[Closed] What is the GQ of your lockdown ride?

I've avoided any route that involves me having to take my hands off the handlebars

Probably 5/12 but a few are behind left and jammed open where no livestock.

My lockdown rides are specifically planned to be 0. Might not be the best our mediocre local riding can offer but I can still ride 20-30 miles mainly off road with no gates. Even had a gentle ride in the woods this afternoon.

To be honest, families out walking, riding and running mean that road riding is easier any.

https://strava.app.link/YTw72f2wQ5

20k, ~2/3 offroad, 0 gates.

Rides are normally a 0/0 for me.

Longer runs though have a SQ (Stile Quotient) of 2/2 - queue me climbing over said stiles using only my elbows...

2. Well it's the same gate in and out. I have a dedicated Gate Glove.

0 gates. Can't imagine why you'd plan a route that has any

O gates - but then its hardly an issue usually

I get your point and all that, but if people wash their hands before going out and don’t touch their faces their really isn’t an issue, but does take some self control

The trails are the other side of the gate. It's that or the road.

I did a little track near Cold Ash the other day, someone had kicked every gate open and broken them, most odd, could it have been the OP?

Zero, through riding on the road. Normally my offroad ones have a few, hence sticking to the road.

Also going out as early as I can to minimse passing other cyclists/pedestrians.

There is a difference between opening a gate with your foot and "kicking it open". The latter is not OK.

I like Yak's Dedicated Gate Glove. Is this one of the pair, or a third, auxiliary glove?

It's a third auxiliary glove - a yellow marigold.

I could do 0 with loads of options. I tend not to pay much attention to them though.

I like Yak’s Dedicated Gate Glove. Is this one of the pair, or a third, auxiliary glove?

Given his name, I'd be disappointed if it's not one of those shoulder length gloves vets use for checking if cows are pregnant. I've an image of them stopping at a gate, rummaging in a waist pack/frame bag and donning the below glove, opening the gate very carefully, then peeling it off inside out.

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Round here the gate factor is low. I did climb round one yesterday but I'm struggling to think of another one. I really should have just gone a few hundred more metres on the road to avoid it

Tell a lie there is a big kissing gate on a great trail near here. But I can do it by foot and hip

Oh and 2 other gates that on that ride are now permanently open. No idea why they are there even

My 'regular' evening loop of about 14 miles has about 11 gates, during Covid some have been left open so currently around 6/3, due to one chain, one old style gate, and one busted fence post. However they can be opened easily using a 'lesser touched' part of the gate i.e lifting the catch with a pinky rather than the handle. I wouldn't be so worried but inevitably you need to touch your face to wipe mud/snot/sweat and bugs away!

Annoyingly I've come across 3 locked rights of way (one is triple locked and the gate completely busted but the farmer seems to have a serious attitude problem) the other two seem to be locked due to the virus.

It does make you realise how many of the gates are a bit pointless...who needs a gate when its just two arable fields, or when the fence is not secure enough to prevent livestock moving fields?

Actual MTB, none at all. If I go on the cross bike & hit the SDW sections near home, there are a few.

But I don’t really consider it, or think about it. I wouldn’t change my route because I have to open a gate with my hands.

Regular gnarmac loop is c.18 miles. About 50/50m road and track.

One gate. Conveniently at the end of the longest section of climbing!

3/3 on tonight’s 19k ride. Possible to reduce.

What’s the view on a narrow pedestrian / bike opening at the side of a gate whereby the wide bars preclude ‘normal’ egress, and instead the bike has to raised onto only its back wheel to pass? On the basis that can be classified as a ‘foot’ gate I could drop to 2/1.

Not too many gates around here but one of my local routes has a small gate at the start of a steep, loose climb so you could do without it.

Being an old gate without a latch, it just rests against the gatepost with the help of gravity. I have perfected a technique where I give it a firm push with my foot while staying on the bike, if I use the required amount of force it gives me enough time for a quick stamp on the pedals before the gate bounces off the hedge and closes behind me.

Too much force and the gate gives me a smack in the knee as it bounces off the hedge. Too little force and it gets the front wheel or your hand on the bars.

I always know I am going to have a good ride when I get through the gate and up the hill without putting a foot down.

There are a few... but I'm wearing gloves and most are kissing gate style things that can be manipulated with one's foot.

As risk factors go it's pretty minimal.

5 gates to get to one set of woods, 0 gates to get to the others. I could go via the road rather than bridleway to the first set. Gates on horses are somewhere between challenging and annoying (depending on the gate and the horse) - on a bike they don’t bother me at all.

I have been deliberately avoiding narrow lanes etc, wouldn't even consider touching a gate. What's the point in introducing risk like that for no gain?

0 gates - I have no issue with riding for more than Gove's hour but for moment I'm avoiding off-road trails with gates/stiles etc.
No criticism (implied or otherwise) of others here - you can use my gate handling allowance...

25 miles last night, zero gates.

10% road
20% cycle path
70% gravel / bridleways

I set up my garmin with auto-pause turned off, I find it motivates me to ride quicker, and pick routes with less gates!

I was trying to figure out last night if there was a way of doing a lap of Reading, off road, without a gate, it means missing a few good bits though and sticking with more parks and less countryside, and I'm not sure about the footpaths to the east.

