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.
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 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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
I like the idea of a device as convenient as the Beeline Velo 2. I like the idea of a simple, easy to attach navigation device that can last for several hours and provide navigation. I currently use the Garmin Edge Explore but in my experience it can be unreliable.
With the Garmin Edge Explore I have had the battery die too fast, the device freeze and crash, or the device upgrade during a ride.