Within the last month I considered updating my cycling shoes, until I saw the price of cycling shoes, even in Decathlon. I saw how expensive they are so I lost interest in them. Barefoot shoes are great because they’re light and easy to transport. The problem that I find with ‘barefoot’ shoes is that I stride, rather than walk. When you stride your heel always smashes into the ground, and with barefoot shoes this can result in heel pain, if, and when, we’re not careful.
Cycling in Switzerland requires the ability to go up and down hills. Some of the climbs are long and steep, others are short and steep, and yet more are shallow but long climbs. That’s where bike gears come into their own. The more gears you have the more precisely you can control the amount of effort you’re making. With a mountain bike the gears are designed to help with climbing. With road bikes they can be set to make hill climbs easier or harder.
Yesterday I went for a bike ride. By my norms it was a relatively cool day, just 27 or so degrees, compared to the 30-37°c I have ridden in, in the past. I was comfortable on the bike, with a cool breeze to cool me down.
I went by the lake and I think other people were heatstruck. They were lethargic and innatentive getting off buses. They were all by the lake side, sunbathing like marine iguanas.
Originally I wanted to write about following route 50 from one village to Romainmôtier. I changed my mind as I createdd thetitle for this post. Yesterday I cycled with two people on electric bikes on my normal bike. I didn’t feel that I was making that great an effort, especially since I was cycling at a relatively slow speed compared to usual. I actually felt that I was taking it easy.
Cycling is one of the best sports to do during a heatwave because you have a 25 km/h breeze blowing over you, until you stop. If you flee the oven like cities, and head for the woods by a stream, you will feel the coolness provided by nature, rather than air conditioning.
Yesterday I cycled along the lake from Nyon to Geneva. Most people headed to the lake to go for a swim but I don’t.
Almost all of my bike rides are loops. The reason for this is that I am a single person, so I usually need to end where I start, either to get home, or to get to the car. This means that if I do a 30km loop it has to return to where it started eventually. Over the last two bike rides that I did they were linear. From Haute Morges to Nyon a few days ago, and vice versa today.
Yesterday I cycled from Haute-Morges to Nyon along the top. I did this because I was curious to see what route the GPS would recommend. The natural thing to do would be to cycle downhill towards Rolle and the lake. Trees and a meadow in a road bend
The Route
Instead I cycled upwards towards Montricher. From there I cycled west vila Mollens to Bière, and from there, down and across towards Saurraz, Marchissy, Le Vaud before Bassins, Le Muid and then finally down from Genolier towards Trelex and from Trelex down through Grens before heading down towards Nyon.
Catching the train to Geneva and back to Nyon costs about 14CHF per day, depending on whether you have paid 180 CHF for the half fare or not. In contrast two Continent GP 5000 tires cost about 110CHF and you can go to Geneva and back a few hundred times. Place Des Nations with the broken chair, and the fountains
The loop from Nyon to Geneva is about 20-30 kilometres. This is a very easy distance to cycle once you get to the right level of fitness.
Yesterday my intention was to cycle along the Voie Verte from Crassier to Grilly and then back down towards, the lake, along the lake and end up back in Nyon. I didn’t follow this plan through. I was thinking “I don’t want to do the steep Mies climb so I’ll go to Nyon, but on the way to Nyon I thought of going to Prangins. In Prangins I then decided to head to Aubonne.
There was a time when I would change the rear tyre regularly. I was changing from an indoor trainer tyre to a road tyre and back regularly. I developed my skill at this art and then the pandemic occured and I stopped changing tyres as regularly. Recently I went for a 74km bike ride and when I checked the tyre a day or two later I noticed that the rubber was gone and the fibres were showing.