GQ IS 0. Well, 1, but it’s my garden gate!

This is assuming that we are doing the same loop each time to provide a single score, there's far too much riding my way to be limited to one loop and provide a single number.

I have to deal with gates and stiles on my local routes. Gates tend to be kissing gates, carrying bike over my head or chuck over the fence next to it

Lots of the good trails near me are footpaths. And they're footpaths inside the M25 so cross lots of different time of field/land/farm/wood. In the daytime they have the odd walker on normally, though not many, with Covid 19 they have more than normal. I tend to go at night and so far I've not met anyone

Two gates to get out of the garden. I leave them open so it is easier to get back in, does that count as 2 or 4? Only other gate is the one into a park. The council have left it ajar, about 800mm wide, to allow bikes and walkers but stop cars (it accesses the car park that is now shut). Can't quite ride through it smoothly due to the angle and wide bars plus sometimes having to wait for other users, can do it without touching the gate, I'm about 50/50 on foot downs.

Nickjb - Interesting. I think 2, but only if you don't close it when you re-enter. I was going to challenge Tartanscarf on his "1", but maybe he is leaving the gate open, and not closing it on return.

So much to think about when considering GQ.

I am working on my rating scale for quantifying the social aspect of rides.

The whole gate paranoia is ridiculous because nothing would kill off a virus faster than being stuck to a dry wooden post in bright sunshine. I open gates, climb stiles and pick up things I find then wash my hands on entering the house, which is no different from usual.

^^^ Yep

I think people are over thinking it a bit. There is very little evidence of widespread outdoor transmission and transmission through contact with outdoor surfaces seems unlikely

Wear gloves and wash them and your hands when you get home seems like a good practical precaution for what is likely a very low risk of exposure.

If above is right how come there's all those clips from earlier in the pandemic, and now, of Eastern countries spritzing city streets down in hazmat suits with disinfectant guns and with water cannon like devices on top of lorries? It can't be cheap to do that so is that just for show...or...

Anyway's the locals have put signs up on gates around me to ban access to the countryside! So I fear scenes from the Wickerman if caught out.

43km today. 3 gates (2 were due to a slight detour)

If above is right how come there’s all those clips from earlier in the pandemic, and now, of Eastern countries spritzing city streets down in hazmat suits with disinfectant guns and with water cannon like devices on top of lorries? It can’t be cheap to do that so is that just for show…or…

I suspect because it's a cheaper way to demonstrate to the population that you're doing something than ordering 10,000 ventilators from a household name ex-pat in Singapore.

'm basing this on the assumption that any chemical nasty enough to kill a virus on surfaces, pumped out at those sorts of volumes would be seriously nasty for the sprayers and local residents!

transmission through contact with outdoor surfaces seems unlikely

Have you pulled that out of your arse?

Anyway, to answer the original question…

0

And family walks chosen to avoid touching gates as well… although foot nudging gates occasionally in use on those.

My go-to 1hr (ish) route has 4 gates and one motorbike barrier thing.

Many years back we habitually used to give gates a score as we went through. Criteria included appearance, ease of use and state of repair. For example, the worst score would be one of those old rusty steel ones that fall off the hinges as soon as you try and open; the best ones are nice modern wooden ones that swing shut and latch on their own. Steel gates can be well maintained and hung but they can't get a full ten because they lose marks for aesthetics.

We were going to do a website called ratemygate.com but couldn't be bothered in the end.

transmission through contact with outdoor surfaces seems unlikely

Have you pulled that out of your arse?

Not really.

I did some reading and made up my own mind about the actual risks involved

From the BBC

Prof John Edmunds, from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, explains there were three ways that the virus may be transmitted:

Touching an infected surface and then your face with unwashed hands
From tiny particles that stay suspended in the air (aerosols)
From larger droplets that quickly fall to the ground - the particles in both cases coming from coughing and sneezing, for example
"The first two of these routes would be reduced to virtually zero out of doors," he said. "You are much less likely to touch an infected surface, and suspended particles will be massively diluted by the fresh air."

All the studies that show the virus can be detected after 2-3 days on stainless steel were done indoors. Viruses don't respond well to outdoor environments generally, UV light and changes in temperature and humidity will kill the virus outside pretty quickly.

By all means take precautions - wearing gloves and washing you hands - but there doesn't seem to be any point in obsessing about it.

By all means take precautions – wearing gloves and washing you hands – but there doesn’t seem to be any point in obsessing about it.

This. I'm avoiding gates and use a sleeve to cover my hand if opening any and then wash hands before eating or drinking (always take hand sanitiser on anyrides I might need to touch gates or stop to eat) but I cant imagine its a major problem.

of GQ – Gate Quotient.

I'm always mindful to keep the GQ low after a GC - Gate calamity.

Clambering over a tall shoogly style with my bike on my shoulder things got a bit wobbly. The frame shape mean I shoulder the bike under the nose of the saddle as theres not really room in the front triangle.  Instinct was to throw the bike into a gorse bush to give it a soft landing. The hose clips on hydration pack shoulder straps are very similar in diameter to saddle rails.

There are a few gates on my local loop.

I just keep riding in circles near them and wait for some other poor loser to touch it and open it for me. Sometimes it can take quite a while, but it has the advantage of upping the distance of the ride!