diphthong

exactly what i'm worried about.

bruce19

I don't miss my clubs' group rides. They are usually a dozen people and that dynamic doesn't allow me to ride in a way that I am efficient. I don't miss riding in groups where there are always some riders who don't know how to ride in a group. That can be dangerous. It would be nice to ride again with some of the "good wheels" I know. But, other than that, I don't miss it. Covid has just make it more obvious for me.

jpescatore

Back in 2013 (at age 56) I completely tore my rotator cuff and had to have surgery. During rehab I kept pushing for the surgeon to clear me for road riding (vs. first just recumbent stationary, than upright stationary) and he said something I've never forgotten: "You can ride your bike the rest of your life - this is the only time your shoulder can heal."

I'm looking at this time as "I can do group rides the rest of my life, hopefully now is the only time the risk is high of catching covid." I know that is simplifying things but I'll be vaccinated soon and the percentage of people in my area that have had covid or gotten the vaccine will likely be above 60% in a a few months - and there will be more data about what being vaccinated means and doesn't mean from a safety perspective.

I'm aiming for doing a group charity ride in May if possible.

WhyFi

I've been doing the occasional club ride since late summer or so. We keep the group small (typically 6-8 from a pool of a dozen regulars) and don't have the rotation of guest stars that we used to. We also acknowledge that we're at greater risk at any post-ride "recovery" activities, so we limit those to places with ample outdoor seating and we wear masks when not actively riding.

Litespud

Our club stopped group rides last March. A few people settled into small riding bubbles. I continued soloing. We started back up a couple of months ago with restrictions - limited group size, pace line spacing, masks when off the bike, absolute prohibition on spitting and snot-rocketing except off the back. This last was apparently too difficult for some folks to follow, so I reverted to soloing after one group ride. I’ve since got my shots, so I’m ok with resuming groups, which are operating under restrictions. It’s usually a mix of the vaccinated and the unvaxxed. People have also become better about restricting their spewing to the rear of the line.

MoAlpha

...and we're not going to yell at you.

rubiksoval

Why on Earth is this a covid-related thing only?

That's absolutely disgusting.

Carbonfiberboy 

If you think the people you ride with would lie to you, you need a better class of friends. If one is going to ride with a group for a long time, there has to be absolute trust between the riders. We put our lives in each other's hands. Thus my group has always been by invitation only. Highly recommended. Our motto is "safe and cooperative riding."

When you're vaccinated, you'll understand. The button says to those we meet on our adventures that we are safe to be near and that we give a damn. There should be cams to show the faces of people as they walk out of the vaccination room or drive away from the jab booth. Some people cry.

colnago62

Disney theme parks are opening at the end of March, I think. They will be instituting a no scream policy on their rides. I am sure they looked at data and talked to experts before deciding on this course. My point is we still really don't know a lot about COVID and everybody is still just making educated guesses. All you really can do is make educated guesses based on information that you feel applies in your situation.

downhillmaster

The irony is astounding.
You preach about group trust yet don’t trust members of your own group without a silly ‘vaccinated’ badge lmao.
The best part though is that the nature of the vaccine is that you are safe. You can still transmit to others who are not vaccinated though so have no idea where you are going with the ‘we are safe to be near’ silliness.

Litespud

to be fair, people would drift out to the side before blowing - it’s gross, but people made an effort not to spray those behind them. However, we decided that “not detectably splattering other riders” was too low a bar in the current climate, so spewing has been restricted to the back of the line where it belongs (and should always belong, regardless). Maybe when things return to normalish, this rule will continue - could be one of the many small positives that might come out of this mess

Litespud

I volunteered at a large vaccination center in my town. Quite boring at times, because you’re saying/doing the same thing hundreds of times per shift. However, also very uplifting because the folks - mainly old folks- getting their shots were just so damn happy and relieved. It was like someone just let them out of jail.

Litespud

we don’t yet know how transmissible the vaccinated are. However, I think it’s reasonable to assume that if you’re not propagating virus, any viral load you exhale or spew is going to be vastly reduced compared to an asymptomatically infected spewer. The likelihood of successfully passing on the infection drops away as the exhaled viral load decreases

MoAlpha

We have un-peer-reviewed data from Israel and the UK suggesting vaccinated people are unlikely to get asymptomatic infections. However, asymptomatic/presymptomatic folks were pretty efficient spreaders in the pre-vaccine era.

shelbyfv

Yep and I have no problem if it shames or offends anti vaxxers. I've ordered a roll of stickers and plan to share them widely..

Psimet2001 

I started out being conservative. Then we did some "distanced" gravel rides last year. Larger groups between 20-50 riders but everyone rides alone or in small groups. I rode semi-regularly with the same guy and his family off and on throughout the summer.

I went on a 50 mile ride with him on a Sunday in November. I kept telling him I didn't "have it" in myself to do that ride. "I have no...umph....no 'go'. I feel winded but I'm not out of breath. My HR is low as well."

"Whatever man. It's one of the last days we will be able to ride outside for the year so let's just take our time and enjoy it." We did the whole 3 ish hours riding together, drafting, I worked on his bike, we stopped and talked and ate, etc.

A day or two later my wife was formally diagnosed with Covid and I was home with it as well. He never got it. My co-worker who I am in close proximity to at all times where we never wore masks, etc. - she never got it.

