The sun is shining. For a day or two the grey Autumn weather is gone. This would be a good time for a spontaneous bike ride. The issue with this is that Strava is great for sharing activities that are planned in advance, and those that have passed. It’s easy to get kudoes. It isn’t easy to converse. They have instant messaging but it is only available via the mobile phone app, rather than from the web interface.

A week ago I proposed a bicycle ride to Mies, before stopping at the Port de Crans for coffee. Quite a few people joined the chat but no one committed to turning up. I woke up in the morning and said “I’m thinking of setting off early, since no one had confirmed. When no one said “wait, wait, wait” I set off on my bicycle ride. The conditions were excellent. I was warm, the roads were quiet, and the views were pleasant.

Routine is extremely important. With routine the question is not “whether you can be bothered” but “I will do this.” You go from asking “if” to automatically assuming that on Wednesday morning you will ride, and sunday morning you will ride. If a ride is cancelled for A or B then you’re asking “if”, but you’re also making other plans. This weekend, for example, I saw that it would rain today.

Bike rides have been cancelled because of rain, rather than wind or other factors. When it rains cyclists don’t want to ride because it gets their bike dirty and they have to clean it, lubricate it and more. With hikers rain is also an excuse to be lazy, within some groups. With other groups rain is just rain and the walks and hikes go ahead. Yesterday morning we had stormy weather.

When I hear that new cycling lanes will be created on a new segment of road I feel excitement, at the prospect of cycling being a pleasant, streamlined experience. Often though, in Switzerland, especially in the French speaking part they will spend months digging up a road, and then putting the road back down, and painting lines and saying “There, we have cycling infrastructure. They don’t widen the road, and they add the bare minimum.

There was a time, for decades, if not centuries, when a watch provided us with the time. We would wear it in a pocket, attached to a chain, we would stare up at a clock tower and we would see the time. We might even hear church bells to indicate every quarter, half and full hour. In the last decade we have gone from wearing watches to tell time, to watches that quantify us.

With Autumn comes a change in weather. The days get shorter and the temperatures drop. Clouds come more often, and stick around. The result is that events that are scheduled are cancelled. Today the weather was good, but the event is scheduled for tomorrow. In a situation such as this I would consider moving the event forward by one day, to take advantage of the good weather. It is a shame to stick to a day, when a shift is possible.

There is a subconscious desire for a lot of cyclists, especially on group rides, to speed up and challenge each other. There is the urge to go as fast as possible on every ride, to leave people in the dust. There is the urge to light up Strava with personal records. For weeks, or even months, I had the desire to go in the opposite direction, to slow down and be more inclusive of people who ride less.

When it is overcast colours are washed out and harder to distinguish. For several days clouds have covered the sun so it has been darker, and with this darkness so the Autumnal colours have been harder to distinguish. This morning, during the morning ride we started in the grey light of an overcast day. As the ride progressed so the sun came out, and with the sun coming out, so did Autumn colours, and that’s why, when we were riding through the vineyards I was tempted to take more photos.

Last night, as I finished dinner I noticed that others were out so I joined them within twenty minutes or so. That wasn’t fast enough. They had decided to call it a night. As this impacted my mental health I decided to go for a run. Often you see people are out, and you know they might call it a night by the time you get there. I had that thought.