When in Geneva we can easily walk by the lake, or through the city when we’re not looking after children but when we are walking might be more of a challenge. I am not looking after children in Geneva but as you might there is an opportunity here.
Several exercise machines for grown -ps
You have a choice of machines to play with. You have a rowing machine that uses body weight. You have turntables to work your core, you have a swingy leg thing for leg muscles, an elliptical machine for cardio and another rowing machine that also works your core and arms. I tried the rowing machine and the turntable. The turntable is good. It allows you to go at the speed that’s comfortable for you so that you work your body correctly.
The turntable has a choice of three heights so you can either choose the one that’s at the right height for you or you can use all three heights and work a variety of muscles within that group.
These rowing machines are okay. They’re better when you do small movements rather than the entire range of motion it offers. I found that if you go beyond a certain point it leaps.
The elliptical machine needs to be maintained because I found that it’s not as smooth as it should be so it may strain your body without giving you a proper workout.
Such machines are good because they can be used throughout the year and at any time of day or night as they’re far enough not to disturb people living nearby. It’s convenient because it’s near a children’s playground so while children play on their swings you can enjoy yourself too.
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.
The Marine Iguanas at Nyon Plage
I went by the lake and I think other people were heat struck. They were lethargic and inattentive 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.
Relaxing at the Broken Chair
Place des Nations with the Broken Chair and Palace of Nations
As part of the bike ride I went towards Geneva. Initially I wanted a short bike ride because I wasn’t keen to cycle. I eventually chose to ride to the broken chair. I stopped, but this time didn’t take a shower in the fountains, like last time. Instead I relaxed, and watched tourists taking self-portraits and group photos. I watched a parent get surprised by a jet of water as it increased in intensity and wet his shoes.
For some reason I felt relaxed, so I just stood, and watched. I wasn’t in a rush to continue. I wasn’t so warm that I wanted a shower. I was comfortable.
I then cycled towards the ICRC before going by the ILO, WHO, UNICED and other organisations. I then cycled by the airport where I stopped again. I watched a Qatar airways flight take off for Doha and a flight from the Aeggean come in to land, before an Air Algérie and British Airways aircraft landed. I was reminded of how much I love the sound of aviation. If I had the sound of aviation rather than music festivals I would be very happy. The sound of planes still excites me to this day.
Watching planes take off and land
Very Quiet Ride through Versoix and Beyond
What struck me once I felt Geneva behind was how quiet the roads were. I hardly crossed any walkers, any cyclists, any families with children. I hardly even crossed dog walkers. When I realised this I thought “This is a fantastic time of year to cycle. It’s so nice to have the landscape to myself. Not to worry about dogs, not to be frustrated by normal people, being normal. I think that I would quite happily emigrate to somewhere less densely populated, especially now, during a pandemic with no end date.
An old tree among young trees
The Cycling Paradox
For me, cycling has a paradox. The paradox is that for as long as you are cycling at 20 km/h or faster you have a nice breeze to keep you cool. The moment you stop, you feel a wall of heat envelope you. I felt cool, and comfortable but I drank three water bottles of water. I drank one on the way to Geneva, then refilled one at the water fountain near the Parc Ariana, before heading to the ICRC. I then drank two more water bottles of water before I got home.
I was warm, and I was thirsty, but I was always comfortable. I was right to have two bottles of water with me, and I was even more rational, by re-filling my primary water bottle when I had the chance. I probably would have suffered if I had not.
The Mistake of Others
Other people make the mistake of sitting in the sun, by the lake, getting dehydrated and cooked by the sun, like Marine iguanas. I appear crazy, for walking and cycling in the heat but I’m not the one drinking alcohol and exposing me to the full strength of the sun. I don’t need to get into a metal box, either a car, or a bus, at the end of my activity. I just take the lift, with my bike, and get back to my apartment. It usually feels cool, compared to being in direct sunlight.
My skin felt cool, when I got home, evidence that I was not suffering from the heat, unlike other people.
At Ease On The Bike
Activities: 33
Distance: 1,014.9 km
Elev Gain: 7,433 m
Time: 44h 27m
I have spent fourty four and a half hours on the bike, covering a thousand kilometres in that time. If I feel more comfortable, that’s why. Cycling is a good sport when the conditions are good. It’s also a way of being active, without the use of the car. As convenient as cars are, I think they’re horrible to deal with. Society would gain a lot by reducing its reliance on cars. I think cargo bikes and electric bikes are a better alternative.
