Riding in the age of COVID-19

One of my favorite destinations is the Apple Valley Airport, which currently requires face-masks, which I cannot wear while riding, so I can carry one in my jersey pocket, or stay outside. The Cafe is open again, and while I love having it there, in spite of copious signage now making masks mandatory, this common-sense measure is being universally ignored, so I have been looking for ways to mitigate my risk when at the airport.

1st, I started rolling up to one of the two covered picnic tables behind the building, well down-wind of the cafe, depending on wind direction. I stop long enough to catch my breath and take a couple of good long pulls off my waterbottles in anticipation of refilling them inside from the water cooler, which has bottled water on tap.

2nd, after catching my breath, usually early in the morning, sitting in the sun, letting mother nature's UV rays kill CVID-19 and everything else, I roll inside though the back doors, pass the entrance to the cafe, and tank up.

3rd, I roll the bike down a long hallway to the bathrooms, relieve my bladder, and wash my hands thoroughly, and then leave promptly. Clean hands are a must when eating my rice-puck with my fingers, so I prop the door open with a door stop and keep my right hand clean as I exit, using my left to operate the door.

 Adaptation:

I noticed, new, more aggressive signage yesterday, stating in no uncertain terms that masks were required. Nobody was wearing them, and I forgot  mine. (distracted by a sore knee, which required adding a leg-warmer over my L knee to keep it warm in the morning cold) Turns out there's a BBQ area 100ft or so downwind of the main building with seating for ~ 50, AND, it has running hot and cold water in a stainless steel sink with a plumbed drain.

Sink with running H&C water in deep background

I was able to re-wash my hands, and rinse them as well after eating my rice. It got me thinking though, most days, if I carried a small amount of soap I could skip the trip indoors entirely! I might have to water the cactus discretely somewhere down the road, but there isn't much out there anyway, so no problem. Like so many aspects of social behavior post-COVID-19, safety seems more important than a discrete pee on the side of a dusty rural road.

So now I've talked myself into a requirement to carry a small bit of anti-bacterial soap. Not to worry, I repurposed a spray bottle of nasal saline, which holds ~ 1oz AFAICT (the label came off in the dishwasher)

Cleanliness is next to Godliness, or in this case, GU

So going forward, I think I'll just dig this bit of soap out of my saddle bag, wash my hands & faucet at the sink in the BBQ area, eat, drink, be merry (or tired), wash the sticky from the rice off my fingers, fill my waterbottle and move on. If I remember my mask and there's bottled water inside, maybe a quick trip through the lobby to refill and then straight out the door again. Limiting indoor time is critical to limiting exposure, which goes up 500+ fold sans sunlight and a cleansing breeze.