it.

I don’t mind doing 150km rides on my own. 140-150km are my usual weekend rides.

The Haute Route people have finally made their first statement on COVID-19:

https://email.hauteroute.org/haute-rout ... e-covid-19

Allowing people to swap events, some events might be cancelled but nothing final so far.

[IncognitoMosquito]

I pulled the pin on group rides this week. If I was strong enough to stay on the front the whole way I might have felt better about it but the miasma of sweat, snot and spittle that must surround the rest of the peloton doesn't fill me with much confidence that we won't share more than a trace of each others secretions and DNA by the time we stop for coffee. I got a few messages suggesting it should be OK, but I am more concerned for the people around me than myself.
So, instead of a full bore river loop group ride this morning, I took myself off up the hills solo and even found a couple of little roads I haven't tried before. Different sort of a weekday ride for me, but hugely enjoyable. When I checked in on Strava, only one of my regular group had turned up for the river loop flogging.

[Alex Simmons/RST]

Some of the training studios I know are putting in place special procedures for cleaning the equipment and reducing the hours they are operating to facilitate that.

The only defence is not to be there. Same for gyms. It's shut down time.

[g-boaf]

Some of the training studios I know are putting in place special procedures for cleaning the equipment and reducing the hours they are operating to facilitate that.

The only defence is not to be there. Same for gyms. It's shut down time.

That's exactly right. People are training hard, sweating, etc. Urgh. Not good.

I have to wonder if this will push people to get their own smart trainers and start doing their training at home rather than at a gym or a cycling training studio... Obviously the studios do have appeal in that they motivate people, or they are close to where someone works, they go at lunch hour, etc.

I'm no longer near any places like that so I just got a tacx neo and set up the same thing at home. Over time improved it, got a proper fan, got a big screen, proper flooring so cleaning is easy, etc. Surely others will do the same.

[bychosis]

http://cycling.today/italy-and-spain-ba ... ompletely/

Not going outside to get some exercise is going to drive some people nuts. I don’t mind not having social contact for a bit (introvert) but I do like my outdoor active time - solo is fine.

Seems there is concern over cyclists crashing and putting additional load on the hospitals along side the risk of spreading infection.

[IncognitoMosquito]

Seems there is concern over cyclists crashing and putting additional load on the hospitals along side the risk of spreading infection.

Would make far more sense to ban driving. A far bigger drain on the emergency services. Clearly won't happen though.

[you cannot be sirrus]

I'm still riding with a couple of mates and potentially small bunches ( upto 8 ) on the weekend. I come into contact with random strangers at work, I see that as a much higher risk than people I know and trust to not do the wrong thing and turn up if feeling unwell.
All my club races are cancelled until further notice, largely because of the pre and post race gatherings.

[trailgumby]

I've just bought a Kickr Core and the related smart fan. It will be largely solo outdoors and on-line for social. As poor a substitute as that is, it's better than nothing.

The bit that really gets up my nose is the building manager closing the bike garage at work.

@Alex, I think you're absolutley right. Some mathematical modelling I saw over the weekend out of the US, based on working back from the official chinese numbers and the known incubation period puts the actual numbers of infected people at 1 to 2 orders of magnitude greater than the official stats at this point in time. Numbers have tipped up sharply in the last few days in line with the prediction and will accelerate.

The takeaway is the criticality of social distancing and the impact even just one day's delay in implementing makes to case load.

https://medium.com/@tomaspueyo/coronavi ... d3d9cd99ca

[Alex Simmons/RST]

I'm still riding with a couple of mates and potentially small bunches ( upto 8 ) on the weekend. I come into contact with random strangers at work, I see that as a much higher risk than people I know and trust to not do the wrong thing and turn up if feeling unwell.

You might trust them to not turn up when unwell, however COVID-19 is contagious while asymptomatic.

[queequeg]

Audax Australia is not shutting down like the UK

https://audax.org.au/covid-19-2/

[Alex Simmons/RST]

Audax Australia is not shutting down like the UK

https://audax.org.au/covid-19-2/

If Police approvals are required, it's likely these will be withdrawn.

The seriousness of what we are facing is not sinking in with some organisations.

