Joe Bikerider

I think this is a first. LA Mayor on December 2 statement. includes

”Walking, driving, travel on public transport, bikes, motorcycles and scooters are prohibited, other than for those undertaking essential activities.”

Please be careful.

CAT7RDR

I am getting out my pogo-stick from the 70's since this is an essential activity. It's like a comfort animal.

jon c. 

Given that 'essential activities' include allowable activities, such as exercise, this isn't really a meaningful prohibition.

TakingMyTime

There is no way in the world that a cop is going to be stopping anyone for riding a bike no matter where or when. I appreciate it that he's (mayor) trying to keep the city healthy, but getting me off my bike isn't going to happen.

genejockey 

From the text of the order:

A. Essential Activities Exempt. This is similar to, if not the very same verbiage as the Shelter In Place orders we in the Bay Area were put under back in March. Exercise is considered an essential activity, but they don't want you riding your bike to a bar, or the movies, or the strip club, or to a friend's house.

plowmanjoe

Is there a guideline stating that cycling outdoors requires a mask? genuinely wondering, not trying to be snarky.

trailangel

Hmmmm. I haven't seen a paceline in 8 months. Who is observing bikers in groups of 20 or more....and where?

Tycho Brahe 

Golf was the very last thing the city closed down in the spring and the very first thing they re-opened. Screw Garcetti.

mr_pedro

Sounds like the appropriate summary of that statement is that all non-essential travel is prohibited.

stuff shredman

Cycling is essential for my health and mental well being
I will continue to ride. I'll ride solo and swing very wide away from any other peds or cyclists.
They'll have to build a special prison to keep my from riding my bike.

skidder

Along PCH in north Orange County on any sunny Saturday or Sunday. Hang out at your favorite point along PCH in this area after 8AM for 1 hour and I'll bet you see at least 2 groups. Not sure where they go after getting through the fairly wide streets of Seal Beach/Huntington Beach as the road gets pretty tight along PCH as you continue south into Newport Beach/Laguna Beach/Dana Point

SART on the weekend. Though not as many as along PCH, you'll see them here, too. Odd that most of them seem to be groups of Asian riders. Also smaller 'TT' groups (4-6 persons) going way too fast through the casual recreational riders .

trailangel

You are speculating from past experience.

Garfield Cat

This new guideline (mandate) may boost the indoor trainer/stationary bike craze. Maybe that's what the Mayor is doing to help the economy?

This is a Presidential moment.

TakingMyTime

Don't get me wrong. My first post was mostly rhetorical. I realize the Mayor's statement was more of a move to try and "legislate" some common-sense to the masses. I would never have expected that his mandate would have extended to outdoor exercise. I couldn't give you any quantitative fact regarding bicycling and the spread of the virus, but I would expect it to be incredibly low.

TGT1

Masks are about as useful as a chain link fence is in stopping mosquitos.

Have there been massive fatal outbreaks in cycling clubs, or do you just want to get your Karen on?

TGT1

No, I'm old enough to have seen this kind of stupidity before.

A 0,125 micron virus will not be stopped by anything other than a properly fitted industrial or military grade mask.
wearing a paper or cloth one on a bike ride is just virtue signaling.

skidder

You might want to read up on viruses. The individual virons won't survive on their own out in the open environment, they need to be in something like a water droplet of piece of tissue, a blob of snot, etc. While the virons themselves are small enough to penetrate even finely-woven materials, the droplets and tissues they are transported in will most likely not penetrate a mask. Result is they get captured on the mask.

Regarding groups - I'm more concerned with the possibility of accidents caused by the large groups as they pass me on busy roadways (like PCH) or on MUPs (like the SART). Just my observation, but they seem intent on staying bunched together at all times rather than spread out a little for safety. No thanks, its too dangerous to me to participate in that type of behavior.

trailangel

I guess I don't get out much anymore. I don't ride in a group anymore. Large 'racertype' groups are full of spitters.... they think it's ok to spit or blow-out while riding. Just like in MLB, they have not stopped spitting, they just don't show it on camera.

plowmanjoe

you sound like a beaten child afraid to get your drunk dad mad.

Cpn_Dunsel

You are dangerously ignorant on this subject.

2seven0

"though I am willing to follow the guidelines" and other like statements are simply euphemisms for one's being a billboard for institutionalized fear and subjugation- good intentions or not.
West

momoman

I rode with a buddy last Saturday and rode to Encanto Park and Sierra Madre before heading home. At Encanto, a group of 40 riders belonging to a regular riding group that starts in Pico Rivera stopped for a break. At Sierra Madre we saw the large group of "racers" who ride every Saturday morning and end up at the downtown area of Sierra Madre. That group has not diminished in numbers. I see them every Saturday morning when I head off to ride with a buddy or two. I won't name the groups. Last week we rode to Griffith Park/Burbank and I saw several groups of 5-10 out there but nothing like the groups of 40+ I see in my area, the West SGV area.

I usually ride with a group of 8-15+ but since March we have broken up to small groups of 2-4 or so, but as we're riding we do see groups of 10-40+ every Saturday so far.

cruiserhead

Mayor isn't restricting bicycling, or outdoor exercise.

Garcetti made a point that all outdoor activites — like walking, hiking, running, biking — are still allowed and encouraged. "I encourage you to get out there, keep your space, wear a mask, but go for a walk, go for a bike ride, make sure you do those things that can help you get through this tough time. Don't just stay indoors," he added.

https://laist.com/latest/post/202012...-at-home-order

shopco43

Garcetti does not have the Constitutional authority to create a law so he issues a mandate or guideline or whatever. One is still free to do as he pleases as far as wearing a mask or gathering, because there is no law. That person may very well be wrong. He may very well be endangering others. While unfortunate, it is still his right, just as it is your right to avoid said person. As an example, I have found it necessary to greatly increase my commuting milage in order to avoid heavily trafficked roads. Those roads do have bicycle lanes, but they also have dangerous drivers who, by virtue of carelessness or a bias against bicyclists pose a danger to me. Such is life.



The biggest threat is not the pandemic, it is the taking away of freedoms. To whatever degree, the pandemic will run its course. But the loss of freedoms will remain. It is apparent to many that this great illness has been used by some (of those in power) to overstep their authority, and it is the willing abandonment of one’s freedoms, protected by our Constitution, that is profoundly disturbing. This is not to say that adherence to the health professional’s guidelines is wrong headed, quite the contrary. When done out of consideration of others there is no fault to be found. When wearing a mask is done simply to satisfy the demands of authority, that is the point at which one crosses a line, a very dangerous line.



Those of us born just after the end of the war understand this danger, perhaps better than those to whom WWII is nothing more than a subject from your history class. There was a time not so long ago that what you wore, or did not wear, would get you arrested.



“Of all tyrannies, a tyranny sincerely exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive. It would be better to live under robber barons than under omnipotent moral busybodies. The robber baron's cruelty may sometimes sleep, his cupidity may at some point be satiated; but those who torment us for our own good will torment us without end for they do so with the approval of their own conscience.” C.S. Lewis



This poor fellow does not understand the mind of a tyrant. A tyrant cannot be appeased. This is truly disheartening.

NeedARealBike

They always leave that little loophole because they can't actually enforce it and are just trying to generate good PR as politicians always do. Everything is essential and everyone is still out.