Yesterday I went for a walk, during which I listened to two podcasts via AudioBookShelf, but that’s not the point of this post. The point of this post is that the seasons have changed. The snow has melted and there was a brief interlude in rain so plenty of people went out for bike rides. So many in fact that I seemed to be one of only two or three people on foot.
This makes me happy. I like crossing people on bikes because they usually don’t have big dogs, and they pass by within seconds rather than longer. They also tend not to take up the entire width of the road.
For some reason when couples walk they take the entire width of the road, as do families, and other groups. They’re not morbidly obese. they’re average. They could take as little space as cyclists and I do.
I should be cycling too but my bike lives half an hour from where I live at the moment, by car. It lives there because that’s where I went for bike rides several times and I felt that by transporting my bike, back and forth, in the car, I was damaging it, so I left it there. I never repatriated it because winter was coming so it made little sense. Now that summer is back it could make sense to repatriate it.
In reality I should prepare it for Spain. I should dismantle it, and take it to Spain, for a Spring service, before coming back to Switzerland, and use it, freshly serviced.
The difference in service price between Spain and Switzerland is 70 euros compared to 300 CHF. I could also take advantage of the slightly better weather in Spain to go for bike rides.
Imagine, you’re a bee. You stop off at the local watering drinking hole but you fall in. All the pollen that you collected in the morning is now lost. It is now in the swimming pool where you had stopped for a quiet sip.
Life would have been over, if not for a human being noticing movement in the water. A pool brush came from underneath and lifted the bee out of the water and then shook violently so you hang on. The brush is no longer shaked. Instead it is put down in a sheltered spot, away from prying bird eyes.
I don’t know if the bee will survive but at least it had a chance at not drowning. If it goes back to the bee hive it may go empty leg pouched.
Today I went for a fourteen Kilometre walk and I crossed paths with just two other people. It was a couple of runners and we crossed paths at just the right place as I could slip into a clearing, wait for them to pass and then continue on my way. I think this is the quietest walk I’ve been on in a while.
During the walk I saw that some fields had been harvested, that new barriers were being put up and that someone’s Mini adventure involved a bike in an open top Mini.
Before the daily walk, I continued studying CSS and after learning the basics I am learning how to fine-tune and control what CSS is doing with more granularity. The finished product is looking better and better.
I walk every single day, whether it’s raining, windy, snowing, a heat wave and more. I like heatwaves because dog walkers usually stay in. We live in an age and society where fear of dogs is not respected. Yesterday I was on a walk and i saw two big dogs. One was on a leash and the second was free to roam. That freedom to roam encouraged me to divert my route to go through a muddy forest.
I ran by the side of a muddy field today to avoid more dogs. The thing about dogs is that they come up to you if they are not held on a leash and you have to fight with all of your will power not to lift your arms as that will trigger them to think you’re playing, when in reality you’re terrified.
Dog walkers think that we are strange for fearing dogs, but dog walkers don’t understand how to read that people are afraid of their dogs. They just allow their dogs to look at us, approach and more. I was once in the middle of a field, with a dog running towards me and I froze. I didn’t move until the owner called it back. On another route a dog threatened me two or three times. In the end I barked insults at me, for barking at me. That dog chased me into at least one field before I stopped walking that route.
If I finished a PhD In Finland I could walk around with a sword, since every PhD graduate gets a sword. Imagine if people saw me walking towards them with a sword. “Oh but you should not walk with a sword, it scares people”. “Fantastic, I’m glad you brought it up, I feel the same way about your dogs.”
Why should people who are afraid of dogs be forced to overcome their fear of being attacked by a dog on every walk. I stopped walking all of the routes where people do not control their dogs. I often take a third, and sometimes even a fourth alternative on a walk, to avoid walking by dogs. I fear dogs. I’d rather walk an extra kilometre than confront my fear every single day.
It isn’t fair to force people who are afraid of dogs to overcome their fear on every walk they do.
When you go for a walk you always see “Attention au chien”, or other such warnings. People on the one hand warn you about dangerous dogs when you’re near their home, but then if you’re walking they bark, snarl and threaten you and you’re meant to be happy and relaxed. Dogs are sadistic creatures. I much prefer cats, foxes, and other animals. Either a cat wants to be petted, or it sprints away. Foxes see you, and run away. Chamois and other animals see you and run, if you get too close.
Dogs threaten us, but we’re meant to know how to be around them. It’s the only animal I encounter on walks that threatens me. Dogs are the only animals that approach when they are afraid.
And Finally
There is a rule on plenty of paths that says “Dogs must be kept on their leads” and owners do not obey this rule. The result is that dogs run towards me and I have to overcome my fear. In some cases I yell, Dogs respond to yelling. So do the owners. If you yell at a dog it stops approaching. The owner then calls the dog back. I wish dog owners would be considerate of people with a fear of dogs.
For two days I have played with the Garmin Instinct Solar and I already see a niche for it. If I want to be like every other reviewer I will say, “use the expedition mode for up to 127 days or hours of battery life, but I won’t because I think there is another more interesting niche. Activity tracking, without needing to take off the watch for weeks or months at a time. With Suunto, Apple and other devices you need to remove a watch at least every three or four days to recharge it, which means that you have a gap in heartrate and activity data.
