Cycling UK urges the cancellation of all group activities

Latest advice is to avoid cycling in groups, however individual riding is still possible.

Following Government advice, Cycling UK is urging the cancellation of all group activities. Cycle magazine's medical expert Dr Kate Hattersley, a South Devon Cycling UK group member, and practising GP in Exeter explains what this means and how to minimise risk for you as an individual cyclist.

Q: I’m a healthy cyclist under the age of 70, is it safe for me to continue cycling during the Coronavirus outbreak?

A: Yes. There is no reason for you to stop cycling at present but make sure to do so at a safe distance from others. Visits to cafes and pubs should be avoided to limit exposure to infection. You should carry tissues to use when cycling, disposing of them safely in a bin as soon as possible. If you do visit a food outlet, you must wash your hands before and after visiting, and again on returning home.

It’s also advisable to wash your cycling gloves, too. Remember to avoid touching your face if your hands are not clean.

Q: I’m a healthy cyclist over the age of 70, is it safe for me to continue cycling during the Coronavirus outbreak?

A: Yes. The latest advice is to self-isolate at home for the next twelve weeks to protect yourself from infection. Exercise is encouraged but at a safe distance from others. This would permit cycling, but again, avoid visits to pubs and cafes for refreshments.

Up to date information from Cycling UK, and further advice, can be found by clicking on this link

The Wayfarers have cancelled all rides

Tomorrow’s London Ride and all future Wayfarer rides are cancelled until further notice.

This decision has been taken with regret by the committee due to the risk to our members and those we meet on rides. It is based on government advice that everyone, but especially those over 70 should:

·         Stop non-essential contact with others,

·         Stop unnecessary travel,

·         Not visit pubs and cafes.

.          

Check developing NHS advice here.

Stay at home if you have coronavirus symptoms (high temperature or a new cough).

If you need assistance from us tell a committee member and we will do what we can to help.

At some stage we may try to reinstate rides, on a strictly numbers-limited and open-air basis, but that is not for now. We will not request ride leaders for May and June. Our hope and expectation is eventually to resume our club activities in full.  In the meantime, if you can get out to ride solo, we wish you an enjoyable experience, but please stay safe.

Please continue to monitor this Blog and brief people you think may not read any of our Blogs.

     I hope everyone manages to keep healthy in these challenging times.

Please ask a committee member if you have any questions or concerns.

Dave Vine

Dave Vine: d.vine207@btinternet.com

Tim Court: timcourt50@gmail.com

Paul James, Beginners rep  paulandrewjames1949@yahoo.co.uk

Coronavirus update 14 March

The advance of Coronavirus is an increasing cause of concern.

We have members who are vulnerable if infected, and we also encounter vulnerable people in the day centres we visit. 

As previously announced the committee will post regular updates in the light of our circumstances and based on government advice. 

I hope everyone is keeping well. There are several things we should all do to avoid catching the infection, and spreading it. So, for the foreseeable future could you please:-

·      Wash your hands frequently and thoroughly, including when entering a day centre, or use hand sanitiser gel.

     Stay at Home for 7 Days if you believe you have symptoms (high temperature or a new cough) and contact NHS 111 if your symptoms get worse or do not get better after 7 days, or if you cannot cope at home.

     

Check developing NHS advice at (https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/coronavirus-covid-19/).

Do not join one of our rides while you have symptoms and inform a member of the committee (Dave Vine or Tim Court). If you need assistance from us tell a committee member and we will do what we can to help.

Monitor this Blog and brief people you think may not read any of our Blogs.

     Ride Leaders, we are in contact with Day Centres but please identify a suitable alternative meeting place for your ride, in case we are barred at short notice.

Further advice is available on the CUK website reinforcing these messages.

Please ask a committee member if you have any questions or concerns.

Dave Vine

Dave Vine: d.vine207@btinternet.com

Tim Court: timcourt50@gmail.com

Coronavirus

The advance of Coronavirus remains a cause of concern.

We have members who are vulnerable if infected, and we also encounter vulnerable people in the day centres we visit. 

The committee have discussed a measured response suitable for our circumstances and based on government advice.  We are in touch with day centres and will post regular updates on our Blogs.

There are several things we should all do to avoid catching the infection, and spreading it. So, for the foreseeable future could you please:-

·         Wash your hands thoroughly, including when entering a day centre, or use hand sanitiser gel.

·         Contact NHS 111 if you believe you have symptoms (high temperature, cough or shortness of breath) and be prepared to self-isolate until you have clear NHS advice.

·         Inform a member of the committee (Dave Vine or Tim Court) if you have symptoms.

·         Check developing NHS advice at (https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/coronavirus-covid-19/).

·         Continue to monitor our Blogs and brief any members you think may not read our Blogs.

Please ask a committee member if you have any queries.

Dave Vine: d.vine207@btinternet.com

Tim Court: timcourt50@gmail.com

Beginners launch 2020

This year's beginners launch will be on Saturday 28 March outside the cafe in Nonsuch Park at 2pm.

Tom Brake, the former MP for Wallington and Carshalton, a cyclist who has worked hard in the community, has accepted our invitation to launch CTC Beginners and all members are encouraged to attend.  The launch will take up a few minutes before the afternoon's rides, which Tom and his family have been invited to join.

