A few days ago I was sitting at a desk when I noticed unusual shadows on the tiles outside. I went to see what was causing them. When I looked up I saw hundreds of storks flying in circles above my home. They were heading towards Geneva. I considered getting on the bike and trying to follow them, to see if they would land. I didn’t.

Yesterday I finally had the discipline to take things to be recycled and on the way back I looked to my right, at a field, and I spotted storks again. This time I drove around, found a good place to park and then walked up to the storks to take a few photos.

Last night a bike ride was cancelled for this morning due to the risk of rain. As a result I got to sleep in rather than get up to ride at dawn. In the process I got to rest. It also confirms that the seasons are changing.

It’s because seasons change in Switzerland that I am still torn about whether to do the Via Ferrata (VF) Illuminée on Saturday or not. If I do it then I will finish at 2 or 3 in the morning and I will lose my sunday. At the same time I have used Sunday as rest days recently so it doesn’t matter.

When you drive to a place you don’t have a place for it. That’s why it’s good to use sites to find recommendations. Usually I like to explore routing opportunities with Komoot, to look at routes, what they offer as sites and sounds, and how long the route is.

Last night and this morning I let another site decide. I told Strava that I was going to start from one point, and I looked at what it recommended. I then drove to the start, and ran the route. In the process I found that the route it recommended was not as intuitive as I thought.

I love to hike fast. I also love to walk fast. When I am hiking I love to hike my own hike, and then wait for people at regular intervals, so that they may catch up, rest a little, and then continue.

When cycling with some groups I will be left alone during the climb, and I will arrive at the top last. I have no concerns about making it up. I am just slow at climbing compared to people ten to twenty years younger than me, with bikes 2-4 kg lighter than mine, and with several extra thousand kilometres in their legs per year.

On Friday I cycled in to Geneva to drop off my bike for a quick check after I noticed that when I shifted gears in one direction it seemed to block. I could have hung around for three or four hours waiting for the bike to be ready but chose to leave it overnight, to be picked up at the same time as the group ride.

Walking with cycling clothes is not comfortable, especially over two kilometres. That’s why I exceptionally chose to take the bus. I arrived early, thinking that it was at 5 past, and 33 past. I then saw that the 5 past bus is only on week days, not weekends. As a result I had to wait fourty minutes for the bus.

When I ride with some groups I have to ride hard. I have to keep the wheel and stay with the group because if I get dropped then I need to work hard to get back onto their wheels. In contrast when I ride with other groups, as a result of having to ride hard sometimes, I end up faster.

Too Fast

Today at least one person objected to me being faster, and thought that I should be riding with another group. I would argue that to always ride hard means that you never rest. You’re pushed to be at your peak. This means that you can’t rest while riding.

In the last two days I have had dangerous situations in Geneva and Nyon when pedestrians, or cars, have failed to pay attention to the fact that they were crossing a cycling lane where cyclists have priority. The result is that in two cases I had to take emergency evasive action to avoid a collision.

For a long time I always unclipped when I thought people might cut me off. Recently I haven’t. The result is that in Geneva, when girls cut me off while I was on a cycle lane with a green light I couldn’t stop, but I didn’t want to hit them. I emergency braked, passed behind them and continued on my way.

Yesterday as I cycled from Nyon to Geneva I felt my mouth become dry so I drank, felt it get dry again, and drank again. The wind that is usually cooling, or cold was warm. I was having a hair dryer ride. This is a term I use when the air is so warm that it offers no cooling effect.

We Ride at Dawn

One solution to avoid such a ride is simply to ride at sunrise like I did with Tête de Course. You wake up before sunrise and head towards the meeting point as the sky starts to gain some colour. The ride itself takes place at dawn, so you’re in 20°c rather than 34°c. It’s 10°c cooler than my bedroom so I wore layers to stay warm. If you don’t like the heat then this is an excellent way of getting a bike ride in before it gets too hot. It’s also a way of getting a bike ride before work.

This weekend I know of two challenging rides that I could do. The first is a 140km ride with 2000m of climbing, eventually getting to the top of the Salève. The second is a 153km walk with 2500m of climbing to the Col Du Grand St Bernard.

Col Du Grand St Bernard

With the ride to the Col Du Grand St Bernard I suspect that I would be okay with riding from Nyon to Martigny. It’s when the climbing starts that I have doubts. It’s a one thousand meter leap. My biggest climb in a day of cycling was 1600m in total. With 2500m of climbing this is 900m than I have done before. I am not comfortable with making such a big leap, especially after one of the longest distances I have ever cycled.

Pre-broken arm and pre-pandemic I was deeply passionate about via ferrata and I went up every single weekend in summer. Since my broken arm, and since the pandemic I have lost almost all desire to do via ferrata. It’s a sport that I loved because I loved finding new places. The issue, and this is something I said before I broke my arm, is that I have done almost all local via ferrata several times each.