Post Covid-19 Lockdown at Ridelines
We’re ready to wake up from our lockdown slumber, but what does that mean? Should we, Ridelines, just pile into the forests on our bikes because we can? We don’t think so.
As a business that takes your safety and the quality of our products seriously, we have to think a little smarter. Mountain biking is a non-contact sport, but we have to engage with our learners on many levels to ensure quality and sometimes to enforce proper instruction. Under normal circumstances this would mean physical contact. But these are not normal times. Thats why with the utmost thought to your safety, your instructors safety and the wellbeing of the wider society that might be affected by our actions, we’ve put into place some guidelines of our own.
Far from being our own opinion, this advice is compiled from the most relevant parts of documents issued by British Cycling, Scottish Cycling, DMBinS, The Scottish Government, Forestry & Land Scotland as well as Industry colleagues from across the UK.
These guidelines are firstly so you can be sure that when you come on your ridelines course you are as well protected as you can be. We as individuals can affect this on the day of your course with a few simple steps. Secondly, they are in place to form a barrier against people not attending your course. That is to say that lowering the risk during your course or activity, lowers the possibility of one of us taking away the virus onwards to our communities and families.
We’ve all made huge sacrifices over the period of lockdown. If you are attending a Ridelines course or activity, you will be issued beforehand with the following, simple guidelines.
START OF CUSTOMER COVID-19 ADVICE:
Please do NOT attend a Ridelines course if you feel symptomatic. Our instructors will refuse to undertake any activity and you will forfeit any payments. You can find common symptoms HERE.
Our guidelines have been created based on the most up to date understanding of Covid-19 transmission and have been developed in referencing both Scottish Government and other Outdoor Industry Guidelines. These are the main three considerations regarding our safety measures.
- That Covid-19 It is spread between humans mainly from droplets that originate from the lungs.
- That these droplets enter the body through the nose, mouth and mucus membranes of the eyes. It can also be contained in sections such as saliva.
- That if the virus lands on an external surface it can cause infection when a person moves this to their face.
Covid-19 does not enter through intact skin and so we have in place the following simple methods to manage the virus as far as transmission.
- Hygiene – Hand washing, alcohol gel, surface decontamination of potentially shared objects. Your instructor will provide hand sanitiser gel.
- Behavioural – Observing social distancing, minimising group size, limiting all but essential contact.
- PPE: Creating barriers to prevent entry or contain spread. Masks and gloves for instance.
These methods will only work in collaboration and with the permission of you and other participants. If you do not wish to adhere to measures in this document, please do not book or attend a Ridelines course. Please remember that we may need to adapt to follow government guidelines that may well strengthen or relax these measures at short notice.
Our priority remains to protect your health and the health of our instructors and the wider community including the emergency services and mountain rescue to suppress the spread and limit the risk of COVID-19 virus. A more detailed version of our Covid-19 risk assessment descriptor is available on request. It contains more detailed measures on how our instructors will protect your wellbeing in context. You can also help by observing the following simple steps during your activity.
- Bring the appropriate clothing/equipment/food and water as per your booking info pack.
- Email your completed medical / participation form where possible. If you cannot do this, please arrive with it filled in. FIND IT HERE
- Wash hands/use hand gel throughout the day and before eating/drinking.
- Avoid/minimise touching your face. Particularly the mouth eyes and nose.
- Wear riding gloves and safety glasses.
- Maintain social distancing throughout the day when possible
- Do not share any equipment, spares, tools, food and water
- Maintain social distancing when passing other riders
- Make sure your bike and equipment is in good working order before attending your course.
- Help us all by doing as your instructor asks. If you do not comply with the measures put in place for everyone’s safety. You will be excluded from the activity with no refund.
Please get in touch with us if you would like any further information on our Covid-19 prevention measures.
END OF CUSTOMER COVID-19 ADVICE:
At the most, this simple advice could be described as “a bit of a pain” but these measures are fairly minimal and easy to achieve. We all know the potential impact of not taking precautions, so we’re determined not to contribute to further to any further distress either to you, our customers, the family and friends of our instructors or our wider communities. If we all do our part on the day of your course, the risk will be minimal. We’re happy to answer any relevant questions about anything Covid-19 related.
We have also been careful to undertake some more in-depth learning about how we can make our best efforts to suppress the potential spread of the virus and recognise when we or our clients become complacent when we resume our “normal” activities. This includes taking on the advice that we’ve already mentioned from cycling governing bodies both north and south of the border, land managers and stakeholders as well as some online learning through NHS and becoming ratified as a “good to go” business by all 4 of the UK’s national tourist boards.
Covid-19 Refund policy addendum: For orders placed on or after July 1st 2020 we will ring fence your course cost until your product has been delivered. From July 1st 2020 if your course is cancelled due to circumstances viewed by Ridelines carry the risk of potentially causing infection or similarly, political or stakeholder intervention outside our control that can be traced to being caused by Covid-19. We will offer a new course date or refund your course cost.
The above addendum does not affect Ridelines normal cancellation policy.
In closing we’d invite you to look at both our specific Covid-19 risk assessment and risk assessment descriptors should you wish. You can do this by request.
Our first obligation is to your safety and enjoyment. We’re sure that by putting these measures in place that we can do that. Please do contact us if you have any questions, reservations or indeed suggestions on how we can make our policies any better.
Over and above all of this, we look forward to inviting you back to the forests of The Tweed Valley!
The Ridelines team.
