Cycling during the lockdown

Limpy

You can comute to work any distance. If your working during this lockdown simply carry your letter, if you approach a checkpoint just say you're going/coming to work. You can also Run to work without having to obviously stay in the 5k zone.

secman

secman wrote: »

Irrational decisions are being made by Government... allowing off licences to be open whilst pubs are closed. I saw 3 millenniums with 3 shopping trolleys in a supermarket last week, one trolly had close on 20 bottles of spirits, another trolly had several slabs of assorted beers/ciders and 3rd trolly had dozens of bottles of TK red lemonade. Allowing this type of purchase is irresponsible in a pandemic, FFS at one stage we had resricted purchases on bog rolls .
The no joined up rationale is what makes me peed off.
I'm off the bike due to back issues for 2 weeks 3 days now and its showing big time....mentally...

I wouldn't like to be dictated to on when or even if I can have a beer or glass of wine but that if that kind of thing is going on I might be willing to change my tune. Complete fupwits.

eeeee

secman wrote: »

Irrational decisions are being made by Government... allowing off licences to be open whilst pubs are closed. I saw 3 millenniums with 3 shopping trolleys in a supermarket last week, one trolly had close on 20 bottles of spirits, another trolly had several slabs of assorted beers/ciders and 3rd trolly had dozens of bottles of TK red lemonade. Allowing this type of purchase is irresponsible in a pandemic, FFS at one stage we had resricted purchases on bog rolls .
The no joined up rationale is what makes me peed off.
I'm off the bike due to back issues for 2 weeks 3 days now and its showing big time....mentally...

I think there are a heap of shebeens going too, that has to be a part of it.

Tenzor07

AndrewJRenko wrote: »

I've never heard that logic presented by any public health expert. It really doesn't stand up.
If you want to reduce workload for rescue and emergency services, you would focus on cars, not bikes - emergency speed reductions with actual enforcement would dramatically reduce workload of emergency services.

I'm sure if you looked hard enough it would come up as an opinion from someone who's a PHE and therefore make it more valid to you?

The difference is that the majority of accidents you may have in a car would result in the occupants being a bit shocked but otherwise unscathed, whereas a simple fall on a bicycle could snap a collar bone, an arm...etc.. I've seen enough bikers hauled off a mountain by a helicopter and using the services of Gardai, Ambulance, mountain rescue and local forestry staff... similar for someone who comes off their bike on the road...

Of course speed limits should all be reduced to 30kph in urban and 50 in suburban areas but I can't see any calls for that in the media?

JimmiesRustled

I think the major problem with this whole thing is there has to be a bit of give and take in order to get the general public to buy into it.

A heap of people lost their jobs back in the first round of "lockdown" in the hopes of trying to "flatten the curve" and give the Health service a chance to prepare correctly.

From the lack of traffic on the roads to the reduced number of cases, it's quite clear it worked about as well as you could've expected it to be honest and the general public should, I believe for the most part, be commended for it.

We're all being asked again to do it again for a further 6 weeks. The issue now is the general public, rightly or wrongly, feel as if they've been cheated. The government, albeit it slightly different to that of the 1st "lockdown", haven't really followed through with preparing the health service.

ICU capacity is the same as it was and we now have fewer nurses than at the start of the pandemic (which isn't surprising with the amount that fell ill to the virus). The excuse seems to be that it takes 6 months to train a nurse on the equipment within an ICU. The issue is it's been more than 6 months since this all started so a lot of people are now asking what has been done in the time that the general public bought the government?

I'll follow the restrictions. I'm lucky enough to be able to work from home. I rarely leave the house unless on the bike or grocery shopping so I don't have a clue what it's like to have to give up my job again for the same reason as before. I don't know what it's like to be staring down at the next few months worth of mortgage payments or rent while also trying to organise Santa so I'm not going to pass comment on how or if people decide to break the "lockdown".

I do know a lot of these people feel let down by the government having given up an awful lot in March through to now only to have to do the exact same thing again.

I do hope though that we can get through this together despite our leaders and come out the other end not despising one another for, what I would deem, a complete failure to lead from our elected officials.

***Disclaimer: I'm not talking about the anti-mask crew. They can all do one.***

jrar

Cee-Jay-Cee wrote: »

Jeez I absolutely detest absolutely everything about this god forsaken shíthole country!!!

I hear you Donald........but don't you have bigger fish to fry just now ?!?

