Originally Posted by
rumrunn6
quiet day on the Minuteman & saw a new sign
I guess he was 6' from anyone else, so ... no mask for you!
Originally Posted by
rholland1951
There seemed to be an unusual number of bikes out on Mass. Ave (not a bad thing, there's plenty of room, and most of the riders were masked), and once again there seemed to be more car and truck traffic than we had enjoyed during the quietest part of the Great Pause.
Meanwhile, I was noticing what looked like diminished traffic at the Minuteman crossings. So... I hopped on the Minuteman in Lexington Center, to see for myself...and immediately found myself in 9x traffic compared to the road, with the added treat that
about two thirds of it seemed to be either Barefaced or Just Warming My Chin, happy Breathers everywhere you looked.
Originally Posted by
sherbornpeddler
Breathing. As Rod said,”it can be quite nice.” I read Professor Erin Bromage’s blog cited distances for different kinds of breathers and sneezers and kept it in mind as I rode a favored 36 mile cloverleaf loop de loop through nearly empty backroads in Sherborn, Dover, Westwood and Medfield.
I found walkers and cyclists well spaced except obvious family members and
half the cyclists were, using Rod’s term, chin warmers and the others were solo cycling barefaced. I pulled my mask up well before I passed anyone In either direction and the two times I stopped. I saw chatting neighbors conservatively distanced by driveways and a lonely walker wearing his mask on an empty road.[
Originally Posted by
Ghazmh
I commented to Mrs Ghazmh after my ride yesterday afternoon that half the cyclists I saw had a mask/bandana around their neck (not face) while the other half had nothing. It wasn’t a literal tally but it seemed that way.
In all fairness I did see a few with their faces covered. In the early mornings when I do most of my rides I sometimes see a dozen or more riders while I sometimes see none at all. Often bare faced.
I've ingested far less bugs, airborne landscaping dust and god only knows what else that gets Hoovered in when churning uphill. What’s not to like?
My riding (commuting) has been through Boston, Brookline, West Roxbury, Dedham and Norwood, mostly on lightly trafficked roads with rare cyclists on the opposite side, and a small fraction of my routes on the lightly cycled Jamaica Pond / Muddy River MUPS.
I wear a mask, but when riding I lower it below my nose.
With the mask over my nose at rest, I have some fogging of my prescription eyeglasses, though the moisture is ventilated while riding, but breathing is improved through unencumbered nostrils. During the recent “cold” snap, the mask indeed was a chin and cheek warmer.
There have been recent reports of vigorous law enforcement of wearing masks, e.g. a young mother arrested in the Brooklyn subway for lowering her mask to answer her phone (not necessary IMO). If this starts to occur in Boston, I hope my slightly lowered mask we’ll give me enough “cover” to avoid being stopped.
I do wear the mask when riding because if I want to enter an enclosed space.e.g. a store or Commmuter Rall car, it's cumbersome to remove my helmet with the chin strap over my ears, to secure the ear elastics of the mask, but so easy to just raise it above my nose since it is in place already.
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Last edited by Jim from Boston; 05-15-20 at 02:46 PM.
Reason: added picture of mask position