Yesterday I felt strong cycling with the group, up from Nyon to Saint Cergue and on to the Col De La Givrine before heading towards La Cure. Part of the reason for feeling strong is that I have climbed the Jura multiple times this summer, so climbing up has become less strenuous. I am now habituated to heading up the Jura for the first climb of the day.
It’s on the second climb that I start to show fatigue.
When I was scuba diving every weekend I would often feel tired in the afternoon, after I got home. It’s due to the huge change in pressure, from 40m down in the lake to 300+m above sea level around the Léman. Yesterday I went for a ride, and today I went for a ride again. I feel fatigue. I feel tired and in need of time to recover.
I believe that it’s due to the Autumn conditions.
When I left home this morning the sun had not risen yet so my legs, and other parts were cold. I could feel that more layers might have been welcome. That’s because cycling in Autumn is about moving from a hot apartment to a cold dawn air temperature, before meeting with a group and cycling up a mountain, getting hot, and then heading back down into valleys hidden from the sun.
For years I have hated the shift from Summer weather to Autumn because as the days get shorter, and the weather gets colder, so summer sports come to an end. As summer sports come to an end, so the seasons of solitude begin. Autumn and Winter are lonely. The paradox is that I felt this way even when I was scuba diving every Sunday, and climbing every Thursday.
Tomorrow I could go for a run with one group in Nyon or a bike ride with two groups.
Yesterday I walked from a “village” to a town. In the process I saw very few people out and about. I don’t know whether they stayed in because of the weather, or if they fled because of the three day weekend. Today is a cantonal holiday so shops in Vaud are closed. This could explain why it was quieter yesterday.
It was funny to walk in the rain, equipped for it.
This morning I toyed with the idea of wearing a proper winter cycling top. Instead I settled for a thermal layer, the usual top, sleeves, and a wind blocker. These weren’t enough for me to feel warm.
10°c The temperature has dropped. it was 10°c this morning and I was cold when I set off and I seriously considered turning back for another layer but thought that if I did, then when it gets really cold, I won’t have anything warmer to wear on bike rides.
This morning I set the alarm to wake me at five but I didn’t get up. I felt tired and decided I need sleep more than a bike ride. I don’t know whether I am affected by the seasonal change, or whether I am still tired from this weekend. Waking at 4am wasn’t that hard on Friday, but after cycling hard on Saturday, and hard on Sunday I need time to recover.
This Autumn is different because I have worn running, shoes, normal shoes, and Trail Glove 7 in the rain. I was very happy with the Trail Glove 7 during the entirety of the heat wave. I had no issues with them but now that we’re moving into winter I feel the need for shoes with greater ground clearance for when I walk through puddles, or streams of water running down roads while the rain falls.
Yesterday I went for a walk wearing what I have been wearing since April or May. To be fair I had an extra layer. I felt cold. I chose to walk a shorter circuit than usual. I walked just five kilometres rather than my normal eight, or more. I felt okay when my back was to the wind, or when I was sheltered by trees or hills, but not when I was facing into the wind.
Autumn, not winter, is coming. A week or two ago I noticed that a tree was changing from Green to red, as the leaves began to turn from Spring and Summer mode to Autumn and Winter mode. I noticed that the trees as you enter and leave Cheserex are also beginning to turn read.
Changing Trees As if that wasn’t enough the leaves are also turning on the Jura. It is turning from green to orange, and red, and one or two other colours I didn’t pay attention to.