Mood: The Second Wave

The specter of the second wave of the Covid-19 epidemic hangs over our heads and shows that the virus is still circulating. Only responsible behavior can limit its spread, especially social distancing measures. This is obvious. However, many cyclists anticipated total deconfinement, and without the slightest precaution despite government guidelines. A detestable attitude and ultimately a reflection of French selfishness.

By Guillaume Judas – Photo: Pixabay.com, Flickr.com

The appearance of the virus. The first patients. The first quarantines. The announcement of the first deaths. The overcrowding of hospitals. The authorities’ fumbling over the necessity of wearing a mask for protection. The cancellation of gatherings, especially sports events. The postponement of calendars. The lockdown. The crisis. It was a real shock that we all experienced this spring 2020, which will definitely not be like any other. And yet, there were still people who believed that we were overreacting, that Covid-19 was nothing more than just another infectious disease, barely more dangerous than the flu.

Beyond the anxiety-inducing announcements that reported daily on the number of people hospitalized or deceased from a virus that we do not yet control, radical measures were taken in mid-March, the only ones likely to limit its spread with the lockdown. This obligation to stay at home and limit outings to the strict necessary was more or less well tolerated depending on living conditions. The economy slowed down and some activities were even completely stopped for two months or more, with inevitable medium-term consequences regarding the survival of businesses and the associated risks of job losses.

Under these conditions, the strict limitation of physical activities (1 hour within a one-kilometer radius of home) was of secondary importance. This was also the message relayed by many French professional cyclists, who were themselves confined to their homes and unable to do their job properly, but who had the wisdom to put this inconvenience into perspective given the general health situation. And yet, in other European countries, pro riders could train. Cyclists could ride (provided they rode alone), because governments considered that maintaining good physical condition was essential to strengthening immune defenses and maintaining good mental health. This is the position we would have spontaneously defended.

But in France, it was different, first because the excesses observed showed that many citizens were unable to follow common rules without the fear of the police, or more precisely, the fear of checks and fines for non-compliance with the lockdown. This did not prevent some amateur cyclists or racers from regularly defying the prohibitions, going out as soon as they knew they had little chance of being checked. This says a lot about their sense of civic duty, especially when they boasted about it on social media.

The released beasts

After this first, admittedly limited, wave of inveterate egoists, the second was no less shocking because of its entirely different scale. And we sincerely hope that it does not foreshadow the real second wave of the virus in our country, even as the first is not yet over elsewhere in the world.

May 11 marked the beginning of a gradual deconfinement, essential for the economy but also for everyone’s well-being. And with it, the authorization to resume individual sports activity, initially limited to a 100-kilometer radius, then extended from June 2. For many, being able to ride outdoors again, alone, was experienced as a true liberation. With the sole objective of regaining sensations, even before being able to consider resuming a specific program, as it was still too early to know to what extent events would be able to be organized in 2020.

Although controlled, the spread of the virus was not yet over at this stage. This is why this deconfinement, gradual once again, was high-risk for the health situation and especially for hospital overcrowding. For sports, the rules were clear: no team sports, gatherings limited to 10 people, and a physical distance of ten meters. For cycling, this meant riding alone, as there is no advantage to pedaling at such a distance from each other.

However, this did not prevent, from the first weekend after May 11, seeing many groups and pelotons of cyclists riding as if nothing had happened. And even boasting about it, with photos to prove it, again on social media. In the Paris region, the pelotons of Longchamp, Vincennes, and Rungis resumed their habits. Fast cyclists started taking turns at the front of the group, blowing their noses and spitting as one sometimes does during intense effort, with the usual crowd of hangers-on glued to their wheels to inflate their average speed. In the countryside, informal groups or even entire clubs reappeared, with all their bad habits which, in these particular circumstances, revealed even more detestable behaviors. Packs of cyclists riding in herds three or four abreast, shouting at motorists or pedestrians in village crossings, and with their eternal wheel-suckers, unable to ride a few tens of kilometers alone to face the wind. It was as if we were witnessing a release of caged beasts for two months, who had clearly not realized the seriousness of the situation and the risks they were taking for themselves and for society as a whole.

No one is safe

While I hope that this second wave is inversely proportional to the more serious one that threatens us if the virus regains its footing in the coming weeks due to the lack of caution of our fellow citizens, I was all the more struck by this collective unconsciousness as I myself was quite severely affected by this disease. I thought I was not a person at risk, and yet it was from my hospital bed that I was able to read and see these excesses and bravado while passing the time on my smartphone, while some of my neighbors in the next room did not make it through the night. No, this virus is not a simple “little flu,” even if fortunately most infected people have mild symptoms. No one knows the long-term consequences, nor the potential sequelae on the body.

And while I too railed against the strict lockdown rules and what I considered a deprivation of liberty, I tell myself that we would have been collectively unable to restrain ourselves from certain excesses if the rules had been more flexible. I also admit that for the first time since I started cycling, that is, since my adolescence, I was ashamed of the behavior of a part of what I have always considered my community.

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