I would like swimming if I could go to a quiet pool on a day with a comfortable temperature. I like being in the water but I don’t like being in cold water, despite diving in Swiss lakes every weekend for around two years. I used a dry suit so once out of the water I was comfortable within minutes.
Not a Runner I am okay with running a 5k, and even a 10k, although not regularly.
This morning I woke naturally at 05:30 before getting up and ready. By 07:00 I was on the road cycling towards Geneva and I arrived 20 minutes early. By my standards that is quite close to the expected time.
Familiar Climb I chose this ride for a simple reason. It was a climb to La Baudichonne. This is a hard, sustained bike ride. The course that we took involved 1300m of climbing.
On Wednesday morning I rode my bike into Geneva to drop it off for a service. In the evening I went for a group ride that was heading in the direction I wanted, before leaving the group and riding for home. I didn’t ride much on Wednesday, but I was tired. I believe that walking in cycling clothes, to catch a train, twice, does tire us more than walking in normal clothes.
When you ride alone you face the headwinds, and have to fight them. When you want to speed up you get to a certain speed, and if you want to ride faster you need to fight the wind. On a windy day you might feel sluggish and slow. You might then see a group ride overtake you with ease and think “I wish I was as fast as they are”, or even “I wish I was in that group”.
Have you ever considered the difference in cost between cycling and driving a petrol car? Of course you have, and so have I. Yesterday I was reminded of how expensive cars are. I think that the last time I used the petrol car was to change to summer tyres. It has been dormant since then. Yesterday I refulled for about 50 CHF I think. I also used the self-checkout in the shop, rather than going to the human being.
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 went for an evening bike ride in Geneva and I chose to take the train home, rather than cycle. In the process I saw that trains are not that convenient later at night. The reason for this is that they’re smaller, so the space for bikes is restricted.
A person boarded before me so he was able to put his bike down and go and sit. I was after him so I was stuck standing with my bike.
For seasons, or even years I saw the Strava Elevation Challenge and I thought “I won’t even try this challenge, because I will fail”. This month I tried it, and I succeeded. Not only did I succeed to climb the 7000m suggested by the challenge but I got to 10,415m. I overshot by 4000m so far and I have a ride planned for this afternoon.
The ride I went on yesterday was 89 kilometres with over 700m of climbing.
It is natural to form an emotional bond with the phones that we carry with us 23 and a half hours a day for two to four years, that come with us to festivals, to the cinema, to work, on hikes, on bike rides and more. It is normal to feel nostalgia for a device that allowed us to photograph babies that turn into toddlers, that become children. It is normal to feel nostalgia for a device that is an integral part of our live 24/7 for years.
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.