Chinese Corona Virus Update From:
Iron Butt Association President

You can call this a share or a Re-Tweet but I got this message from Mike Kneebone president of the Iron Butt Association. I have placed it below with some pics, but I am trying to disseminate the message to all long distance riders (LDR) and bikers out there….now listen up and read! (Gabe)

“We understand no one wants to be told what to do, but even if you argue that you will bring gloves for gas pumps and/or cleaner to wipe them down and not interact with anyone, our friends in the medical community are telling us that you do NOT want to be in a hospital right now. While having an accident is probably statistically not likely, this is when odd things happen. Even if we are out there riding remotely, rural hospitals impacted as well: most of them funnel serious trauma cases to larger city-based hospitals, which are the very ones that are already gearing up to deal with Covid-19 patients.

Reports from riders last week (before a lot of the close-business orders) are suggest that if you hit bad weather, there are few places to shelter. Many states have closed rest stops. Some have reopened for truckers, but that still leaves you out in the cold. Even truck stops are mostly closed for any kind of sheltering.

Many of our favorite stops for bathrooms are now closed to the public. Even the normally dependable McDonald’s has closed many restrooms. Our always-open Waffle House, who the Federal Emergency Management Agency has used to monitor the effects of natural disasters in a given area, has closed over 400 stores so far. Breaking down on the road is very likely to leave you stranded, as most motorcycle shops are closed in many locations.

Twenty-three states have full shelter in place orders, while 13 have variations on those orders.  One of the better maps shows this graphically:

https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/us/coronavirus-stay-at-home-order.html

If you have not been keeping up with the news, Florida is stopping inbound traffic on many roads entering the state, filtering out people from different areas by issuing mandatory quarantine orders. The road to the Keys has also been closed. North Carolina has severely limited access to prime riding areas with total and complete road closures. Whether these orders are even constitutional is not the point here. That will be fought in the courts, not with the sheriff on the side of the road.

We repeat: This is NOT the time to be doing long-distance rides for fun. Many of us feel invincible, but things happen that are out of your control, particularly these days the risk of landing in a hospital, breaking down, or simply needing to use a bathroom.

RIDES WITH TIME LINES

That brings us to Rides with time lines: the National Park Tour, Pressed Penny Insanity, Lighthouse Insanity, 100,000-mile year, etc. We will extend those timelines as needed to complete the ride. Right now that means we are blind to April 2020. For example, if you are pushing the one-year NPT time line, we expect to add an extra month to the normal 12-month time line. But to take advantage of that, STOP NOW.

You can’t collect stamps/pennies/lighthouses now and add extra time on the back end to collect more. That is not the intent of this relief. The idea is for you to stay close to home.

 

SILVER MILE EATERS going for the one ride per month model and those setting records over several years for consecutive ride months: From what we have seen, all of you have a March ride on the books. If you could not get a March ride in, please reach out to us. For everyone else, April is an off-month and will NOT count against the 12 consecutive month limit. We will figure out how to adjust this when the time comes.

PREMIER EXPIRATION DATES – for those on this mailing, we are extending Premier 2 months sometime this week as clearly we are going to lose April and probably May riding season.”

Mike