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Coronavirus - To Ride, or Not To Ride

36K views 182 replies 21 participants last post by  Norfolk UK 
#1 ·
Today, I would've been somewhere around Medford, OR on my way to Palo Alto where my daugher and SIL live for an overnight stay before heading to Death Valley. I decided to cancel the trip. As it turns out, the governor shut down California anyway.

But my reasoning was simply that I felt it pretty selfish to be out riding and exposing others. I figure I'm one of those 86% that would be carrying the coronavirus and not show any symptoms. But my wife has chronic asthma. If I pick up the virus on the trip and give it to her...well, I won't even see her die because no one is allowed with coronavirus patients in the hospitals. They die alone.

And my in-laws are in their 90's. If I give it to them...they're gone too.

If you look at the map of how the virus spread, you'll see where the USA is covered in red dots. On the east coast, it's almost solid. Same on the west coast. And in the "fly over country", it looks like it has measles. But a month ago, there were only three red dots. Small ones. How did the coronavirus get out to those other areas?

Many of my entertainment (non-commuting) rides are hundreds of miles. Rides that maybe start over here in the Seattle area, head over Stevens Pass, go south along Hwy 97 till I get to Ellensburg, and head home over Snoqualmie Pass. I'm not interacting with anyone...till I stop for gas. Or I stop to use the restroom. Or I stop to eat.

I wrestled with the logic for days of why it was okay to be outside walking, but not motorcycling. (At least one state has banned motorcycle riding.) My conclusion is that when I walk, I stay in my own neighborhood. When I ride, I'm potentially taking that virus hundreds of miles across the state.

From ADVRider:
Dan Diego said:
Our Commander here on base said something so important today and I wanted to share it. He said instead of acting like you are trying to avoid getting the virus from other people, pretend you have it and try to not give it to anyone else.


Chris
 
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#33 ·
I had a chat with my daughter who is studying philosophy and communications in University. I feel there is a field of study and career sorting out behaviors amongst large groups of people and how to speak to these groups.

What is it that makes so many people wait to be told by their governments to wash their hands, don't go to a grocery store for socializing and don't buy a years' worth of toilet paper. And remain in your home.

For some citizens this is not only completely obvious, it's second nature. These people don't wait for legislation to tell what is the right choice. They also don't pick and choose to justify doing the minimum. At the same time, they are neither afraid or failing to contribute to their community.

Education, religion and income don't seem to be discerning factors. Poor civic behavior seems not to discriminate. And so, those who don't need the rules grow frustrated at those who require rules.

It's a complicated situation and no easy answers. I'll leave to the generation following mine to learn more about this. And probably early a decent living doing so!
 
#34 ·
Studies have shown that a person is programmed by the age of eight. Everything from that age on is based on what was programmed by that age and is applied and adapted for the rest of the person's life.

This was known much earlier and applied by Religious Cults....

"Give me the child for the first seven years and I'll give you the man."
Jesuit maxim



 
#35 ·
As someone in the high risk category, I am more concerned about catching coronavirus from others than I am about spreading it to others. I live in a rural area in north Georgia, close to national forest lands. Lumpkin County has a low population density, and reported its first COVID-2 case 2 weeks ago; as of today we have 9 reported cases.

Yesterday I went for a ~50-mile ride along USFS fire roads. I saw 2 motorcycles, 1 bicycle, and three pickups over approximately a 2-hour period. I spoke with nobody, and didn't come within 10 feet of anybody. I did not stop for gas, or anything else, and I touched nothing other than my motorcycle.

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Risk avoidance is a more serious reason not to ride. If there were not some dangers involved in this activity, we wouldn't be covered from head to toe with helmet, armored clothing, gloves, and boots. The last place I want to be at this time is in an ER, both for exposure reasons, and because I do not want to add to an already over-burdened medical system. On the other hand, I have broken a wrist by falling off a 2-step ladder, I sustained a concussion when I passed out and my head hit a slate floor in my house, and I developed a painful kidney stone all while at home.