And Finally
For the next week I don’t think I will cycle. I have already been crashed into by a car driver whilst riding my scooter during one music festival. I don’t want to be run over by a Paléo person during this festival week. I will also be sleep deprived due to being unable to sleep as a result of noise pollution, as the sound engineers they hire at music festivals are not the brightest of the profession. If they were bright music festivals would be seen, not heard.
I have had the Xiaomi Band 7 for a while but I didn’t wear it properly until the start of the new year. As a silly concept I thought that I would try to wear it for the entire year and so far I have kept to that resolution. Sometimes it’s worth trying the cheapest device that you can find to see how it differs from the flagships by Suunto, Garmin and Apple.
PAI
The first thing that I enjoy is that it has the PAI indicator. The Personal Activity Index. The idea is that you should reach 100 points per week. If you go for a run you can get 45 points within an hour or so. If you walk for one and a half hours you may get 18 points or more. It’s just to indicate whether you have exercised enough, without putting pressure on high energy sports like cycling, running and others.
Training Load
It also gives you an indication of training load. The four categories are low, optimal, high, and very high. Despite just walking for the last seven days the indicator is at a high value for me, with a training load of 193 over the last seven days.
Sleep Tracking
Recently I have found sleep trackers less reliable than I used to. The main reason is that I let various watches and fitness trackers guess when I am sleeping, rather than telling me. If I get up in the night then it discards the first stage of sleep and just tracks from the moment I went back to sleep. I used to track sleep nightly, but with time I lost interest. When you have tracked at least a thousand nights the results are less captivating. I also started to worry about how quickly it was affecting mobile phone battery longevity.
Seven Day Battery
Whilst on the topic of longevity, one of the key advantages of the Activity Band 7 is that the battery lasts for seven days or more, between charges. You place it on your wrist and forget it for seven days. Apple Watches prove to be especially frustrating because you have to charge them every 18 hours and the charge time can be from two and a half to three and a half hours long. It tends to need to charge just as I want to walk, rather than at a reasonable time. With the Band 7 this isn’t an issue.
And Finally
I like the simplicity of the device. Tracking walks, runs and more is easy. It uses the phone for GPS tracking so this enables the device itself just to count steps and measure heart rate. Some people might want more but if you always walk, run, and more, with your phone, then this is a great device. It’s light and small on the wrist. It has a wealth of displays to chose from. I chose a mountain landscape, with the digital time. For 40-50 CHF this could be a good device for children and non geeks, as long as the parents and teachers tolerate children listening whilst fiddling, rather than fighting to stay awake in class.
Climbing in Saint George is interesting for those living or working between Nyon and Morges. It provides routes from 4c to 7a and above and should cover most skill levels. Access time is a few seconds. You park your car near the lumber yard and a few seconds later you’re at the climbing wall. The image below is to show how short the walk is. It is also there to facilitate your finding the place should you want to climb here. I mention this because Sunday someone said that she liked to go to various climbing walls but that she often found it a challenge to spot the correct location.
The site that you see in this image varies from 4c to 6a+. The gradient is slightly positive so you are more likely to slip than slide. Most of the routes start easily but getting to the end is the challenge. Some of the finger holds are tiny and it’s better to use new shoes. I’m using old worn out climbing shoes so my traction is not optimal so I climb using my heels when possible.
To the right of the image above you have a small path that leads to a nice rock surface that is overhanging. Under this overhanging rock you find traces of barbecues, mattresses and a few quick draws. The climbing here is technical. It starts from 7a onwards so is more interesting for those climbers with the finger strength and endurance to attempt sustained overhanging climbs.
[caption id="attachment_3311" align="aligncenter" width="576"] Saint George Overhang climbing[/caption]
This is a nice location and if you walk further along, to behind the location from which I took this picture there is a cavern. This site looks interesting and yesterday there was an interesting sound. In a nearby valley or clearing Swiss military were practicing with .50 calibre guns. I called it artillery but a former British Marine classified the type of gun.
