Bike rides have been cancelled because of rain, rather than wind or other factors. When it rains cyclists don’t want to ride because it gets their bike dirty and they have to clean it, lubricate it and more. With hikers rain is also an excuse to be lazy, within some groups. With other groups rain is just rain and the walks and hikes go ahead. Yesterday morning we had stormy weather.

When I hear that new cycling lanes will be created on a new segment of road I feel excitement, at the prospect of cycling being a pleasant, streamlined experience. Often though, in Switzerland, especially in the French speaking part they will spend months digging up a road, and then putting the road back down, and painting lines and saying “There, we have cycling infrastructure. They don’t widen the road, and they add the bare minimum.

There was a time, for decades, if not centuries, when a watch provided us with the time. We would wear it in a pocket, attached to a chain, we would stare up at a clock tower and we would see the time. We might even hear church bells to indicate every quarter, half and full hour. In the last decade we have gone from wearing watches to tell time, to watches that quantify us.

With Autumn comes a change in weather. The days get shorter and the temperatures drop. Clouds come more often, and stick around. The result is that events that are scheduled are cancelled. Today the weather was good, but the event is scheduled for tomorrow. In a situation such as this I would consider moving the event forward by one day, to take advantage of the good weather. It is a shame to stick to a day, when a shift is possible.

There is a subconscious desire for a lot of cyclists, especially on group rides, to speed up and challenge each other. There is the urge to go as fast as possible on every ride, to leave people in the dust. There is the urge to light up Strava with personal records. For weeks, or even months, I had the desire to go in the opposite direction, to slow down and be more inclusive of people who ride less.

When it is overcast colours are washed out and harder to distinguish. For several days clouds have covered the sun so it has been darker, and with this darkness so the Autumnal colours have been harder to distinguish. This morning, during the morning ride we started in the grey light of an overcast day. As the ride progressed so the sun came out, and with the sun coming out, so did Autumn colours, and that’s why, when we were riding through the vineyards I was tempted to take more photos.

Last night, as I finished dinner I noticed that others were out so I joined them within twenty minutes or so. That wasn’t fast enough. They had decided to call it a night. As this impacted my mental health I decided to go for a run. Often you see people are out, and you know they might call it a night by the time you get there. I had that thought.

During the pandemic I deactivated my FB account for years because it felt so toxic as an environment. I reactivated it when Musk bought Twitter. At the time it felt like a “least worst” option, rather than a pleasant site. In the process I used FB extensively, and I found communities but I also found a lot of noise. Political Bias Recently I have noticed that when a post is written about something positive, there are a lot of angry smileys, and if something negative is written there are a lot of positive smileys.

This morning I woke at 0530 and thought “I can’t be bothered to go for a ride so early.” Within a few minutes I was up getting ready. I put on my Autumnal cyclist stuff and pumped the tyres to 80 bar. I then road to the meeting point. I arrived 15 minutes early and was surprised not to see anyone appear until 5 minutes before. I had considered going for a solo ride as a result.

The first bicycle ride, when it got cooler, felt unpleasant. My hands felt cold, the areas around zips felt cold, my legs felt cold, and then, over a few rides I got used to the temperature. When you cycle in the pre-dawn dark the temperature is cool. You can feel it biting through your long cycling shorts, and through the first three layers, and especially through the zip. Add a think windcutter, and you’re warm.