Moshe Levy (who wrote for Motorcycle Consumer News until it recently ceased publication) published two videos on this topic recently on YouTube:




Unlike Moshe, I don't live in a densely populated area with more than 47,000 reported COVID-19 cases and more than 1500 deaths (both figures will likely be higher by tomorrow morning).

So, yes, I still ride, and I plan to continue do so unless I am ordered to stop, or the USFS roads are closed, or there are many more cases where I live. I believe that driving to town once or twice a week for groceries at Walmart presents a greater risk to my health than riding.

Each person has to make his own decisions, and live or die with the consequences.
 
#37 ·
As someone in the high risk category, I am more concerned about catching coronavirus from others than I am about spreading it to others. I live in a rural area in north Georgia, close to national forest lands. Lumpkin County has a low population density, and reported its first COVID-2 case 2 weeks ago; as of today we have 9 reported cases.

Yesterday I went for a ~50-mile ride along USFS fire roads. I saw 2 motorcycles, 1 bicycle, and three pickups over approximately a 2-hour period. I spoke with nobody, and didn't come within 10 feet of anybody. I did not stop for gas, or anything else, and I touched nothing other than my motorcycle.

View attachment 361343

Risk avoidance is a more serious reason not to ride. If there were not some dangers involved in this activity, we wouldn't be covered from head to toe with helmet, armored clothing, gloves, and boots. The last place I want to be at this time is in an ER, both for exposure reasons, and because I do not want to add to an already over-burdened medical system. On the other hand, I have broken a wrist by falling off a 2-step ladder, I sustained a concussion when I passed out and my head hit a slate floor in my house, and I developed a painful kidney stone all while at home.

Moshe Levy (who wrote for Motorcycle Consumer News until it recently ceased publication) published two videos on this topic recently on YouTube:




Unlike Moshe, I don't live in a densely populated area with more than 47,000 reported COVID-19 cases and more than 1500 deaths (both figures will likely be higher by tomorrow morning).

So, yes, I still ride, and I plan to continue do so unless I am ordered to stop, or the USFS roads are closed, or there are many more cases where I live. I believe that driving to town once or twice a week for groceries at Walmart presents a greater risk to my health than riding.

Each person has to make his own decisions, and live or die with the consequences.
So if you have an accident on your bike, you'll be putting more pressure on an already pressurised Health service that is in high demand. And then you'll definitely catch Covid once you're in a Hospital with patients full of it.

This issue is not about you making your own decision to live or die, it's about society living or dying. The Isolation is about slowing the spread and protecting the health services from getting overwhelmed - they do not have unlimited resources.

There's a reason Italy went in to a total lock down where you cannot leave your house at all. Only for groceries and pharmacies; no exercise! The reason why, because of people taking the proverbial. Which then meant everyone got punished. So if you what want is to be told like a child to stay indoors, you'll soon have it if society does not govern itself. You're currently being told what you need to do, without enforcement for a reason - to give you the chance to do the right thing.
 
#38 ·
In the meantime, I heard last night that there are still four states in the U.S. who are not requiring their residents to shelter in place. One of the states was mentioned by name. That is Arkansas, where the Governor of that state has prohibited local jurisdictions from imposing their own shelter in place regulations. He wants everyone in the state to go about their business and just ignore the virus. So there, take that World. :rolleyes:
 
#41 ·
Sounds like the stance the UK was talking about a month or so back, ya know, before Boris went into the ICU :rolleyes:

View attachment 361387
Social distancing was in place about 2 weeks before we went in to isolation (we're in our 3rd week now). As expected infection rates has dropped, but you won't get to peak deaths yet for another couple of weeks they reckon.

Sweden (as far as i'ma ware) still don't have a lock down in place.
 