You need to sign up to participate and an e-mail is enough. They want your name and address, to know whether you have your own equipment or whether you need to rent and whether you have already tried via ferrata before. Now that I signed up I am looking forward to the new sensation.
This is a via ferrata I have done when it was cloudy, when it was about to rain, with maintenance crew and with friends. I know it well. I look forward to experiencing it in yet another way.
The right side of the Transmission Chain is at the event itself. Transmission chain is a term used to describe the route that a signal takes from an event venue to the device on which you are watching an event. As a camera operator the right side of the transmission chain for me is at the event itself.
Belaying
For the IFSC World Cup in Villars this year I was both a camera operator and a belayer. Belaying at a world cup event is an interesting experience because it’s rare to clip and unclip from so many climbers in such a short amount of time. Climbers have a limited time to get up the route. They have six minutes. This means that every 12 minutes or so you’re belaying a new climber as they progress up the wall. It’s a great task for introverts. You observe what the person is doing. When they need rope you’re ready to give it. If they’re struggling you make sure to amortise their fall. When they make it to the top or come back down you help them untie the rope and then you start again.
Camera operating
Aside from this task I was camera operator during the semi-final and final of the climbing competition. This means that whilst most people were standing in the crowd watching the competition I was on a podium in the middle of the crowd filming the climbers as they progress up the wall.
From here you see the crowd and you see the climbers from a privileged point of view. You can see the climbers and what they are doing comfortably. You’re also more attentive. You’re following their every move, watching as they clip and progress. You see them progress and you hear the commentator and hear the crowd cheering.
When you’re on the “wrong” side of the transmission you’re hearing the international sound and you’re seeing what the vision mixer is seeing but you’re not seeing the event in context. The image below illustrates this.
In television broadcasting you usually have the cameras, an OB van and an SNG truck or fibre connections. These go from the venue to the Network Operating centre. The signal is encoded either for web streaming and sent to the content distribution network or it is sent on to national broadcasters. On that side of the transmission chain you are in an air conditioned office as a passive observer ready to react if there is an issue and waiting for the event to end.
The Leukerbad via ferrata is beautiful and challenging and should be attempted once you have more experience of via ferrata. In particular experience both of the spikes and of rock climbing are recommended. There is a telecabine to the top which will cost you 15 CHF rather than 32 with the demi tariff.
From the top there is a 20 minute walk to the base of the via ferrata. From there the climb is a nice one. You are accompanied by the sound of an alpen horn being played in the valley below. You climb quite a few ladders, you pass by a wooden Swiss flag painted on planks of wood which have been bolted to the rock. As you climb further you find your hand and foot holds planted straight on to the rock. The cable is there and you could pull yourself up on it but this is less elegant.
You pass by a few waterfalls and streams running down from where the snow is melting in a cavern. The cavern starts with a vertical crack in the rock for a little time. From there the climb goes from being horizontal to vertical. There are two options. The easy and the hard option. Both meet a few meters above. The easy option has a ladder whilst the hard option has rungs. These are ever so slightly overhanging. You also cross two wooden bridges. When both paths meet again you climb and exit the cave. You have a nice view over the valley once more and the climb goes vertical again. If you have done the Belvedère via ferrata at St Hilaire du Touvet in France then you will experience a familiar feeling but at a greater altitude.
Once to the top of this “chimney” there are two options once again. You can walk up along the scree path or go through a cave. I skipped the cave and chose the easier route at this point whilst those I was with chose the other. From what they told me there is a path with an aerial view. At this point you are getting to the end of the via ferrata with another traverse and the final ladder. The final ladder brings you to the summit.
The ladder brings you to an impressive view of a snow field and glacier in the distance. From here there is a 40 minute walk back down to the telecabine and back to normal life.
This is a beautiful via ferrata but go with experienced friends, get some experience of via ferrata with direct contact with the rock. If you’re going for speed take two or three bottles of water and make sure to travel as light as possible. If you are going for a less rushed approach still travel light but have a torch in case for the walk back down to the valley in case you miss the last telecabine.
I trained well but was carrying too much weight so the via ferrata tired me out. As a consequence my right calf muscle felt as if someone had taken a bite out of it.
Good luck as you attempt this most challenging of swiss Via ferrata.
Here are a few image so you can get a sense of scale.
[flickr-gallery mode=”photoset” photoset=”72157627798230296″]
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