FACE MASKS and CLUB BIKE RIDES Based on yesterday's announcement by Governor Wolfe that face masks are now mandatory when outdoors, all participants in our club rides must have a face mask at all times. The masks should be worn pre and post ride and also any time that you cannot consistently maintain the required 6 feet of social distance during the ride. So that part about "during the ride" is a bit vague... What does it actually mean? Are we requiring you to wear a mask while riding? Unfortunately the wording in the health order (see below) is also vague and seems to allow NOT wearing a face covering if you CAN consistently maintain social distance. Our preference is that our athletes take the safe route during our club rides, so the best recommendation that we can make is as follows... • If you are able to ride while wearing a mask, do it. That's what I plan to do. • Otherwise, you must have a way to quickly (and safely) transition to wearing a mask at any time that you are inside the six foot social distance requirement. • We need to be even more diligent than we were on Tuesday about maintaining social distance before, during, and after our rides. Before and after the rides, please ensure that you are observing the 6+ foot social distance. During rides, please maintain a safe distance of 3-4 bike lengths between bikes and avoid riding side by side. We will also continue to limit the size of each group of riders to 5 for our club rides. FYI, the pertinent wording in Section 2.A in the PA Dept of Health Order pertaining to our rides reads... "... individuals are required to wear face coverings if they are outdoors and unable to consistently maintain a distance of six feet from individuals who are not members of their household." Here is a link to the complete health order... https://www.governor.pa.gov/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/20200701-SOH-Universal-Face-Coverings-Order.pdf