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Coronavirus has caused a bicycling boom in New York City

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Re: Coronavirus has caused a bicycling boom in New York City

#31

Post by cranekam »

zck wrote: post #2

I wonder if it's better to take the subway, or use a citibike. With the shared bikes, you're farther away from other people, but you're physically touching the shared bike all the time.

Just wash your hands and try not to touch your face. Any virus that is on the bike isn't going to walk up your arms and down your throat. Personally I find it pretty easy to not touch my face. I doubt I am perfect at it but I catch myself a lot.

Being outside has to be better than in an enclosed space (a subway car) holding onto handles that dozens of people touched in the last hour.

Re: Coronavirus has caused a bicycling boom in New York City

#32

Post by jbay808 »

dmix wrote: post #12
quantdev wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The primary transmission route in inhalation in close proximity to an infected person. Yes, it can persist on surfaces, but this hand-washing meme is mostly a result of (1) it costs nothing and may help, so we should try and (2) masks are supply limited and the healthcare industry doesn't have enough. In reality, if we had an abundance of masks, masks would be more important than hand washing. As it stands, we reserv…

I read N95 masks were basically useless when walking outside, they only mattered indoors and in confined spaces (like public transit). I’d imagine biking is even less transmission and wearing a mask with that is pretty unrealistic. It’s hard to find what is right on the internet though.

I biked in an N95 in Vancouver during forest fire season in 2018. Not fun, but doable and it definitely helped -- without the mask I felt absolutely awful.

Re: Coronavirus has caused a bicycling boom in New York City

#33

Post by ipnon »

Scoundreller wrote: post #10

> The city’s Department of Transportation announced on Wednesday that it’s seen a 50 percent increase in bike traffic on bridges connecting Manhattan to Brooklyn and Queens compared to last March. It's also been regularly 5-10C warmer than average each day so far in March: https://www.accuweather.com/en/us/new-york/10007/march-weath... Almost entirely above freezing means no snow either. And bridges are the first pla…

What if we are wrong about global warming and this summer will be 5-10C warmer than average every day?

Re: Coronavirus has caused a bicycling boom in New York City

#35

Post by tjr225 »

thedance wrote: post #19
Alex3917 wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Because the bike industry is currently switching over from rim brakes to disc brakes, you can get some pretty good deals on older (but still brand new) road bikes if you look around. A few months ago I bought a carbon road bike for less than $1,500 including tax. Granted expect to spend at least as much on accessories, but if you live somewhere where you can use it for both commuting and exercise then it still pays f…

This is the whole problem with American bicycle culture summarized in a single post. There’s way too many carbon-fiber sports bikes and not anywhere near enough step-through town bikes with panniers, fenders and lights.

Eh, the trend now is for steel bikes that can ride anywhere with braze ons for accessories. It’ll just take a while for it to catch on.

Re: Coronavirus has caused a bicycling boom in New York City

#36

Post by peteradio »

ipnon wrote: post #33
Scoundreller wrote: post #10

> The city’s Department of Transportation announced on Wednesday that it’s seen a 50 percent increase in bike traffic on bridges connecting Manhattan to Brooklyn and Queens compared to last March. It's also been regularly 5-10C warmer than average each day so far in March: https://www.accuweather.com/en/us/new-york/10007/march-weath... Almost entirely above freezing means no snow either. And bridges are the first pla…

What if we are wrong about global warming and this summer will be 5-10C warmer than average every day?

That is the wrong interpretation. It is a shift in the date of the turn on curve, not a bump in the plateau of 5-10C, that would be end of days bro.

Re: Coronavirus has caused a bicycling boom in New York City

#37

Post by ck2 »

Ah not even isolated in a car but breathing heavy around the city, spreading the virus.

Going to be a whole lot of quiet outside there soon with exponential spread. Calm before the storm.

People just do not seem to understand you can be infected without having symptoms for day. Or rather they just do not give a damn who else they infect.

Re: Coronavirus has caused a bicycling boom in New York City

#38

Post by aqme28 »

Alex3917 wrote: post #25
thedance wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is the whole problem with American bicycle culture summarized in a single post. There’s way too many carbon-fiber sports bikes and not anywhere near enough step-through town bikes with panniers, fenders and lights.

The basic issue is that in Amsterdam most trips are only a mile or two, whereas in NYC it's often a 10 or 15 mile commute between home and work. But yeah if you're only going a couple miles on mostly flat terrain then no question a commuter bike is a better choice.

I don't think that's right. Most of my bike rides are about 1-3 miles. When I commute to work it's about 6 miles and that's farther than most people bike here.

Re: Coronavirus has caused a bicycling boom in New York City

#39

Post by zck »

cranekam wrote: post #31
zck wrote: post #2

I wonder if it's better to take the subway, or use a citibike. With the shared bikes, you're farther away from other people, but you're physically touching the shared bike all the time.

Just wash your hands and try not to touch your face. Any virus that is on the bike isn't going to walk up your arms and down your throat. Personally I find it pretty easy to not touch my face. I doubt I am perfect at it but I catch myself a lot. Being outside has to be better than in an enclosed space (a subway car) holding onto handles that dozens of people touched in the last hour.

I mean, by the time I'm gone from a citibike to a place where I can wash my hands, I've had to touch a lot of other things. It's not like there are sinks directly next to the citibike stands.

Re: Coronavirus has caused a bicycling boom in New York City

#40

Post by wool_gather »

echelon wrote: post #23
quantdev wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The primary transmission route in inhalation in close proximity to an infected person. Yes, it can persist on surfaces, but this hand-washing meme is mostly a result of (1) it costs nothing and may help, so we should try and (2) masks are supply limited and the healthcare industry doesn't have enough. In reality, if we had an abundance of masks, masks would be more important than hand washing. As it stands, we reserv…

Do you have a citation for this? I don't want to blindly trust that fomites aren't a major risk. If true, that changes how I want to get food to my elders. (I've already gotten them several months worth, but I don't see an end to this and would feel safer if they had more runway.)

The CDC does state in one place that inhalation appears to be the primary route: https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/prepare/transmissi...

It says surface -> hands -> mucous membrane "is not thought to be the main way the virus spreads".

But then again, the TTL of the virus on surfaces is still not certain, so, as also noted there "we are still learning how it spreads".

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