There was a lot of discussion about not riding as we went into lockdown. As the Government relax restrictions on meeting other people and travelling I thought I'd see what people are thinking. There will inevitably be some fairly opposed opinion and I'd ask that people are respectful of each others views. The idea is to give a sounding board for thoughts, so all welcome!
My initial prompt for the post is that I've seen 3 MCCs advertising rideouts to the Hope Valley area tomorrow (Sunday 31st May) The weather is good so the roads are going to be busy and whilst car parks are now open in the area, the toilets aren't. Is it too soon for club rideouts?
Too soon for rideouts? Well, since it seems ok to go from London to Durham and Barnard castle, I would guess not...or is that just for special advisors to the prime minister?
While ever there are folk still dying from this disease then my answer would be, it's too soon to relax the guidelines. If anything they should be stricter, until we get a vaccine.
The only reason they are being relaxed is because some folk are fed up of them. That's the worst reason to relax the guidelines. We're all fed up of living like this, but it will only take longer to be free of it if some folk keep ignoring the guidelines!!
I went out for my first ever ride, last Thursday just gone. I was a bit tentative at first, you know if I have a mishap, I'm putting undue and extra stress on the relevant services, plus maybe I'm taking the piss. But then I thought no, it was time for me, after been in a long laborious lockdown, to blow away some of the cobwebs. Plus a curiosity of who and what was out there.
Therefore I set off and rode by myself, taking my flask and food along with me, and stopping off at various points along the way. Keeping well away, as much as possible, from other people. Trying not to stop off at any hotspots, but rather travelling straight through those often busy zones.
My route was A1 North, off and through Knaresborough, up towards Pately Bridge, round back roads to Leyburn, up through Reeth and up to Tan Hill. Then back down Butter Tubs, Hawes, Ribblehead, then a detour before Settle, over the tops and down through Arncliffe, Grassington, and then Bolton Abbey and back to base through Bradford.
One thing I noticed though was the amount of people in cars and big groups, all massed together. It was like a cross between a sunny average weekend and a scorching bank holiday break, or a reinactment of a football match. There was no social distancing at all, but more like the flood gates had opened and nobody was interested in adhering to any measures such as staying alert or keeping things down to very small groups. Part of me really does fear a possible return spike to this virus.
Passing through the Ribblehead junction I noticed an abundance of people all rubbing shoulders in layby's and around the catering van there. I was also shocked to see a group of bikers (grouped together) all clad in all their Rossi gear and lined up at the side of the road. Numbering to a pack of at least 20 to 30 people. Stopping off at Bolton Abbey and placing myself (for a break) in a quiet corner, by the side of one of the main service entrances (by the fountain if you know it) I viewed group after group, consisting of 2 to 10 people, openly rubbing shoulders with each other, bathing down by the river side together and all drinking water from the fountain. It just seemed to me like it was blase blase attitude, with not a care in the world for the danger. I also noticed (watching the gate staff) that they would only let you in, to get down and park by the river, if you had a ticket and had booked a spot previously on the internet. The amount of people pulling up in cars (on a day out) wanting to go in, then turned around, because they didn't have a pass. I must have counted at least 50 In the space of an hour?
So to summarise I feel the government's relaxation of these various lockdown rules, as just given the green light for people to bend those rules extremely. Also as mentioned earlier, I fear there's going to be a subsequent spike in this virus, if this activity continues. Therefore if more relaxation is implemented, in the wrong way, by poor timing and without properly and carefully thinking things through, then there is going to be a return of this virus and possibly a lockdown again. All we have done and every sacrifice that we have made is then going to go to waste and be in vain 🤔
For my next trip. Well I don't really know when and I don't know where. But it will be limited to say once a week or every other week. Done on my own and done safely by observing a safe way of riding at all times!
It is too early for club ride outs. I've been out on my own a few times to clear my head but I haven't invited out the people I usually ride with and I don't stop at my usual places to grab refreshments. I'm purely going round quick familiar routes.
I'm going out on a small ride out tomo,we are observing distancing etc and we are not wearing our cuts to stop the snowflakes taking pics making out we are closer than we will be I think if people are sensible and safe go for it
Well they allowing people to ride with a friend but that will just open the floodgates to group rides and meet ups, if the numpty,s in cars want to kill each other let them I just hope motorcyclists might see sence and keep away from groups, I for one won't be putting my bike back on road untill we can meet up as a group on a camp site so it's going to be cycling for me with my daughter, but please try and stay safe out there on your motorcycle
I'm out riding, and why not? The weather is good and I have the time. We're taking picnics and heading to places where we can keep plenty of distance from other folks. Speed doesn't come into it - but it rarely does when we're on Scootie. The fact is we're going to have to learn to live with Covid for the foreseeable future the same as previous generations lived (and died) with measles, smallpox etc. Never ending lockdown is not an option, the economy must be restarted regardless of the cost because the cost of not doing so is even higher. Having said that some of the idiocy I'm seeing is staggering. Nobody can say they are unaware of the risks of crowds so what is going on? Is it just herd instinct or some kind of mass psychosis?
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