Tenzor07

eeeee wrote: »

It's also a question of solidarity - we're all limited to 5km, it's not one rule for some and others for others.
If a cyclist can go beyond 5km, why not a runner? And if a cyclist and a runner can go beyond 5km, who not a basketball player? Why not a football player? A hurler? A hockey player? A gymnast? a soccer player?
And on and on and on and on...
The amount of other cyclists I saw throughout this whole pandemic at every level clearing their noses, spitting etc. was crazy. And continues to be so. Cyclists frequently stop on their spins also, in groups and solo. That you have that going on is reason alone to limit movement..

Yes it is one rule for the other, certain GAA players, Horse racing people, Dog racing, rugby matches can all proceed...Where's the solidarity there?

I don't think it's a helpful or productive argument to try and portray cyclists as being "Covid scofflaws" just for stopping or clearing their noses, everyone does it so should we start complaining about everyone from shoppers to joggers to horse riders etc, we'd be here all day!

AndrewJRenko

Tenzor07 wrote: »

I'm sure if you looked hard enough it would come up as an opinion from someone who's a PHE and therefore make it more valid to you?

The difference is that the majority of accidents you may have in a car would result in the occupants being a bit shocked but otherwise unscathed, whereas a simple fall on a bicycle could snap a collar bone, an arm...etc.. I've seen enough bikers hauled off a mountain by a helicopter and using the services of Gardai, Ambulance, mountain rescue and local forestry staff... similar for someone who comes off their bike on the road...

Of course speed limits should all be reduced to 30kph in urban and 50 in suburban areas but I can't see any calls for that in the media?

The vast majority of road deaths and injuries relate to vehicle crashes, not cycling incidents. Check the KSI stats on the RSA website.

If you want to reduce workload for emergency services, you would focus on cars, not on bikes.

eeeee

Tenzor07 wrote: »

Yes it is one rule for the other, certain GAA players, Horse racing people, Dog racing, rugby matches can all proceed...Where's the solidarity there?

I don't think it's a helpful or productive argument to try and portray cyclists as being "Covid scofflaws" just for stopping or clearing their noses, everyone does it so should we start complaining about everyone from shoppers to joggers to horse riders etc, we'd be here all day!

But most of us are not elite athletes, where practicing our sport is our job (GAA is a whole other thing!). It's not perfect, but regular, non pro horse racing, rugby matches, tag rugby and all that aren't happening.
Clearing your nose or spitting on the road now is inexcusable, I carry a half a microfibre dishcloth and snot into that when I need to. It's not in any way inconvenient and it costs me nothing. It's wildly irresponsible and plain inconsiderate to be expectorating into the side of the road in the middle of a pandemic spread by exactly those kinds of fluids. Runners included!

Chips Lovell

Imagine if they did create an exception for cyclists. The Liveline switchboard would probably explode.

magicbastarder

i clear my nose while out on the bike, after checking there's no one in range (either ballistically or visually)

Tenzor07

AndrewJRenko wrote: »

The vast majority of road deaths and injuries relate to vehicle crashes, not cycling incidents. Check the KSI stats on the RSA website.
If you want to reduce workload for emergency services, you would focus on cars, not on bikes.

In the context of my replies on the topic at hand i'm referring to cyclists both on and off road... that's a wider debate about road traffic accidents that i'm sure could be had separately...

magicbastarder

secman wrote: »

Irrational decisions are being made by Government... allowing off licences to be open whilst pubs are closed. I saw 3 millenniums with 3 shopping trolleys in a supermarket last week, one trolly had close on 20 bottles of spirits, another trolly had several slabs of assorted beers/ciders and 3rd trolly had dozens of bottles of TK red lemonade. Allowing this type of purchase is irresponsible in a pandemic, FFS at one stage we had resricted purchases on bog rolls .

it was the shops themselves, not the government, who limited access to bog rolls. so to make that comparison, it's the off licences or shops selling the booze who should be the ones to answer any questions about why they sold in such bulk rather than the government.

from a legislative and cross contamination point of view, pubs are easy. people from different households, pretty much by definition, go to pubs and drink. whereas i have used my local off licence many times during the pandemic without coming into any contact with anyone else while drinking. this is pretty much not possible in a pub.

also, pubs are licenced commercial premises which operate within a known regulatory and legislative framework, and there is an understood and legally tested history of the government being able to legislate their opening hours, etc.
legislating for the gardai to be able to enter your home without a warrant is a completely different kettle of fish. there'd probably be siginificant constitutional issues were they to try to legislate around this.

