Cycling into the wind

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Yesterday I cycled my first 100km ride. It started as a simple ride towards Geneva and back but by the time I got back to Nyon I felt that I had enough energy to go further so I set the goal of getting to Rolle and after Rolle I set the goal to get to Morges before getting distracted and heading up towards Bière. 

During this ride when cycling towards Geneva I saw a peloton cycling together and taking turns leading and sheltering behind each other. I continued cycling outside of the windbreak zone and managed to keep up. If I had wanted to I could have overtaken them but it’s lucky I didn’t because I’d have burned out sooner. 

The second incident was when I was riding through Rolle. A motorcyclist was parking his bike when he overbalanced it and it fell against him. I came off the roundabout to offer my help but by then two of his friends had come to help. It was an interesting moment, to be dressed in cycling clothes helping motorcyclists in leather. Two different biking cultures juxtaposed. When the incident was resolved I got on my bike and continued. 

I went from Rolle up passed Ikea and by the hill heading towards Bière. The views along this bike ride are beautiful. As you climb towards Bière you turn around to see the Leman in this light. The climb is relatively easy. 

Cycling through Bière is an interesting experience because you have a medieval armour shop on the left side of the road before you get to a garage with at least 30 Porshe cars in various states of repair and then you pass by mechanised armour divisions, parade grounds, roads, logistics centres and more. It’s well suited that a Caserne city should be called Beer, if you translate it to English. 

The road continues down and you go through a forest and as I passed one curve and looked to my left I saw this view so I turned around and cycled back uphill to photograph this vista. Beautiful trees with the Alps in the background. Soon after this nice descent you are met with a sporty uphill section and then you pass near the Signal de Bougy and its golf course before heading back down through the vineyards towards Mont Sur Rolle towards Luins and beyond. 

This ride was unique because I could see viticulturalists picking their grapes and I could see signs for wine tastings and mout. Mout is the juice that comes from grapes straight after they have been pressed. I thought about stopping and enjoying some but the size of a group made me change my mind. Imagine stopping to re-stock on freshly squeezed grape juice. 

I could smell that some vats of wine had just been cleaned and I could see grape bundles on the road as I cycled. 

What I haven’t mentioned yet is that there was a strong wind blowing from the west to the east so I had to peddle fast to keep moving forwards. The weather looked as if it could rain so my initial plan was for a conservative 30 kilometre ride but as the weather improved I extended my goals but did not find an opportunity to stock up on snacks to get some fresh energy. If I had known the ride would be so good I would have taken a few energy bars and refuelled while cycling. I would definitely do this ride again, especially to see the vineyards and forest turn autumnal.