Travel time from Nyon train station, by foot.
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Cycling from Nyon To Geneva and Back

Byrichard
Reading Time: 2 minutes

Catching the train to Geneva and back to Nyon costs about 14CHF per day, depending on whether you have paid 180 CHF for the half fare or not. In contrast two Continent GP 5000 tires cost about 110CHF and you can go to Geneva and back a few hundred times. 

Place Des Nations with the broken chair, and the fountains
Place Des Nations with the broken chair, and the fountains

The loop from Nyon to Geneva is about 20-30 kilometres. This is a very easy distance to cycle once you get to the right level of fitness. I have cycled to Geneva and back multiple times recently because I want to habituate myself to the journey but also because I want to prove to myself that I don’t need trains and other forms of public transport. 

I often caught the train to Geneva and back when I was working for three or more employers. I got used to the journey but eventually I learned that the journey took about two and a half hours a day. Around an hour one way, and one and a half hours the other. Cycling to Geneva takes 40-50 minutes but at least I’m working out while I’m commuting. If I catch the train then my workout is a 20 minute walk, and then I wait for a train, fiddle with the phone, and then feel frustrated that Swiss commuters walk so slowly. 

In the reverse direction I hated waiting 15-20 minutes for a train to take me to where I wanted to go. That’s where the bike comes in. 

If I have somewhere safe to store the bike, and if I can shower and change clothes, then commuting by bike would become a pleasure, rather than a chore. Cycling is enjoyable. Commuting by train, and by car is a chore. 

We need more people to see cycling as an option, rather than buses and trains. Buses and trains are as much of a problem as cars, because they encourage people to be lazy. The other flaw of buses and trains is that they are inflexible. 

If I was unlucky commuting home then I would miss the bus, have to wait an hour, and the bus journey would take 50 minutes. I’d waste two hours, for a one hour walk. It was as fast to walk, as to take a bus. That’s why I hate buses. Between the time you wait, and the time the bus takes it is very often just as fast to walk, especially for small hops. 

We need cycling to become a serious and viable option. Cars, buses and trains are keeping us prisoner. If we move around by bike then we gain our freedom. Bikes are fast, have minimal carbon footprint, and open up the world. 

Similar Posts

Replacing the scooter with an electric bike

Byrichard

I have been thinking of replacing the scooter with an electric bike for a while now. I am discouraged by the cost of electric bikes. Electric bikes range in price from one thousand to four thousand francs or more and their range is from fourty to one hundred and eighty kilometres. They are also limited to 25 kilometres per hour if you want to preserve the right to use cycling paths in Switzerland. 


I tried an electric bike in a shop a few days ago to see what the sensation was like. After just a quarter turn of the pedal, the bike propels you forward and there is little need to make much effort. It felt as though pedalling was for show rather than necessary. I have read that electric bikes have different modes and different behaviours depending on the gradient you cycle along. 


If I got one my goal would be to use it to go to the shops or to go hiking. I would take the bike on the train to the closest train stop to the activity and then I would use the bike for the distance that usually requires a bus or other form of transport to get to. I want it to assist me when going up steep gradients with hiking or climbing gear. 


Over the summer my average speed on a road bike has increased to the point where I can cycle at an average of 21+ kilometres per hour over a period of hours. This means that an electric bike is no longer as interesting. 


A few years ago I was using a mountain bike with mountain bike tires for road cycling and after a while I swapped the tires for road tires and I felt a big difference. I felt an even bigger difference when I swapped from the mountain bike to a road bike. 


With the cost of electric bikes and road bikes being around the same the question is whether it wouldn’t be equivalent simply to spend two to three thousand francs on a high end bike instead. You’d be faster than e-bike riders because you’re fit, rather than because you bought a heavy bike with heavy batteries and a heavy motor. I saw that just the motor can weigh three to four kilos without the addition of the battery. 


If I bought an e-bike I would get it as a scooter and public transport replacement. I would use it to commute between home and work. It’s more stable than a scooter and I believe safer, because when the rear wheel spins out on a bike it’s easier to keep upright than a scooter. 


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F8tV8cWeY3Y


When starting off, eBikers should do without motor support, e.g. in turbo mode in the case of the Bosch drive system, otherwise the tires will simply spin and slide instead of gripping. 


In an article from two years ago Bosch recommend not riding in snow due to the risk of the rear tire spinning out. The same is true of scooters except that a scooter weighs much more and is much harder to stabilise once it starts falling. 


I would like to see e-bikes with integrated indicators, brake lights and more. I would like to have the same experience as I have with the scooter. I want people to know my intentions without having to take my hands off of the handle bars. It’s curious that e-bikes are not equipped with these features. 


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Three Lanes Are Better Than Two

Byrichard

Three lanes are always better than two but environmentalists are against expanding from two lanes to three lanes because they say that having three lanes will promote the use of the car. I believe that this is a flawed argument.


https://youtu.be/8UpVDaugZW0


The A1 motorway between Geneva and Lausanne is often congested because when a slow vehicle wants to overtake a slower moving vehicle it blocks the motorway as can be seen in the video included within this post.


On a three-lane motorway you have the slow lane for slow vehicles, insecure drivers and stoned people with no rush to get anywhere. In the middle lane you have those who want to drive at the speed limit without having to slow down and accelerate all the time. In the left lane, you have all the cars that want to overtake everyone else.


In a system with three lanes, there are three options, and these three options usually ensure that all cars are going at the speed that they are restricted to, or feel comfortable with.


In a two-lane system, these three groups of drivers are stuck in two lanes, but in reality, you only have one lane, the fast lane. The problem with having just two lanes is that if you’re in the right lane you will need to move out and back in constantly as you are expected to do.


