Within the last two weeks children have headed back to schools. As a consequence of this schools, towns, villages, and ‘states’ are banning mobile phones for children and teenagers. In theory this is a fantastic, and simple solution. In practice this is failing society.
Plenty of adults, from my generation, and younger, are media illiterate. They use computers for work, and used them for uni and for school, but they didn’t use them for pleasure.
On Sunday I rode with the Le Cercle No Pressure Club group ride from Nyon to Montricher via Vich to Begnins, and From there to Gimel and then onto Bière and eventually Montricher.
Easier Start Normally groups default to climb from Nyon to Coinsins, and from Coinsins up towards Genolier and Le Muids before going across towards Bière. By choosing the route we chose we got to have a more restful ride.
If I drove four hundred and thirty kilometres I would either be going on holidays or wasteful with petrol. To do the same thing on a bike is much better for the health of the planet and my own. The reason for this is simple. Good cardiovascular health.
Normally I would not consider riding this many times in a week. My rule was to ride twice per week, not more. If I ride more than twice per week, especially alone, I find car driver behaviour to be toxic.
Yesterday I rode with Group 2 rather than Group 1 with TDC. I believe I could keep up for a second time. I also believe that when you’re cycling hard three times a week it takes a lot of energy.My experience last Saturday showed that I was pushing myself too hard by riding by cyclists stronger than me three times in a week, especially after riding close to my max on Wednesday, Thursday and then Sunday.
When I look at Facebook, BlueSky and Threads I see a lot of content that should never be. I see sentences and phrasing that provoke hostility, and I see article headlines and more that provoke polarisation. In essence I think that social media is no longer a social network. I believe that social media is about emotions, rather than conversations, especially negative emotions.
I bring this up because I can go for hours, or even days without looking at threads or FB and when I do I am struck with how negative posts are.
Yesterday evening I went for a group ride but rather than riding for an hour or so to get to Geneva I rode to the centre of Nyon. I rode to the old garage that was transformed into a café called Tête de Course. This is where the TDC group meet before starting their Thursday evening bike ride. Social Rides
Three Groups The group split into three groups. Group 1 was the fastest, and then group 2, and finally group 3.
In England, Australia and Switzerland parents want to ban mobile phones from children beneath 14 years of age. In theory this is an excellent idea this is a fantastic and fabulous idea, because it means parents can avoid spending thousands of francs per year on mobile phones, and tech is seen as toxic.
In practice parents are scapegoating the medium, rather than the source of the problem. Facebook, Zynga, Supercell and many other companies are deliberately targeting people to make their platforms addictive and compelling.
This weekend I cycled 160 kilometres with the Bike Club Switzerland Group via Meetup.com. In the process I find that I appreciate the community more and more. I appreciate that the groups are small, but also that people are like-minded. By like-minded I mean that people are sporty.
Today we went for a Moderate recovery ride and it took some effort to keep up. I was at the limit of my comfort zone, but not out of it.
I am in the process of forming a new habit and that habit is to cycle on Saturday mornings. In cycling on Saturday mornings I keep Saturday afternoon free for other things. I can take care of washing clothes and more. It also gives me time to rest and recover before Sunday.
By accident I signed up for a hike and now I am torn between going for the hike, which requires trains, and potentially meeting two or three people, or sticking to my usual plan of going for a bike ride.
Today I went for a long hike after going for a long bike ride yesterday. I am pretty tired. I shared three photos that were directly relevant to a group’s activities and they were deleted. I wouldn’t mind, if they were not linked to the community, and to an activity organised by the person that invited us to do this activity. I do mind, when it was relevant to that organiser, but also to the community.