Being stuck at home can be good or bad depending on the circumstances, either way it’s awesome that riding seems to provide the “social distancing, self isolating, and quarantining” that is being asked of us. Or does it?
I’ve noticed increased readership (thank ya’ll SO much! – You have no idea how much it helps that you’re here and how much it keeps me going), that I wanted to take the time to write this and put things in perspective for riders out there, new and experienced because I think there’s a few things that’s important that we must keep in mind if we decide to go out for fresh air and enjoy the wind in our hair during these unprecedented times.
Believe me I want to go out and hit the trails, but my wife is a type 1 diabetic so I choose not to because I might end up bringing coronavirus home with me somehow in chance encounters with other riders. I’m not taking that risk with my wife no matter how slim the chances, so I stay put and work on my bike at home, or do a driveway ride to work on my skills. Otherwise, I would be out there. Your circumstances may be different.
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Should I Ride Right Now?
At home? Absolutely! I do the driveway trail-system ride with the occasional around-the-block-system ride. Lots of foot-down games with myself, or I’m practicing reasonable trials skills that won’t get me in hurt trouble. Right now, I’m tuning up the ol’ bike. It’s a good time for upgrades if you can get the parts. I had to do a seatpost replacement after wearing the life out of my last one – I went back to a basic seatpost: BW – Check it Out Here because sooner or later I WILL buy that dream bike I’ve always wanted – as of this writing it’s the Ibis Ripley v4 *drool* and spending anything more doesn’t make sense on a 7 year old budget bike, it’s cheap and effective!
Should I ride the trails? I’m on the fence about this one. There’s a lot of people saying that the trailheads and trails are filled with more riders than ever, and this is true all over the country because the beginning of the riding season is upon us. Well riding the trail might not be a good idea now. But because of this fact alone, it may be wise to rethink going out on the trails because crowding during these times with so many people isn’t exactly what you want to be a doing. If you do decide to do it anyway, ride with increased awareness of the fact that you might not be able to go to the hospital simply because the hospitals may be overwhelmed with COVID19 patients, or worse, you get to the hospital and come into contact with someone unintentionally. And then even bring it home. The whole reason why you were riding in the first place was to “social distance.”
Did I forget to mention it’s springtime? The season of allergies? A little more sneezing on the trails, a little more sniffles, some coughing. Especially when you’re riding and sweating, and touching your face and your equipment. There’s definitely a risk there.
After a ride you usually want to get a bite to eat, get a few beers, go meet up some friends on the way, maybe hit the grocery store or run some errands. WELL DONT DO IT.
Should you ride with friends? I’m afraid to answer this one, but I would say YES with social distancing. And No, because you’re supposed to STAY HOME. Make a smart decision.
Personally, I think you can ride anywhere and anytime (honestly, night riding sounds SO AWESOME right now), BUT (and this is a HUGE but) with a lot of caution and do not get hurt (shit – so much for night riding).
Anything can happen, so use your BEST judgement for yourself. Wash yourself too.
- Don’t attempt anything you couldn’t easily handle before (remember: hospital visit = they might not help you fast enough)
- Don’t take the sketchy line, take less risk = less hospital visits
- Do you REALLY need to take the double black? Just take it down a notch, it CANT hurt
- Wear more protection. Helmet, knee/shin pads, gloves, eye protection – FYI I’ve had these knee/shin pads forever and love them: My Demon knee/shin pads.
- Use your best judgement on features. Do a skinny that’s 6 inches off the ground, or the one that’s 3 feet off the ground?
- Limit exposure to jumps and dropoffs, your best judgement applies here also c’mon now
- Hesitating or giving something 2nd thoughts? Go around or skip it entirely, it CANT hurt to skip it
- Wash. Bring soap, hand sanitizer, and towels to dry yourself off from leaving or getting anything potentially contagious.
I would say all of this pretty simple, if not silly, but it all seems pretty common sense. Just take it easy out there and you’ll be fine.
Hospitals are SWAMPED
You might end up getting hurt and need help at the hospital.
The last thing you want is to end up getting sick WITH the virus because you put yourself in a situation where you needed to be at the hospital. It’s really not a good idea to do anything risky right now.
If you show up at the hospital with bike shorts and a helmet and gloves on, people are just not going to give any sympathy for your poor decision to ride and get yourself hurt when there’s a crisis out there.
Mountain Biking Alternatives
Road biking. Oh my god did I just say that? Yeap. I’m not a fan of road biking because there’s always wreckless drivers now matter how off-to-the side you are – they just don’t care. Or how much right-of-way you give them even though you have just as much right-of-way. In many ways I think road biking is MORE dangerous than mountain biking in this regard. BUT, if you can find a paved trail where it’s only pedestrians and bikes only, that’s the perfect place to road bike. There’s more road than trail, so the trailheads and trails shouldn’t be as crowded.
Use an MTB trainer. A Bike trainer, or if you can make one for your mountain bike similar to this one: MTB Trainer At Home. Similar to a treadmill for running, that bike trainer would use your own bike for riding without going outside your house. I would love one due to it’s compact size without a bike on it. I would much rather have a trainer versus a large cycling machine or treadmill.
Train your muscles. You mean like weight training? Yea! Maybe you want to get stronger at climbing, work on those quads and put in some squats or weighted squats and lunges. Do some planks to work on that core for your explosive movements on the bike like bunnyhops. Speaking of bunny hops, do pushups and pullups to work on the arms and back muscles to get the movements down. There’s plenty of awesome resources to work out at home, and specifically for mountain biking. Check out what Bike Radar has to say in this awesome workout article for cyclists: Quick Exercises to Get You Fit for Mountain Biking
Find trails. It might be time to plan our that next trip! Dying to see Moab? Or Bentonville? or the Pacific Northwest? Take some time to see where the next adventure will be. It give you purpose to travel, makes you feel like you have something to look forward to for riding which keeps you in better shape until you get there.
Build your own trails. This is probably the coolest thing to do since very few people do this laborious work. Instead of going to a packed trailhead and crowded trails, why not help build trails or carve out new ones?! Maybe make something in your backyard. SO RAD.
Conclusion
Please do your part in these tough times by washing, distancing, and isolating if you have any suspicious symptoms. People really are dying out there from this virus infection and even though some of us are healthy our friends, family, and loved ones may not do too well if you get them infected somehow.
As for me, I’m definitely still riding, but only at home in the backyard and the driveway, and a bit around the block if I need to get away from the house for a bit. I can work on a few simple trials skills, and practice manuals again now that my ankle injury has finally recovered.
Just do the right thing.
Rider up and over and out!