Frequently when you do this you find that you are constantly having to go from 100-120km/h burning a lot of fuel constantly accelerating and decelerating. The reason for this constant change of speed is that you’re constantly getting blocked by cars in the right lane either driving too fast or too close to each other. This is another behaviour you see in the two-minute clip.


This results in large stretches of the motorway being empty. As two slow vehicles overtake faster vehicles are unable to overtake and the density of traffic behind the slow vehicles increases. As soon as the slow vehicle has finished overtaking vehicles able to go at the speed limit accelerate and the accordion of traffic expands again.


In a three-lane system, the accordion has less chance to occur resulting in greater fuel economy as cars stick to a steady speed.


I filmed the motorway as a distraction during a walk, not expecting to get such a clear illustration of how easily congestion occurs on a two-lane motorway.

A Run And A Walk

A Run And A Walk

Byrichard

I am going for a run and a walk three times a week at the moment. The run is set by the Garmin Coach and the walk is set by the route I have chosen to use on that specific day. By running the first part of my daily walk I increase my fitness, according to Strava, Sports Tracker and one or two other apps.


At the same time by running, rather than walking these routes I am saving time. A walk that would usually take ten minutes per kilometre is cut down to seven, or less. The runs have gone from 1.6 km, to 2.4 to 3.2 and more. As the runs get longer so the distance I cover increases, and so the daily walk distance takes less time, as it is run instead. The aim is still to run 5km comfortably, not to increase the distance beyond 5k, for now.


Yesterday I found the run harder than on previous days. It might be due to running too soon after lunch, but also because I never take “rest” days. I will always walk from seven to ten kilometres a day, whatever the weather, whatever the mood. My body doesn’t get the opportunity to rest, that it might want. It could also be psychological.


Tomorrow the run jumps from being 2.4km to 3.22 kilometres long. After finding the last run harder I expect the same for the next one. If I wanted to make my life easier I could run by one of the lakes, either Divonne or Lac Léman. Both are relatively flat and both have the required distance to cover. One of the best features of that run would be that it is either downhill for the first two kilometres, to flat for the last part. One drawback is that I don’t like the last two kilometres for that loop. Too many couples and dog walkers… although I did find a track by the woods that I could use, rather than walk close to others.


And Finally


I struggled to find inspiration to write today, and I expect that I will struggle for the next week, to three weeks, as my routine is altered.

A July September Day

A July September Day

Byrichard

I saw a deer
I saw a deer


What do I mean by such an odd combination of words? That today it was warm. 25°c at the time when I set off for my bike ride. It was warm enough to feel comfortable in summer cycling equipment. What was more unusual, for this time of year, is how dry the landscape is. The fields are dry. The sides of the road are dry. Grass lawns look dry, where they have been cut too short. It was a good day to cycle.


I finished Learning Node.js and Learning NPM Manager. These are two courses that are now revision and consolidation, not new knowledge for me. I need them to get one of the learning pathways. I resumed JavaScript Essential Training. I took a break from the course because I wanted to revise some other knowledge before continuing with my progress. I am reviewing a few videos, to refresh and consolidate my understanding.


With cycling I use water bottles regularly and I find that they tend to get the smell of the drinks they contain and mouldy, no matter how careful you are. The mouth piece and the bottles themselves. I have experimented with some camelbak podium bottles today. If you look at modern sauce bottles you see that they require pressure for the seal to break and for sauce to come out. The same is true of these bottles. If you hold the bottle upside down it will not leak like other bottles. To make it leak you need to squeeze it. Alternatively suck and you’ll get water.


This isn’t a sip at a time though. This is like drinking from a tap, while you’re riding a bike. It feels luxurious. It feels efficient.


What is of real interest to me is the ability to dismantle and clean everything properly. With other water bottles I could not reach the top of the bottle, or within the mechanism from which to drink. This one can be dismantled, cleaned, and remantled.

Day Twenty-Three of ORCA in Switzerland – The Chernobyl Fire
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Day Twenty-Three of ORCA in Switzerland – The Chernobyl Fire

Byrichard

In normal times a forest fire in the Chernobyl exlusion zone would attract attention and environmentalists would actively speak about it. The world would pay attention. Due to the pandemic the news story is low on the agenda.


I mentioned that a coffee shop and a pet shop had reopened on Monday and this morning I read that markets would be allowed to take place. Instead of the usual 160 stands, there would be just 30. In articles When reading other articles I saw that there was a mention that in order to be more confident that the virus was slowing down there would have to be zero transmissions for 14 days or more. We are still far from that today.


A gradual decrease in the number of COVID-19 cases in Switzerland


I’d rather sacrifice for two or three weeks now and preserve summer, than be too hasty, and lose the advantage we seem to have at the moment.



Click the image to read that story from Radio lac. According to Dider Pittet, speaking on RTSInfo we would need two and a half million masks per day to protect people in Switzerland alone. On a global scale many more masks would be needed.


Phone Addiction


Of course during this period when people are stuck at home, unable to socialise in person they are meant to turn towards the phone and use messaging and social media apps to share news with friends and family. Some people use this as an opportunity to say that people are all the more addicted to their phones than before.


I find the opposite is true. Yesterday I forgot my phone at home when I went for a walk and I could easily have gone back upstairs to get it but I didn’t because A) I didn’t need it and B) my walk was going to be short.


I should go for a walk now but I can’t really be bothered. I don’t want to avoid people. I don’t want to overcome my fear of dogs. I would love for this pandemic, so that I could try something different. I’d like to go for a bike ride but if I do that I need to be careful not to stray too far and I still need to avoid people.


The main reason for going out is to get some sunshine.


For exercise I have Zwift.


if you need a reason to stay indoors and to self-isolate watch the video below.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BuzP-uLctYE&feature=youtu.be

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