SUMMER STARTS HERE
Your lockdown roadmap to getting back to biking
‘We should be able to get out riding on March 29’
Boris Johnson has revealed a provisional schedule of steadily reducing coronavirus restrictions for England that will allow the return to biking freedoms not known since March 2020. The first step will take place on March 8 and, if all goes to plan, all social restrictions will be lifted by Monday, June 21. We’ve spoken to experts and translated the governmental gobbledegook to tell you know what you’ll be able to do on two wheels and when.
March 8
From Monday you’ll be allowed to leave home for ‘recreation and exercise outdoors with your household (or support bubble) or with one person from outside your household’. The Cabinet Office says the ‘stay at home’ order will still be in effect, so you should minimise journeys and stay local wherever possible. The guidance suggests you will not be able to travel for recreational purposes until the 29th at the earliest. So you could walk 10 minutes down the road to meet a mate for a coffee but you couldn’t ride 50 miles for the same thing.
March 29
Should the virus be deemed to be heading in the right direction, from March 29 the ‘stay at home’ order will be relaxed. The rules will also be relaxed on groups, so two households or six people will be free to mix. That means you’ll be free to ride with up to five of your mates. Outdoor sports facilities will also be allowed to reopen, so that means trackdays will be able to resume as well as bikesport, as long events are compliant with the guidance. The no overnight rule will still apply and there won’t be spectators.
April 12
Step two of the planned relaxation could be as early as April 12 and will see non-essential retailers allowed to reopen. That means bike dealers and kit retailers, if you’re crying out for new metal or a shiny new lid. With it, outdoor hospitality will be allowed to reopen too. However, you have to order, eat and drink while seated, so your local bike meet won’t be at full power just yet. Self-contained accommodation such as campsites and holiday cottages where there are no shared facilities will be allowed to reopen. That means if you fancy taking a solo bike tour (or going with someone you live with) you could do but you couldn’t go with mates. Around this time the Government hope to make a statement on the future of international travel but until they do so, biking holidays into Europe and beyond will still be banned.
May 17
May 17 is the earliest that the Government expect to be able to relax the rule of six outdoors, instead allowing people to decide their own comfortable level of risk. Gatherings of more than 30 people will still be banned but you probably don’t go for a ride with that many mates anyway. The rule of six (or two households) will still apply indoors though and if you do go somewhere to eat or drink, it will still be table service only. Other indoor locations such as B&Bs and hotels should be open by this point too, making a bike tour even easier. By this point, the Government is also hoping to allow people to attend large outdoor events, where they can be spread out in allocated seating, so watching BSB in person should be back on the cards.
June 21
If everything goes to plan, the Government is hoping to remove all legal limits on social contact by June 21, so if you want to get 45 mates and go for a big ride out there’s nothing to stop you. Apart from having 45 mates obviously.