Coronavirus (COVID-19)

Coronavirus seems to be just around the corner, but hopefully will pass us all by.

In the meantime, I am conscious that we have a number of members who could be considered vulnerable. And many of us are in the older age group.

On Wednesday the Annual Lunch will be the biggest gathering of Sou’Westers this year.

So If anybody is feeling unwell before the meal, perhaps they should consider missing it this year. Hopefully this message will not apply to any of us. But if it does, could you please let Simon or Tim know. We can notify the restaurant and hopefully we can arrange a refund should you be unable to come.

Thanks for your understanding
Dave Vine
 
Contacts
 
Simon: simon.lambourn@gmail.com
Tim: timcourt50@gmail.com

See here for a reminder of the plans for tomorrow's lunch.

All day ride Saturday 14 March; Fulham Palace

A visit to Fulham Palace is planned for our first Saturday all day ride of 2020. It should be a good time to visit; the palace and moated gardens have been renewed and restored over recent years. There is a cafe for lunch, and volunteers planted out 25,000 bulbs last autumn, so the gardens should look wonderful,(as long as the squirrels haven't raided the beds!)
Meet at Mansion House 9.45 am for 10 o'c start, or Kingston Bridge at 10.40. Have coffee before we set out please. We'll head through Richmond Park via Ham gate, through Mortlake and over Barnes Bridge to follow the North side of the Thames through Hammersmith and down to the Palace. Cycle routes, greenways, towpath and quiet roads throughout. After lunch we'll cross Putney Bridge and head for tea, either Wimbledon Common or Roehampton.
Hoping for a nice day in the coming week to recce this route, and feeling optimistic that spring will be properly underway in a fortnight's time☺.

Magical Mystery Tour; long ride 8 February

It was a pleasant day for cycling, the rain over, the big storm yet to come and the only worry that there was a bit of a breeze and everybody in a car had decided it was their chance for a day out, too.

The rides list said Box Hill or Walton on the Hill for the long ride, so it was into the thrill of the unknown that we arrived at Nonsuch Park on Saturday.  There were one or two unfamiliar faces and it was nice to see Tim, and a few Wednesday regulars. 

The short ride was to Morden Hall Park, which is one of the shortest prescribed outings and has become too familiar to those of us who turn up to Beddington Park each month but there was a lot of chatting and the plan for the day was for leaders to depart like German trains; no announcement, quietly slipping away, you should have been paying attention.  Lynda did it first and then Nigel so that by the time I had engaged my Strava and got on my gloves I was playing catch-up with Sue through the doggie lottery that was Nonsuch Park; clinging mud if you left the path.

It all added to the excitement, especially when you asked Nigel where we were going and he replied with an enigmatic silence.  Mysteriously, though, neither Tim nor Helen was with us.  There were eleven hats at first, ten machines (Rob and Ruth on the tandem) and I ended up self-appointed back marker.  Sue did not really fancy Box Hill (this is the same Sue who did the Prudential 100 and the TriVets 100 miles last year!) and peeled off to do her own thing at Ewell.  We used the Epsom Sainsbury’s route to Epsom but unusually for Nigel, we were moving at a sedate pace.  This suited, for I too felt a bit lethargic and recorded the 8,521^st fastest time ever up Col de l’hopital au centre du jardinage (Wilmerhatch Lane).  At the top, Godfrey went his own way and we were left with Nigel, Lorraine, Alice, the tandem, Steve W and Ken on his electric bike, and new man Chris, out with us for the first time.  An experienced rider, Chris had not been on his bike for a few months.

I expected we would take the Ashtead and Leatherhead route to Box Hill but no, we carried on up the lane, so I assumed it was Walton we were aiming for and we went right and left up the Headley Road until we met the impenetrable barrier that has been Headley High Street for a while.  There we had a debate because Nigel was intending to get us to the bottom of Box Hill from there and take us up the zigzag, but Box Hill had also been closed when I was there on Wednesday and this out-of-date information and the views of the majority persuaded Nigel that Walton was the place for coffee.  Two young women in a car were rude because they felt we were blocking their way, though when they start their driving lessons they will learn how to steer through a gap one and a half times as wide as their vehicle.  Fortunately it was Gentleman Rob in discourse with them.  Back under the M25, up The Bitch and along the Duck Pond sprint to the Village Cafe, which we made half an hour before closing time.  Perfect.

At Nigel’s invitation, I led us homeward, and with the incentive of going out with Maggie to the cinema, at a less gentle pace.  Personal firsts over the Tadworth Sprint and the Tattenham Rollers and the Shawley Way climb, where my unfitness overtook me, along with Steve and Alice, and Nigel and Ken.  Rob and Ruth had fancied the A217, Chris had left us at Tattenham Corner to make his way home to Cobham, Alice and Lorraine split from us at Banstead High Street and the remaining three of us went down past the prison, a dangerous road for speeding now, littered with potholes and poor drains.  Nigel took Ken homewards down Banstead Road South, where I said goodbye.  One more climb for me, Metcalfe Avenue, but by now the cobwebs had blown away and I was in that pleasant place, wind in the face, cruising down the hills with a song in my head, happy to pedal up them.

Altogether a splendid ride.  40km, 427m elevation gain, 14.9Km/h.  Thank you Nigel.  But I still have that nagging worry that we left people behind at Nonsuch.