Cormanus_imp said:
I apologise for being momentarily serious, but this thread has raised questions of whether riding a motorcycle for pleasure is an OK thing to do in the current circumstances. It isn't.
And not because riding a motorcycle is likely to infect you.
The reason the authorities don't want bicycles, cars, motorcycles, people anything much moving around is that, on the evidence of the way coronavirus spreads, almost all the countries from which this forum draws its members are already past the point where their health systems will be able to cope with all the coronavirus patients needing intensive care. Maybe putting that the other way will be clearer: there will be way more COVID19 patients needing intensive care that our hospitals can treat. And that assumes they don't have to deal with anything else like road accident trauma, cardiac disease, strokes, diabetic and asthma attacks, etc, etc. That's why many countries are working hard to 'flatten the curve'. It probably won't reduce the number of infections; but it will mean they're more spread out which will give hospitals and the medical system a better chance of being able to respond and reduce the number of horrendous choices health professionals will have to make.
So, just at the moment, it's not all right to anything that puts you at risk of injury unless you absolutely have to for the simple reason that, if you do get hurt, you'll be putting further pressure on a health system that is, or is about to be, overwhelmed.
A friend of mine pointed out the other day that geezers are not only more likely to be seriously harmed by coronavirus, but are also in the 'throw-on-the-scrap-heap' age range. When the hospitals start having to make the really hard choices about who gets treated and lives and who doesn't and dies—and they almost certainly will—you don't want to be where the scales are already loaded against you.
Well, you guys certainly have given me something to think about. I will discuss this with my wife for her opinion. The likelihood of me being in an accident on my motorcycle is extremely small IMO, I am a very experienced rider, with lots of training, riding in areas I am intimately familiar, with far less other vehicles on the road than normal. But there is always a chance I suppose. After all, that's why we don the gear.
The way I have looked at it is I am out there by myself, a threat to no one, can't catch the disease while riding, can't spread the disease while riding. I go from my garage, spend an hour in a protective suit with no contact with anyone else and return to my garage. If I thought I was going to crash I wouldn't go out at all. The government, Federal as well as my state government says it's ok to go out in limited circumstances. It's ok to walk, or jog, walk your pet, or ride a bike or go to a park as long as you stay 6' from others. How do you get to a park if you don't drive? How do you get to the grocery or pharmacy if you don't drive? As it is, there are so many people walking all day in my neighborhood, it would be virtually impossible for me to go for a walk and not run into other people. IMO it is safer for me to ride my motorcycle than to walk in my own neighborhood, and certainly far safer than when I went to the grocery store yesterday morning with many hundreds of strangers.
I certainly wouldn't want to take up a hospital bed for someone else who may need it, but I NEVER want to take up a hospital bed, period. If I thought that was a possibility I would give up riding. I'm too old to get hurt.
I told you my Lord, it will be easy.