With a watch like the Garmin Instinct Solar you can track your days for 25 days in a row without recharging. In summer, in theory you could wear the watch and it would charge as you’re eating lunch or walking on the beach or sitting at a terrasse in the mountains. I really like the idea of going back to watches that we can wear for weeks, without having to take them off.
I tried using the watch in normal mode yesterday, and wore it overnight, and by the next morning it said that it had six hours of power left so I had to charge it. I tried with the morning sun but it didn’t work, so I tried with the mid morning and afternoon sun and that was better. I had to recharge it from a power socket anyway.
26 Days of Tracking
Today I put the watch into normal mode for a run, and then as I walked I tracked hiking, for a little bit, before switching to just counting steps and charging with the Autumn sun. When I got home it was at 25 days of battery life from 26-27 days. Four weeks of battery life, with the Autumn sun.
What makes this solar watch stand out is it’s price. It costs 298 CHF. Compare that to the Casio hr1000 Solar watch that cost up to 1000CHF a few years ago, and the Garmin Pro Fenix solar that costs about 800 CHF.
Power Hungry GPS
The problem with GPS technology is that it uses a lot of power, so for a solar powered watch to work effectively the solar panels would have to be quite a bit bigger. That’s where a solar powered activity tracker is brilliant. The watch can do a lot more, if you want to charge it every day, but if you don’t, then simply keeping track of your steps will be enough, along with heart rate.
Power Modes
You have expedition mode, for 127hrs of battery life, You then have battery saver where the heart rate monitor and phone connection are turned off for 70hrs. You then have jacket around 40hrs I think and normal that is about 30hrs.
Smartwatch: Up to 24 days/54 days with solar* Battery Saver Watch Mode: Up to 56 days/Unlimited with solar* GPS: Up to 30 hours/38 hours with solar** Max Battery GPS Mode: Up to 70 hours/145 hours with solar** Expedition GPS Activity: Up to 28 days/68 days with solar*
The Apple Watch needs to be charged every day. The Suunto that I have needs to be charged every second activity, especially after over three years of daily use. The Garmin Instinct Solar, in the right mode could go for three or four weeks without needing to charge, and in the middle of summer, could recharge, at least partially, while you are active.
On Activity Trackers
Most activity trackers last from 5 to seven days between charges, when they are new and this depends on whether you have heart rate and o2 monitoring. With the Garmin Instinct you leap up to 68 days over the summer months. In theory you will have no gaps in data, for months at a time. This means that if you’re trying to save on weight, you could travel without the charging cable for weeks at a time.
Should You Get it?
Yes, if you want to track your activities but are not worried about heart rate and using the watch for notifications. It is one of the cheaper solutions, and from that aspect it stands out. It gives you plenty of functionality that you find on higher end devices, without the price. Add to this that plenty of functionality is accessed via Garmin Connect and you have a good reason to get this alternative solution that costs a third of the price.
If you’re replacing a Suunto Spartan Wrist HR because it’s getting a little old then don’t. The battery life on that device is still better or as good, and the screen is easier to read. After a decade or so of using Suunto I find the menus and navigation more intuitive and rational.
My reason for considering switching from Suunto to Garmin is two fold. The first is that suunto is moving over to android, so it no longer has a unique OS, and that it’s move to more colourful displays means that battery life will suffer. They also no longer offer a web interface for the application, so you are forced to use a mobile phone.
I was also curious to play with the Garmin ecosystem. I like to be familiar with these platforms.
And Finally
And finally the best device is the one that can last as long as the activity you do, whether it’s a two hour daily walk, a two day hike or a longer duration journey. Switching from Suunto to Garmin has a learning curvey. The navigation menu is different. Eventually you understand the logic.
Cycling from Arnex to the Signal de Bougy and back is a nice ride that takes you along the lake through the lower part of Nyon, Gland towards Rolle, and from Rolle up towards Perroy, Aubonne, Pizy, The Signal de bougy and back down on the other side.
View when you are almost at the Signal De Bougy
This route can be ridden both ways. The direction I suggest is easier because the climbing, although physical from Rolle to Perroy levels off, The next challenge is up from Aubonne to the Signal De Bougy. This climb is physical, and you are exposed to cars.
When you’re at the top you pass by two large car parks, and you could stop and go into the Signal but I have never tried, after a bike ride, so I do not know where you could leave your bikes. I instead continue along the park, pass the golf course and then when I get to the end of the road I usually turn left and enjoy the downhill through the forest for one bit, and then the vineyards for the other.
The advantage of this route direction is that it’s downhill from the Signal De Bougy, almost all the way back to Nyon, or wherever you start this journey.
View towards Geneva
If you try the reverse route you will be climbing from Nyon to the Signal de Bougy on a road that can be quite busy and you will feel more fatigued. The part from Tartegnin up to the Signal De Bougy is physical so you need to have endurance.
If you try this route and you find that you have spare energy left over you can then continue towards Bière and either go up the Col De Marchairuz or the other col, cycle around the Vallée de Joux, and then come back down via St Cergue. That’s a 90 kilometre loop.
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.
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