COVID-19 update: official club rides may resume

Good news: based on the county guidelines, outdoor activity like cycling may resume (with precautions for masks and social distancing).

Ride On!

“On January 25, 2021, the California Department of Public Health announced that the Bay Area Region is no longer subject to the State’s Regional Stay At Home Order. However, Santa Clara County continues to experience an alarming rate of COVID-19 transmission, and hospital and ICU capacities remain extremely limited in the county and region. The danger COVID-19 poses to our community has not subsided, and the County Health Officer urges businesses, entities, and residents to continue exercising the utmost caution even as certain restrictions are lifted by the State.”   What this means for the club:   Recreational sports may resume, subject to the new Mandatory Directive for Youth and Adult Athletic Activities. Highlights from the above reference: – Practice Physical Distancing and Hand Hygiene at GatheringsWear a Face Covering to Keep COVID-19 from Spreadingeveryone must wear a face covering at all times during a gathering (limited exceptions for eating/drinking, speaking/presenting with social distancing) – Stay Informed

COVID-19 update: official club rides cancelled

Unfortunately, once again we must temporarily and indefinitely cancel all official club rides. This is in response to the County of Santa Clara recommendations. I have included a summary of the restrictions below.

Last Revised: December 4, 2020— IMPORTANT NOTICE —   Under the State’s December 3, 2020 Regional Stay at Home Order and the County Health Officer’s December 4, 2020 Mandatory Directive Implementing State’s Stay At Home Order, all gatherings with members of other households, whether indoors or outdoors, are temporarily prohibited, except outdoor religious worship services, political events, and cultural ceremonies of up to 100 people. Taken from https://www.sccgov.org/sites/covid19/Pages/mandatory-directives-gatherings.aspx

We have contacted our legal team to determine whether or not we can declare ourselves a religious organization as we are considering changing our club name to Sunnyvale Cupertino Church of Cycling or the Lemon Head Church of the Rolling Wheel (LHCoRW).   🙂

Exercise is important and we encourage you to continue to ride individually.

Stay safe everyone!

How close is too close when exercising?

Social distancing is the new norm during this pandemic. Many guidelines ask us to maintain a 6 foot spacing and local guidelines allow us to leave our shelters for exercise. But how close is too close while exercising?

A Dutch study uses this thing called science to predict exposure rates as a function of distance while walking, running, and cycling. I encourage you to read the entire article which references a study by the KU Leuven (Belgium) and TU Eindhoven (Netherlands). (1)(2)(3).

Summary:

  • When you go for a walk, run or bike ride you should be more careful.
  • When someone during a walk/run/bike ride breathes, sneezes or coughs, those particles stay behind in the air. The person behind you in the slip-stream goes through this cloud of droplets.
  • It is important to note that you need to avoid each other’s slipstream
  • Recommended distance for walking: 13-16 ft (4-5.5 yards)
  • Recommended distance for running / slow cycling = 33 ft / 11 yards
  • Recommended distance for hard cycling = 66 ft / 22 yards

Judge for yourself what “hard cycling” actually means, but 22 yards is roughly the length of a short course swimming pool.

Thanks, Bob for finding this one!

References cited in article:

(1): https://www.demorgen.be/nieuws/belgisch-onderzoek-fietsen-joggen-of-wandelen-doe-je-best-niet-achter-elkaar-in-tijden-van-corona~b60aece6/

(2): https://www.hln.be/wetenschap-planeet/wetenschap/belgisch-onderzoek-fietsen-joggen-of-wandelen-doe-je-best-niet-achter-elkaar-in-tijden-van-corona~a60aece6/

(3): http://www.urbanphysics.net/Social%20Distancing%20v20_White_Paper.pdf

Group rides cancelled until further notice

Effective March 15, 2020: Due to the COVID-19 pandemic and in alignment with USA Cycling guidelines, SCCC is cancelling all club rides at this time.

The USA Cycling guidelines are through April 5th, however we are going to take a “wait and see” approach. We will announce when club rides will resume.

I strongly recommend we follow all public health organization recommendations. It is important to maintain physical fitness and I encourage you to stay fit in accordance with public guidelines.

I hope to see you all very soon.

Group Rides in the Age of the Virus

Riders,
News of the Corona Virus is inescapable at this time. In general, our club rides are in groups far below the size limits on which health officials have placed restrictions. I am not a health expert, but will offer the following guidance:

  • Join the club ride if you feel comfortable doing so
  • If you do not feel comfortable riding in a group, get out and ride by yourself (stay fit my friends!)

We are not canceling the club rides at this time, but follow expert guidance and stay healthy.