I got it from my wife. She is a front line nurse. She remembers the patient vividly. Sick, short of breath. His wife had covid. He swore he didn't and refused to wear a mask. She had to swab him and he coughed multiple times in her face. I won't discuss her PPE availability. She got Covid and it was covered under workman's comp. I got it from her.

She ended up in the ER with pneumonia. Was thankfully able to be treated enough in the ER to make it back home. She still fights long term fallout. Has been having a lot of reactions to the vaccine as well (mostly just periods of full on Covid symptoms rushing back). I have been having specific issues with heart rate fluctuations that I NEVER had before and brain fog that has manifested specifically in not being able to recall the names of people I have known forever. Only names, only people, and people like close friends and family. This isn't just forgetting them...it's like a mental block. I also used to have "hard reset" in the middle of conversations where I would stop mid sentence and forget what we were talking about, what I was saying, etc. like, "Hey I know we have been talking for a while but I have absolutely no idea what we were just talking about." I would remember everything the second the other person would remind me what we were saying. That part has almost disappeared.

I deal with the fallout near daily.

That said I am back to riding again and I am riding in small groups. No one is as slow as I am post covid so I really ride alone but a lot of times still with the one guy I mentioned above. I personally have no problems with group rides. At this point I truly feel it's up to everyone to decide what risk level works best for them. Some people are immunized, some have immunities, some don't care, some participate but use a mask. So be it.

I have cancelled our crit that we normally have in May but I committed last night to holding our cross race in November a couple of weeks before the national championships are held in our back yard.

When you return is up to you. I still look down my nose at the large group rides in like the ones in Naples, FL or out in California, but a collection of team riders or a shop ride of 20 or less - I have no issue with.

Carbonfiberboy 

A little negatory maybe, huh?

Litespud

Sorry to hear about your troubles. “long COVID” is indeed no joke and will likely be a major public health issue going forward. The NIH have just thrown (and I mean that almost literally - the submission and review process should require seatbelts) $1.5B at the issue - the first step being the assembly of a large well-characterized national cohort of “long haulers”, so we can look for common features and patient characteristics, the ultimate goal being to be able to predict who will develop long COVID, so we can intervene and halt the process before “acute COVID” becomes “long COVID”. And so we can effectively treat those already suffering.

Carbonfiberboy 

Made me cry. How it is. The wife of a very strong 60 y.o. riding buddy and dear friend got it. She doesn't know how. He nursed her through it and he seemed OK, but last Sunday he laid down in bed with her and died of a massive coronary. She's a long-hauler, too. He was Canadian, buried in Montreal, we had to watch the funeral on Zoom. Just how it is. All we can do is all we can do.

Each person being responsible for their risk level sounds good, but actually each of us is responsible for the risk level of everyone within spreading distance of us. It's interesting that Seattle went from having one of the highest infection rates in the country to one of the lowest, yet commute traffic has stayed about the same. Washington State instituted some very smart mitigation practices, not the strictest, but smart. Thus citizens, including bike riders, have been cooperative. The vaccinated, including us, are still to wear masks indoors in the company of others. Almost all indoor eating and drinking facilities are still takeout only. All the office workers I know work from home, though obviously many don't.

Our local bike club is limiting group rides to a maximum of 10, 10'-12' spacing, masked if possible while riding, required during stops, including the vaccinated. .

caloso

Thank you for sharing this.

MoAlpha

Bad stuff. Sorry to hear and hope it continues to clear.

eduskator

On my end, I had stopped group riding in the first months (March to June-July), and restarted when it became pretty clear who was at risk and who wasn't.

I am not afraid at all of getting infected to be honest, but I am aware I could infect someone else that is at high risk of severe illness so I take all the necessary precautions to avoid being in close contact with people outside my household.

IdahoSpud

Not seeing a good risk/reward ratio for group activities yet, even with vaccines becoming more widely available.

Nobody knows the long-term effects of either a Covid-19 infection or an injection of a mRNA vaccine. Anyone telling you different either has a time machine, or is making statements based on assumptions, not clinical observations over a period of years.

The momentary emotional payoff of a fun day - to me - is not worth either the well-known short-term health risk, nor the unknown long-term health risk. I will continue to ride solo, and maintain an objective and watchful attitude towards both the virus and the vaccines. When I'm convinced the vax is safe, I'll get it.

FWIW, I am not anti-vax. I'm current on everything, including a recent booster for whooping cough and Hep B for first responder at work. But I'm not a lab rat.

eduskator

+1 on that. However, the majority of those who were infected have fully recovered so far and this is good news for mankind. Will they develop other illnesses in a few months / years and will there be a correlation with the virus they fought? Now that's a whole other question!

deacon mark

Well I am a regular lone ranger riding almost entirely solo. That has always been my choice just do to that fact I don't mind my own company and I can ride the way I like. I have had both shots and would not have been terribly worried outside riding n a group if I was a group rider. I think the key is that the group probably should be smaller and no need to ride in some peloton formation as such. The odd thing is now I actually would like to ride with at least someone once in awhile as isolation in other parts of life does take its toll. Being a cleric I cannot stand around after Mass and have discussions and greet parishioners. That has been really hard to take and probably why I can ride solo normally. I get plenty of social activities this way so riding a bike was a bit of an escape.

Personally if you have been vaccinated and are generally healthy I think a group ride is completely fine at this point. I even think in some areas of country things are ok even if you have not been vaccinated.