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BUCHANAN — For Liz Martin, April is when she is usually planning the first group ride for her group, Bike Buchanan. While the weather has been beautiful in spirits, a group ride is not in the cards with the COVID-19 threat continuing into the spring. As Martin puts it, “physical distance, not social distance” is continually required.

According to Martin, the threat should not stop people from getting outdoors and exploring everything nearby. It just means doing it with more caution, and frankly, more alone than usual.

“I think we all need to encourage ourselves to recreate responsibly here,” Martin said. “As group leader of a ride here, it’s hard. Usually around this time in April, I have planned my first ride already and I am ready to bring my community back together.”

This April marks the second  anniversary of the creation of Martin’s group, Bike Buchanan. In the past, the group would meet Tuesday evenings at 6:30 p.m. at Flatwater Farms in Buchanan. Martin created the group to invite bicycle riders of all skill levels to explore the area in a fun, encouraging environment.

“I really wanted to create a space for all bike levels to feel welcome,” Martin said. “I wanted them to feel welcome to be who they were and bring with what equipment they had.”

Working with bike riders of all levels was important to Martin. Getting riders comfortable with the equipment and helping them find enjoyment in the rides helps to share her love of riding with others.

Currently, instead of encouraging people to get out and go for long, social rides, Martin is finding herself giving a different kind of advice.

“We are being challenged to explore, literally, the outdoors that is outside of our door, and to be alone doing it,” Martin said. “When given the nice weather, we are so programmed to be social butterflies and wanting to meet up with our friends and bike in groups. All of that will come eventually, and right now, we are being challenged to kind of do it alone.”

As options for getting out of the house are limited by continued mandates to help lessen the spread of the COVID-19 virus, more people may rediscover their bicycles stashed away in storage. Martin encourages riders to get outside and explore, responsibly.

“It’s OK to go out and bike alone,” Martin said. “You can cover a lot of ground, even if you stay close to home right now. Just be safe, use your sight awareness, use your safety tips that you would use on any other bike ride that you go on.”

She encourages those rediscovering their bicycles to be gentle with themselves.

“There’s nothing wrong with just stepping outside your door and walking around your neighborhood,” she said.

Martin encourages taking physical activities outside of the home. She also encourages everyone to make sure they are being mindful of their and others’ space.

“Recreate close to home,” she said. “Explore the outdoors that are literally outside of your door or your window, and keep a physical distance, not a social one.”

As the warm weather would normally encourage people to start gathering and getting together for physical activities and relaxing together, Martin knows that fulfilling that social need another way is just as important.

One way that Martin has filled the social void that was once paired with physical activity was enrolling in online pilates classes from the studio she normally attends, St. Joe Pilates. The class is hosted on Zoom so that instructors can offer adjustments to posture and poses, but it also means that those who attend class can interact with one another as well.

With new social challenges, and even the physically distancing ones, Martin sees this as just another hurdle to overcome.

As the precautions and mandates on keeping a safe distance from one another continued to be handed down by Michigan’s Gov. Gretchen Whitmer on Thursday, Martin looks forward to the time she can get back on her bike and lead a group through her beloved community.

“My bike has taken me a lot of cool places,” she said.

Locally, it has shown her the beauty right at home.

“Typically, we want to go far away to find this natural beauty, but we actually have a lot here,” she said.