Tenzor07

eeeee wrote: »

But most of us are not elite athletes, where practicing our sport is our job (GAA is a whole other thing!). It's not perfect, but regular, non pro horse racing, rugby matches, tag rugby and all that aren't happening.
Clearing your nose or spitting on the road now is inexcusable, I carry a half a microfibre dishcloth and snot into that when I need to. It's not in any way inconvenient and it costs me nothing. It's wildly irresponsible and plain inconsiderate to be expectorating into the side of the road in the middle of a pandemic spread by exactly those kinds of fluids. Runners included!

Regardless if I was to stay with the sentiments of your replies then we can say that the virus doesn't know the difference between elite and non-elite sports...to travel across the country to attend matches, fixtures, races, training is still movement that the rest of the population doesn't get to experience...so it can't be categorically said that we're all in this together when some aren't...

Ok, can't say i've ever seen someone whip out a dish cloth to wipe their nose, but each to their own I guess..
Though if you can show any study which shows that clearing your nose whilst cycling down the middle of a road spreads the virus i'd love to see it... I can't imagine anyone in a car becoming infected?

magicbastarder

AndrewJRenko wrote: »

If you want to reduce workload for emergency services, you would focus on cars, not on bikes.

they have mandated reduced car usage too though, as you're not allowed travel more than 5km from your home except for a reason already in the stated exception list.
the only way to 'focus' on cars over bikes would really just be to explicitly limit car travel more than bicycle travel. which would tie everything up in knots in terms of justifying that.

eeeee

magicbastarder wrote: »

i clear my nose while out on the bike, after checking there's no one in range (either ballistically or visually)

It's leaving it behind you that's the problem.

Tenzor07 wrote: »

Regardless if I was to stay with the sentiments of your replies then we can say that the virus doesn't know the difference between elite and non-elite sports...to travel across the country to attend matches, fixtures, races, training is still movement that the rest of the population doesn't get to experience...so it can't be categorically said that we're all in this together when some aren't...

Ok, can't say i've ever seen someone whip out a dish cloth to wipe their nose, but each to their own I guess..
Though if you can show any study which shows that clearing your nose whilst cycling down the middle of a road spreads the virus i'd love to see it... I can't imagine anyone in a car becoming infected?

Yep, it's still moving around, with all the attendant risks. There are far, far, far fewer pro athletes than regular sports participants, so I guess they're trying to manage a certain amount of risk. Lifting the non elite part would release a hill of a lot more people out around the place than keeping it just elite.

It's more where you're leaving it, ditches etc. I am from a small farm, and still go down to help my dad. You'd be fencing at ditches, cutting hedges, moving cattle etc, all involving being close to/brushing the ditch at the side of the road. You could have a dog walk into a passing cyclist or runners expectorate, then said dog comes into the house etc. Admittedly really low chance of transmitting it, but those ditches are some people's workplaces, so I give them the same respect as any other one. And it's no harm to keep your disease carrying fluids to yourself as much as you can at the moment

Johnnystephens

I live in a rural area and like the last lockdown I will cycle away as normal..The last few weeks while out on my road bike I have met quite a few UK registered cars vans and two mini buses..I rest my case.

magicbastarder

other people misbehaving as a reason to misbehave yourself is not an excuse you'd let a child away with.

who_ru

plenty of lock downs to look forward to in the new year too.

horse racing eh? gotta love that one. since when is GAA an elite sport by the way?

Tenzor07

eeeee wrote: »

It's more where you're leaving it, ditches etc. I am from a small farm, and still go down to help my dad. You'd be fencing at ditches, cutting hedges, moving cattle etc, all involving being close to/brushing the ditch at the side of the road. You could have a dog walk into a passing cyclist or runners expectorate, then said dog comes into the house etc. Admittedly really low chance of transmitting it, but those ditches are some people's workplaces, so I give them the same respect as any other one. And it's no harm to keep your disease carrying fluids to yourself as much as you can at the moment

You'd want to be one of the world's unluckiest people to get Covid as result of a random passing snot rocket!

