Cycling

According to streetlight data walking in the US has declined over the past three or four years. The decline was by up to thirty six percent from 2019-2022. The clearest reason for this is that 2019 and 2020 were walking honeymoon periods. By this I mean that for the duration of lock down and “work from home” people had more time to walk since they spent less time commuting, but also because the natural habit of getting into a car to do something had declined., thanks to the pandemic.

Although the ride from L’Isle to Romainmôtier feels easy because I’m cycling slower than my maximum it is still tiring, as is illustrated by two points. The first is that the trip burns 800 kilocalories according to the Apple Watch, which is significant, but also because by the end of the ride I feel tired.

Pace Setting

When I cycle by myself I ride to my maximum, and eventually by the end of the ride I hit the wall, and then I make an effort to make it home. When riding with people on electric bikes, the theoretical limit is 25 kilometres per hour but the practical speed, at the moment is 14 kilometres per hour, including the stop for coffee and more.

Yesterday I was planning to walk from Nyon to La Barillette but rather than take the usual route that takes me via a set of cabins where there is sometimes a dog I wanted to try an alternate route. In the end I used the Switzerland Mobility app and website because I can trust that the paths they suggest actually exist.

Garmin Explore

At first I was experimenting with the Garmin Explore App and although it does provide us with the opportunity to draw routes it creates a track but we don’t have information about whether it’s on a road, or other surfaces, and we’re not sure that the data is correct.

Yesterday I cycled around 41 kilometres from L’Isle to Romainmôtier and then down to La Sarraz, to see the castle, and then to cycle back towards L’Isle and Haute-Morges.

For the part from L’Isle to Romainmôtier you are on quiet roads for the most part, but then as you go from Romainmôtier to La Sarraz you need to take busy roads with dangerous cars driving fast and close. I didn’t feel the need to criticse any of the drivers, but it doesn’t as safe on that bit of road, due to the quantity of traffic.

We are in a heatwave and despite this I have cycled for four and a half hours and walked for three hours and fourty minutes. For the bike rides I woke at 6am to avoid rush hour traffic, and to do things before the temperatures rose. Yesterday the temperature in Geneva reached 39°c. Just a few decimal places away from 40°c heat.

Despite the weak I still went for my afternoon walks, but it’s also because of the heat that I walked with 1.6 litres or more. During hot days I find that I can act normally, but I still try to keep myself hydrated. If I feel that I am overheating I pour water on my hat/helmet to cool down.

Yesterday I spent time in the sun in the morning, as a result of which I thought I would avoid going out in the heatwave. I changed my mind. Every Sunday a group of pétanque playing alcoholics play pétanque for several hours. They cheer, they laugh, they make noise, for hours in a row. I don’t want to hear that sound, especially since the pandemic is not over. People are still falling sick with Long COVID and they’re being disabled. It doesn’t take long to read posts on social media by people suffering from Long COVID.

I considered getting an electric bike a few years ago. I didn’t for a single reason. When I spoke to a bike seller I asked whether bikes get stolen and I was laughed at for asking the question. I didn’t get an electric bike the next day. If we’re going to spend thousands of francs on an electric bike, to replace a car, or scooter, we don’t want to live in fear of it being stolen.

Within the last month I considered updating my cycling shoes, until I saw the price of cycling shoes, even in Decathlon. I saw how expensive they are so I lost interest in them. Barefoot shoes are great because they’re light and easy to transport. The problem that I find with ‘barefoot’ shoes is that I stride, rather than walk. When you stride your heel always smashes into the ground, and with barefoot shoes this can result in heel pain, if, and when, we’re not careful. That’s why cycling with Barefoot shoes is an interesting idea.

Cycling in Switzerland requires the ability to go up and down hills. Some of the climbs are long and steep, others are short and steep, and yet more are shallow but long climbs. That’s where bike gears come into their own. The more gears you have the more precisely you can control the amount of effort you’re making. With a mountain bike the gears are designed to help with climbing. With road bikes they can be set to make hill climbs easier or harder.

Yesterday I went for a bike ride. By my norms it was a relatively cool day, just 27 or so degrees, compared to the 30-37°c I have ridden in, in the past. I was comfortable on the bike, with a cool breeze to cool me down.

I went by the lake and I think other people were heatstruck. They were lethargic and innatentive getting off buses. They were all by the lake side, sunbathing like marine iguanas. As I road by the lake it was sometimes frustrating to see that the bike lane was used by pedestrians, with no thought to cyclists. The same pedestrians who had driven to the lake side in a car.