#43 ·
I hear that the UK's BJ is now out of ICU and his health is improving. He will probably be back to work soon. But I bet they don't let him near the Queen for quite a while.

Meanwhile, our guy just keeps on doing his thing - whatever feels good to him today. :rolleyes:
 
#44 ·
Posted on Facebook by a bike-riding UK nurse but I think this probably applies anywhere: -

"Wow, what a response. I am overwhelmed. Now I need you all to be grown up bikers please.
Covid-19 is due to peak in 9-14 days, over the Easter Bank Holiday Weekend. ...The weather is beautiful, the roads are clear and cabin fever has set in for us all. There is NOTHING like the freedom of the ride . I am aching to ride, and would normally form any excuse, to alleviate the current pressures to socialise with my beautiful biking friends but PLEASE do not ride out .
I work for the ambulance service, based in the RSCH. I will still commute, (reluctantly) in my car to work because it is safer and I can.
Please don't ride your bikes as an excuse to get an essential pint of milk or to give your bikes a run.
If the worst should happen, we would all struggle to help you and you would end up in a rampant Covid-19 positive environment where we are stretched to capacity.
I am based at the Royal Surrey County Hospital in Guildford, Surrey and work with THE most amazing people. Like all of our UK hospitals,
Oxygen supplies are stretched. Resus Equipment is stretched and PPE is high in demand.
All RSCH staff Bank Holiday entitlement is cancelled over the next Easter Weekend. It's all hands on deck as we try to contain this virus, transfer patients to safe environments, return patients to their homes or care homes or on to hospices for End of Life Care. Of course there will be some that will not leave and never see their families again.
Please do not ride out. Help us please. Xxx If you need the help of the NHS crews and our teams, we will struggle to help you. We all hate to fail. It breaks us. Our passion is in helping others.
Every single one of you are amazing and I am so proud to be part of this. Please don't give in to the sunshine and ride out .
Be safe and be connected. This ride, wouldn't be the same without each and every one of you. Xxx"
 
#47 ·
As another bike riding nurse. I beg of you all to not find any excuse to ride and to stay at home!

I have to commute, a 140km round trip daily. I don't do it for fun, I do it because I am on the frontline looking after people.

I myself am high risk, I have multiple autoimmune conditions and am a brittle asthmatic. I am also under the age of 40 and I work in a high risk environment.

I will continue to go to work because being a nurse is in my blood and running from this is not something I could in good conscience do. My family is in isolation, my partner is not out riding (as much as he wants to ride he won't put me and others at risk). They are doing their best to keep me safe. My teenage son doesn't deserve to lose his mum not does my partner deserve to lose his partner, not my dad and grandmother to lose their daughter and granddaughter.

Stop looking for excuses like "my bike needs a run" - you can run the engine at home. Or trying to find every little loophole. You may not have the virus, you may not get it and spread it but you COULD and the flow on effect can be devastating. You could also have an off, they happen and to say "it never happens to me" is a stupid and selfish attitude. I have always ridden and advised newer/younger riders that it's not a matter of if but of when, because no one lives their whole riding life having never come off and those that say deny it are lying through their teeth. You coming off ties up valuable resources, you needing an ICU bed means that someone else could very well lose a family member to this virus. All because you were selfish.

My final words STAY THE F**K AT HOME.

Sent from my CPH1701 using Tapatalk
 
#49 ·
Coronavirus molecules are up to .125 microns. That's crazy small and can easily get through any normal mask, N95, or even a surgical mask. Thankfully it doesn't get out or hang out by itself very often. It typically is stuck to dust, mucus, or liquid molecules which are all much larger. Surgical (or non surgical) masks are not designed to protect the wearer from the environment, they are designed to protect the environment from the wearer. That's because they will catch the small liquid and mucus droplets as they come out of your mouth and nose along with bacteria and virus molecules that are attached to them. So even cloth or cheapo masks will help significantly in reducing someone spreading the virus because it dramatically reduces the liquid and mucus vapor that has the virus attached.