Reason I replied to this is because of the hysteria that was caused by a study in a wind tunnel that showed a test using pneumatic dummy heads to try show how breathing from a passing jogger could spread the virus and it's that sort of pop-science that can lead to hostility towards joggers, cyclists etc.... I've even had an "unexpected" cough happen at just the time i'd be passing someone when out on the road bike..:rolleyes:

at1withmyself

Fair play, the rule I'm going to ignore is isolating when sick cause of all them bleeding UK reg cars! Off now to a busy supermarket I go without me mask cause those foreign feckers!

Johnnystephens wrote: »

I live in a rural area and like the last lockdown I will cycle away as normal..The last few weeks while out on my road bike I have met quite a few UK registered cars vans and two mini buses..I rest my case.

D13exile

I’ve followed all the rules to date, social distanced, mask on, kept within stated limits etc etc. However, one thing I can’t understand is that I have to once again, now stay within 5kms of my home when out cycling. I live in the sticks and on my spins of 40kms+, I might pass at most two pedestrians walking their dogs. How on earth am I risking their health as I pass them doing over 30kph? Seriously, I spend about a tenth of a second in their vicinity and I usually move out to the middle of the road anyway when passing. Just doesn’t make any sense. The main reason I love cycling is getting out for a long spin and enjoying the scenery. Doing fecking laps on the same roads close to home is boring as hell. I can understand why the general populace is getting fed up, despite the seriousness of the pandemic. I’d say more and more people are just going to say feck it, I’ll do what I want. I know I’m starting to lean that way........and I was once all for the enforcement of the restrictions. A little common sense would keep the general population on board. Yes, stop house parties etc but stopping a lone cyclist or a runner going beyond 5kms is just using a sledgehammer on the proverbial nut.

jrar

Johnnystephens wrote: »

I live in a rural area and like the last lockdown I will cycle away as normal..The last few weeks while out on my road bike I have met quite a few UK registered cars vans and two mini buses..I rest my case.

I did stop on my bike behind a GB registered car at a checkpoint near Donadea on Sunday and caught snatches of the conversation with the Garda.

Turns out the car and occupants had arrived off the ferry 2 days earlier, and when challenged, they told the Garda they were "just out for a drive but had no intention of leaving their car". The Garda told them they should be at home isolating, and to go on home asap and do so, and with that he waved them on.

He turned to me and said "we're never going to win with people like that, and we're powerless to do anything about it".

Pretty much summed up the cluster**** of a situation we find ourselves in , with lots of conflicting instructions from Govt. & NPHET, a citizenry who could be forgiven for not knowing what they can or cannot do given the chopping and changing, major fatigue with just the cumulative effect of living with a pandemic for 8 months+ to date, and a safety campaign which is largely reliant on full co-operation from ALL but it's all carrot and no stick to handle those who just don't seem to give a flying **** about the potential impact on others of their own behaviour.

Wishbone Ash

D13exile wrote: »

.... I live in the sticks and on my spins of 40kms+, I might pass at most two pedestrians walking their dogs. How on earth am I risking their health as I pass them doing over 30kph? .....

Do you seriously expect the Government to introduce hundreds of thousands of differing layers of legislation to suit everyone's scenario? You sound like the Healy Rae's arguing that rural drivers should be exempt from drink driving regulations because the use rural boreens.

C3PO

To my mind, there are only two reasons to obey any law - firstly, if you believe that it is just and right or secondly, if the punishment for transgression is so severe that you would prefer not to take the chance!
Nobody will convince me that cycling my bike on my own in the depths of Wicklow presents a higher transmission risk than cycling down a packed Dalkey Main Street so to my mind the 5km rule makes no sense and I await to see what the penalty for doing it will be!

bilbot79

I bet those dodgy Gardai will make fake Strava accounts in your friend's name and when you accept their follow request BAM, you're caught skipping county

whiz

Are bike shops closed during lock down, even for repairs ?
Any response appreciated

MangleBadger

whiz wrote: »

Are bike shops closed during lock down, even for repairs ?
Any response appreciated

Bike shops can stay open.

velo.2010

It'll be interesting to see if there is still the same enthusiasm for cycling during this lockdown as there was with the last. The weekend might give us a better idea with the kids in school this time round.

magicbastarder

Wishbone Ash wrote: »

Do you seriously expect the Government to introduce hundreds of thousands of differing layers of legislation to suit everyone's scenario? You sound like the Healy Rae's arguing that rural drivers should be exempt from drink driving regulations because the use rural boreens.

'you can cycle until you have passed 5 pedestrians, after which you must turn around and go home'