Greetings TRR Members and Cycling Friends,
We hope all of you are well in the recent weeks and now. Much as anticipated, the situation has shifted in recent weeks and there is much more information about COVID-19, how it spreads, its effects and the situations of government orders/recommendations. The club directors followed the situation and have taken precautions as we hope each of you have as well. As of now and by June, Ohio will be back to most sports, business and activities with noted precaution. We have reviewed the current local situation as well as recommendations of the national League of American Bicyclists as well as USA Cycling lifting national group and racing restrictions. Our conclusion is that it’s reasonably safe and warranted to carry on with our normal club schedule at this time. We welcome all to start attending group rides this weekend beginning May 30th. With that said, here are basic guidelines we request and our position for the group rides to follow until revised. We will stay on top of current issues and revise as needed. We hope things remain as planned at least through June.
1. Everyone is free to ride as they please with respect to TRR groups and no one is expected to attend any/all rides. Please review the following key points and if you do not feel safe or don’t agree, you are free to conduct your cycling in your best interest. We are returning to our normal released 2020 schedule effective immediately with rides beginning Saturday 5/30/2020. Watch FB/member email for further updates. We will revise in the coming weeks if needed. The Limaland Tour is still canceled.
2. If you or any immediate family/close contacts are ill with confirmed COVID-19 or COVID-19 symptoms, please do not attend group rides for 14 days. If you or family/close contact have travelled to a current high risk area for COVID-19, we also request that you refrain from TRR rides for a 14 day period. We do realize some have allergies/natural coughs/asthma, etc. Please respect your fellow cycling friends and their families.
(Typical COVID-19 Symptoms: fever of 99.6°F+, cough, shortness of breath, extreme fatigue, sore throat or GI symptoms.)
3. Be very careful about coughs/spit/etc. “Droplet” transmission to the nose/mouth is the most significantly proven spread and is possible in a cycling group.
4. Neutral Issues: Distancing and face coverings. These are neither required nor discouraged by TRR for group rides. Dealing with virus spread is a safety issue. There are safety considerations we deal with beyond disease spread in normal cycling. For example, “how much distance is needed before other safety issues develop such as passing vehicle group infiltration” is a concern and not clear how to implement successfully. Hopefully each rider has assessed their own health and situation for their personal way to conduct their rides by now. In general, TRR has taken a position to not be ride police dictators and this current situation is not the time to change that. We want an inclusive group that is reasonably safe considering cycling and is a friendly environment. You are perfectly free to ride with a little increased following distance for “distancing precautions” and you are free to wear a nose/mouth covering as you prefer.
5. TRR Directors do plan and request that rides be split into groups of 10 riders or less to help mitigate intermixing/spread. Each ride group will decide what to do for themselves at the ride start. To keep the groups separate and provide safe vehicle passing distances, please depart in waves 4-5 minutes a part. If you become significantly gapped from your group, please fall back to the next group behind to avoid unsafe straggling for cars to pass. Groups can be split in any fashion less than 10: I.E. 5+9, 10+4, 3+8+5, and so on. You don’t have to max out 10 + X whoever is left. It’s still TRR policy that no single rider is left behind (“dropped”) without confirming that individual desires to ride off alone. Please notify the group if you do plan to depart the group as an individual so others don’t have to worry about you.
6. By mid-late June we’ll give an update if any adjustments are needed for club rides/issues. We’ll also try to firm up our September fall meeting which will likely be our only club meeting in 2020.
7. Please be safe on all rides. And also be extra friendly to each other as we all come out of our various “quarantine” states. With club rides beginning now we will likely have an extreme range of rider “fitness” even beyond our normally diverse club of riders. Some have thousands of miles in 2020 already and others are making their first rides. Please pick scheduled rides that meet your current interests and ability. As usual, avoid mid-ride confrontations and discuss ideas/observations after the ride if necessary. Significant concern/complaints may be discussed with the club president/board at any time.
This has not been an easy year for anyone. Making decisions to predict or direct the future is never an exact science or easy for leaders of any kind. TRR will always do our best to provide a safe and lawful environment that promotes cycling. None of us emphatically know the future, but we do know that there is a future and we hope cycling remains a vital part of each of our lives. Stay safe and enjoy your bikes!
~~TRR Bicycle Club~~