It would be extremely rare/hard for you to contract the coronavirus through inhalation. Instead it is primarily transfered by touch. You touch a surface that has it, then touch one of your mucus membranes. This is why gloves also won't help you from the environment. You just carry the virus on the gloves until you touch your mucus membranes with a gloved hand. Gloves also don't stop the spread because the virus can only come out of your body through mucus membranes or blood.

It's the touching of surfaces that other people touch that spreads the virus. Then, after touching a contaminated surface, you are the one who gets it into your own body by touching your mucus membranes. Then again, many people will just spread it around to different surfaces which will expose more/different people, then wash it off their hands before they touch their own mucus membranes, so they didn't get it, instead they just helped spread it.

So the less places you go, the less things you touch when you are out, and the fewer people you interact with (at home), the less your chance of spreading and/contracting it.

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#51 ·
"When you gradually come back, you don't jump into it with both feet. You say, what are the things you could still do and still approach normal? One of them is absolute compulsive hand-washing. The other is you don't ever shake anybody's hands," Fauci
 
#52 ·
Have a question . . . . A friend sewed me a mask and said it was machine washable. Plan to wash it in hot water after my every other week trip for groceries. Is this advisable and if so, will it kill the virus? Or will it be too late?
 
#54 ·
Yes, this virus can only live outside an animal while its thin fat layer can protect it. Soap and hot water is the best way to kill it. Steam, UV radiation, ozone, bleach and other chemicals will also work, but soapy water is all that's needed.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G891A using Tapatalk
 
#57 ·
Yes, this virus can only live outside an animal while its thin fat layer can protect it. Soap and hot water is the best way to kill it. Steam, UV radiation, ozone, bleach and other chemicals will also work, but soapy water is all that's needed.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G891A using Tapatalk
UV has been shown to have zero effect on it.

Sent from my CPH1701 using Tapatalk
 
#56 ·
I have no illusions about a face mask protecting me, especially because I have had a beard for ~55 years, which I am reluctant to remove. However, I believe that wearing a mask provides some emotional comfort for others — especially during spring pollen season, when I am subject to explosive bouts of sneezing. Even though this type of sneezing has nothing to do with coronavirus, people in my vicinity won't know that, so the least bad course of action is to wear a mask and try to avoid sneezing if I must be around people.
 
#59 ·
I have a Traid Aer three stage air filtration system running in the house. It has three ways to rid virus from the air and surfaces. One stage ionizes the air and clears it. It has been working well this past few months and the air inside the house is easier to breath. Do a search and see what you think. ultra violet light will destroy bacteria and virus. It is used in sewage treatment in the final process to serialize the affluent before entering a river.
 
#60 ·
#62 ·
#64 ·
On the topic of air purifiers, I run a free standing purifier with a HEPA cartridge and charcoal pre-filter in the bedroom at night. It does WONDERS for my wife and myself when it comes to allergies. Much less snoring and we don't wake up as congested as we do on nights we don't run it. I bought it years ago when we were doing a mold remediation project and were so impressed we continue to use it during allergy and fire season.
 
#69 ·
Here is this morning's Easter fun Coronavirus news: In the San Francisco Bay Area three car drivers were given Easter holiday top speed awards for traveling over 100 mph along the coast highway, south of Santa Cruz. One driver got a 114 mph award. In in the ocean, 70 surfers were cited for having fun in the ocean, resulting in $1000 fines for getting wet. So you can have fun here, but it might cost you for the experience.
 
#71 ·
Wow! Gotta be some real idiots to do that, considering the circumstances. I am really surprised that they didn't get nicked. It would have been jail time for sure. I very surprised that they made it through California without getting caught and hitting the headlines, with a helicopter chase scene and 20 cops in tow on the nightly TV news. The TV news in Southern California loves those kind of chases. [;)]
 
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