As long as two years ago I stopped paying for YouTube Premium because I was disgusted by the crap that it was recommending to me. Within the last week the United Kingdom has requested that websites age verify their users in order to allow them to use a site.

At first this was for porn sites but now this has expanded to all sites. This is a good thing, although it is unenforceable. Parents, and teachers are better stewards of ensuring that children and teenagers do not watch the crap that YouTubers generate.

Cyclists like to be lean and clean when they ride. They don’t like to ride with bags. They prefer to keep spares in the rear pockets of jerseys rather than carry a bag. As a hiker I don’t mind carrying a bag but I decided to try minimalism.

Top Tube Bag and Backpack

When going for solo rides I was often happy to carry a backpack and use a bag under the top tube. They’re simple, convenient and comfortable. They allow me to have a rain coat, spare inner tubes, a pump and more. It also allowed me to have the passport safe from rain when crossing between France and Switzerland.

Today I tried route 473 which goes from the Morges Train Station towards Montricher and across, before heading back down to the lake side. This is a 57 or so kilometre loop along roads that were quite quiet. I don’t know whether that was because of the rain forecast or because people are on holiday.

The route from Morges up and out of Morges goes along a short voie verte where there are parts that are not tarmacced so be ready for that. On a road bike these bits are rough and potentially dangerous. I think these sections are better on gravel bikes.

For the first time in weeks I have no social plans this weekend due to two factors. The first is weather. It’s meant to rain both days so I’d rather not plan to do something that needs to be cancelled due to bad weather. The second reason is due to the selfish habits of nocturnal people.

If I woke up at 6am and I clattered in my cleats for four or five hours people would be furious. If however, a music festival makes noise from 1800 to 3am from Tuesday to Sunday, that’s fine according to normal people. That’s the paradox of this day and age. If outdoor sporty people make noise, or block people from doing what they want for a few hours, this is a scandal.

When I decided to flee the noise pollution of Paléo to stay somewhere different for a few days I was filled wiith cycling projects, but because of the weather forecast I mothballed them. They announced that it could rain all day, every day, for almost the entire week.

Weather

They announce that it will rain ’tomorrow’ except that tomorrow is either sunny or overcast but the rain fails to materialise. Today it did show up as a serious downpour for a few minutes and then it stopped. I would have been soaked, but with clothes that dry quickly it would be uncomfortable for a short time.

Yesterday I didn’t dress for cycling. My plan was to see if I could get the power meter to work and then go for a short ride. In the end I found that as one device failed to detect them I would try a second. The second worked after a few seconds. I calibrated the pedal, and then I went for a short ride.

The short ride I speak of became a longer ride. At first it was a small loop, and then I headed downhill before heading towards the road where I had seen two women walking with donkeys a week or so ago. I turned left, and then I road along the contours towards a Moulin before eventually heading upwards. I headed towards L’Isle before changing my mind about heading up towards the Col. II turned left, and then followed a cycling route towards Montricher before heading back down.

Years ago we could choose between watching SRF, TSR, France Télévision, RSI and other channels. We had just five channels to choose from but we had them available for free. Today those channels are still available but because we live in modern buildings with no external TV aerials we are stuck relying on Swisscom, Sunrise, Orange, and other telecom providers.

You might think “But with a TV box we get access to all these channels, and we do, but we’re made to pay for content that should be available for free. RTS is available for free in Switzerland, but France télévision and other channels are not. Most of the time I don’t mind. It’s during the Tour De France that I want access to France 3 and France 2 because these are the channels I like to watch the Tour De France on.

Yesterday I was playing with Strava Flyoveers and I tried to share the videos of flyovers but rather than sharing the video as I had wanted to do it shared a hyperlink to the activities that were already shared. I then tried to share via Instagram but the result was a pixelated mess with a line.

What is a Flyover?

A video flyover is a 3d video of the ride, hike or other sport that you have just completed in the same style as you see ahead of Tour De France Stages and others. It allows you to see the speed, altitude and landscape as a rider or hiker may see the view. Here is an example of a LeCercle Ride I participated in.

For the TLDR Crowd. Yesterday after multiple tries to pair my phone with my watch I hard reset the phone and tried again. When it asked me to login to iCloud I did, and then I was able to pair the phone with the watch.

For the patient crowd, for several days I was unable to pair my Apple Watch SE with my iPhone SE 2nd gen. I tried rebooting and resetting the watch and I had no luck. I tried rebooting the phone and still no luck.

Yesterday we were cycling up towards Marchissy when a combine harvester began to follow us quite close. The experience of being followed, while cycling is quite something. These machines are large, with big tyres, and the driver is centred rather than to the left as with other vehicles. Luckily the gradient of the climb was not too steep.

After riding in two groups in a single day I expected yesterday evening to be relaxed. I had set my heart on riding with group three, as it’s a relaxed group, before seeing someone I knew who wanted to join group 2. As I had the course I offered to help with guidance.