Ride on!
Andy

A Call for continued advocacy: California Bike Fatalities Hit 25-Year High

Phillip Reese January 28, 2020

Alongside the surging popularity of bike shares and fitness cycling in California comes a sobering statistic: From 2016 through 2018, more cyclists died in traffic accidents across the state than during any three-year period in the past 25 years.

Traffic accidents killed 455 cyclists in California from 2016 through 2018, according to new data from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. The figures translate to about 3.9 bike accident fatalities per million people, the highest rate over any three-year period since the mid-1990s, before many cities built extensive bike networks.

Nationwide, the fatal accident rate was lower, but also on the rise. From 2016 through 2018, 2,516 cyclists died in traffic accidents, a rate of about 2.6 per million people. That was the highest three-year death rate since the mid-2000s.

Experts point to a convergence of factors for the upsurge: a sustained rise in how much Americans are driving, the prevalence of distracted driving and a pronounced consumer shift toward big trucks and sport utility vehicles. Some analysts also said there are simply more bikes on the road.

“There’s definitely been an increase in popularity of cycling,” said Julia Griswold, a researcher at the University of California-Berkeley’s Safe Transportation Research and Education Center. “And then also since the economy has recovered from the 2008 crash, there’s been an increase in driving.”

With the unemployment rate near historic lows, more people are commuting to work, intensifying the mix of cars and bikes on city roadways. Bike-share programs are now common in many cities. At the same time, the advent of car ride-hailing services has led to more drivers cruising around waiting for their next pickup.

“The more people are driving, the higher the probability of an incident,” said Jennifer Boldry, director of research at PeopleForBikes, a national nonprofit that advocates for greater bike access and safety.

Exacerbating the risks: Smartphones are ubiquitous in much of America, and thousands of people die each year in accidents caused by distracted driving. Boldry cited a recent study by the National Transportation Safety Board showing that “midblock” collisions — wrecks in areas between intersections, where speeds are higher — tend to cause greater injury to cyclists. Often, drivers involved in those sorts of wrecks say they didn’t see the cyclist they hit.

“My conclusion from that is: It’s really tough to see someone if you’re looking at your phone,” Boldry said.

In addition, bigger autos like SUVs often have larger blind spots than those of smaller cars, making it more difficult to see a cyclist. They also sit higher, which can affect the area of impact. “Think about where an SUV hits you on a bike versus where a very low-riding sedan might hit you,” Boldry said. “You get hit in the leg, the injury is way less severe than if you’re hit in the chest.”

As with other types of fatal accidents involving cars, male cyclists in America die in crashes much more often than women. From 2016 through 2018 in California, almost eight men died in cycling crashes for every woman who died. In the state, men are about twice as likely as women to commute to work by bike, the latest census figures show.

Experts cited several ways to cut the number of bike fatalities, starting with a relatively simple fix: reducing speed limits. “Most people are going to survive a crash if they’re hit at 20 miles an hour,” Griswold said. “But the survival rate drops considerably with each increase in speed above that.”

Investing in appropriate infrastructure — set up to support a mix of autos, transit, bikes and pedestrians — is another key. The recent NTSB study calls for increasing the number of separated bike lanes and well-marked intersections. Boldry noted that increased bike ridership, especially when combined with good infrastructure, can actually enhance safety. The reasons for that are unclear, Boldry said, but it could be, in part, because drivers get used to seeing bikes and adopt safer driving behaviors.

Dave Snyder, executive director of the California Bicycle Coalition, or CalBike, said many California cities have made significant progress in improving infrastructure in recent years, resulting in safer roads for cyclists. Still, he said, more needs to be done in more places.

Some people “see 2,000-pound or larger vehicles going 40 to 60 miles per hour within a few feet of them, and they think, ‘No way. That’s not safe, and it’s not fun,’” Snyder said. “There’s no reason why that has to be. There’s no reason why we can’t create networks of bikeways, even on the main streets, that are protected from that high-speed traffic.”

Another way to lower fatalities is through technology. The NTSB report recommends that cyclists use reflective gear and bike helmets. Automobile sensors that can detect objects in a driver’s blind spot are also a boon, though that technology is sometimes better at seeing cars than at seeing bikes and people.

Boldry said relying extensively on those systems getting better instead of improving infrastructure would be a mistake.

“We’re optimistic that will help, but we want to make sure we’re doing everything we can on the design front to eliminate those conflicts from happening in the first place while we’re waiting on the technology to get good enough to have a positive impact,” she said.

Phillip Reese is a data reporting specialist and an assistant professor of journalism at California State University-Sacramento.

Prayin’ for clean air

With the horrible air quality we have been experiencing (which is nothing compared to the massive loss our northern neighbors have incurred), it has been difficult to enjoy the outdoors as we are accustomed.

I came across a very useful website that shows the air quality in the region: airnow.gov

Check it out!