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.
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.
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.
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.