[queequeg]

Audax Australia is not shutting down like the UK

https://audax.org.au/covid-19-2/

If Police approvals are required, it's likely these will be withdrawn.

The seriousness of what we are facing is not sinking in with some organisations.

Police approvals are not required for Audax events, so it’s a bit hard to withdraw such an approval. Generally it’s maybe a dozen people spread out over a 200km+ course. Effectively it’s no different to just going riding on your own, except you have a card to get signed at a couple of checkpoints on the course (such as a cafe or petrol station, or in some cases neither..you just take a photo of yourself at the checkpoint and sign your own card.
The ride I did last weekend had 8 people. I was solo for 95% of it, only riding with two others for the main gravel climb, and I dropped them about half way and didn’t see them again until I was packing the car to go home.
This weekend I am doing my 200km Monthly ride as a permanent, and it’s just me. Audax is running their 24-Hour ride on Sat/Sun with teams of up to 5 riders needing to travel on any course of their choosing, covering at least 360km in 24 hours and all arriving at the finish location at the same time. No indication that this has been called off, except I think in TAS. QLD isn’t due to have theirs until later in the year, but all other states still happening as far as so know. NSW Finish is in Wollongong.

[you cannot be sirrus]

I'm still riding with a couple of mates and potentially small bunches ( upto 8 ) on the weekend. I come into contact with random strangers at work, I see that as a much higher risk than people I know and trust to not do the wrong thing and turn up if feeling unwell.

You might trust them to not turn up when unwell, however COVID-19 is contagious while asymptomatic.

Agree with that 100%. As I have little control who I come into contact daily through work I have to manage my to risk assessment as best I can. As a self employed tradie I don't have paid holidays etc to fall back on. No work mean no income.
I feel I'm as likely to catch it from a client, or my son who works in a supermarket, as I am from a ride buddy outdoors and taking sensible precautions.

[Alex Simmons/RST]

Police approvals are not required for Audax events, so it’s a bit hard to withdraw such an approval.

Surely the Alpine Classic requires Police approval?

And putting aside the Police approval, what about all the team events? Surely they need to be pulled?

[queequeg]

Police approvals are not required for Audax events, so it’s a bit hard to withdraw such an approval.

Surely the Alpine Classic requires Police approval?

And putting aside the Police approval, what about all the team events? Surely they need to be pulled?

The Alpine Classic is not an Audax Event. It’s run by O2events. You don’t get an Audax Brevet for it anymore since it was sold a few years ago.
When it was run by Audax, it required police approvals because there were lots of riders out on all the different courses, but no roads were closed and there were no traffic marshals or controls (at least when I did it in 2017). The Audax Brevet was available if you wanted it, much like used to be the case for the Fitz Challenge.

A standard Audax ride is basically organised by one or two people who plan the route, hand out the cards and process them afterwards. It’s $6 entry. Even the Newcastle Overnight is $6, and that has run the last 6 or 7 years. The first couple it was just random people riding, then it was brought in as an Audax ride to cover insurance. Most people doing it probably don’t care about the brevet card. It’s quite a sight seeing 200 riders commute up the pacific highway at night.
I think in 2016 the ride coincided with a massive RBT blitz on the central coast, and we got plenty of friendly waves from the various police checkpoints as we rode past. They probably wondered where we were all going.
For the most part, an Audax ride is indistinguishable from a ride consisting of a few mates going for a cruise. We just ride a lot further!

[Alex Simmons/RST]

The Alpine Classic is not an Audax Event. It’s run by O2events. You don’t get an Audax Brevet for it anymore since it was sold a few years ago.
When it was run by Audax,

Thanks for bringing me up to date.

[queequeg]

And putting aside the Police approval, what about all the team events? Surely they need to be pulled?

Forgot about the teams events. I am actuall not sure where they sit. The only team event they do is the 24 hour ride. Since it's not a race though, and it's ony a max of 5 riders covering at least 360km I can't see how you'd even apply for an approval. Every team chooses their own route. The only requirement is it must be at least 360km long. It can literally start anywhere. The rules specify that you can't use the same road in the same direction more than once in that time (so you can't just ride a short loop multiple times). Every team chooses their own starting point and route.

Meanwhile, the riders doing the IPWR left Fremantle this morning heading to Sydney. Pretty much just a very long Audax ride.