There is a hill that is steep. You often see people struggle up it, trying to beat their own records and in so doing get knackered by the top. Yesterday I went up such a hill and I felt low on energy so I didn’t bother to sprint. I just focued on getting up to the top. As I went I saw a group of runners running down towards me and I wanted to take a picture but I was too slow so I took a picture of my shadow as I cycled instead.
The front wheel of my bike and my shadow.
I showed the bison road to someone else. I think it would be a good place to walk or cycle, if people have the motivation, and the range.
Today during my walk I noticed a sticker on a sign for EuroVélo.com. I don’t know how new the project is but I had not paid attention to the URL before. I like the idea of a European Network of Cycling Routes. I don’t need to capitalise these words. I just did, for some reason.
During my walk I was listening to two podcast episodes of a single podcast about hiking the AT and other hikes in the US. It’s interesting and it makes us want to travel to the US to try these walks. The drawback is that A) It requires travelling to the US and getting a visa for long enough to complete the challenge and B) We have plenty of walking and cycling trips in Europe to enjoy, and best of all they should be quieter because fewer people think about using these routes, for now.
The Route EV 17 starts at the source of the Rhone and then heads through Switzerland through France and onto Nimes or Montpellier, whichever destination you prefer. It bifurcates around the Lac Léman so you can go either on the French or the Swiss side. The French side might be shorter and differently busy.
The beauty of cycling rather than walking is that you can cover bigger distances in less time. The drawback is that you may be on dangerous roads. I hope that the roads are chosen because they are safe. I want to try some of these projects.
For a size comparison. Switzerland has 65,000 kilometres of hiking paths, and EuroVélo, so far, has 90,000 kilometres. The cycling is growing every year, and with time it may become a normal way for people to spend their holidays. People will go on cycling road trips, rather than driven.
It’s good to vary between walking, cycling and running. I even threw in skateboarding but I am not confident at that sport yet. The beauty of walking, cycling and running is that these are sports that you can do straight from home, without getting into a car, and without having to put up with other drivers. The one drawback is that dangerous drivers endanger you on every outing, but that’s another topic.
Comfortable
Although I was worried that I would regret running with barefoot shoes, after wearing them for over six hundred kilometres I can say that they were the right choice. The reason for which they were the right choice is that now, rather than run two kilometres before my knees hurt I can run for five kilometres and reach the goal I wanted to achieve. I wanted to be able to run five kilometres comfortably, and I can.
No Extra baggage
For this run I took no backpack, no lumbar bag or any other form of bag. I had my phone, some cars in case, and my house keys. I don’t usually run so light. I didn’t expect rain. I didn’t expect to feel thirsty, and I didn’t expect to need the external battery pack, to recharge the phone. I didn’t even take earphones.
The Route
Originally I was thinking of running the usual route, to avoid being near homicidal car drivers but I noticed that there was a village party, which I didn’t want to run through. I changed my routing and it had me run up a steep road for several hundred meters before turning left and heading down towards the lake, and then turning right along the motorway. That’s not really the point. The point is that I routed it perfectly, so that I stopped running just as I got to a busy road where I sometimes have to wait for cars to pass.
Quiet
It was quiet on this run. I saw one or two walkers and one runner. In a different age, and time, I might have said hello, but in this day and age it is better not to. She was doing interval running, but when she had a rest interval she took the rest part more seriously than I do. When I’m told to rest I walk at full speed. That is my rest pace.
It was busy with dogs and walkers on another route but I always avoid routes where I expect to meet dog walkers. I don’t want dogs to jump on me, and force me to overcome my desire to run away.
And Finally
Running allows you to experience the same route as you would walk, in half the time. It’s a way of enjoying the outdoors, without devoting the same amount of time. I would not replace walking with running, because I like taking the time to walk that route. By walking you can read a lot of audio books, but you also take a break from sitting and being indoors.
By running I am forced to look at where I’m going, as well as to think of how my feet are hitting the ground. I consider the route. Today I surprised a heron that hid behind some trees. It saw me and flew away.
In Spain I keep seeing the BKL Prolimp bikes and I like them. They’re tricycles rather than bikes but I think they could be useful. Instead of transporting a broadcast camera and tripod in a car or smart you could transport them on the back of this bike. Instead of a bin bag though I would have the tripod bag and find a way to fix the camera as well.
I don’t like the price. These bikes are 3300 euros according to at least one site. I like these as a curiousity. It’s nice to have transport like this for cleaning, rather than a pickup truck or small car. You’re outdoors, riding a bike over small distances.
I saw a helmet being used as a parking brake so I don’t know whether these bikes come with a parking brake or whether they have to be improvised.
I know this post is random. I am lacking inspiration.
Today I went for one of my walks, but rather than turning East as I normally do, on that route, I went West, and as a result I went for a longer walk than usual. I too this route because I wanted to look at the books in a new phone box that was turned into a lending library.
I often say that I have too many book already, and that I don’t need to get more, and yet every single time I feel the compulsion to look at the choice, and usually want to pick up a book or two. Today was no different. I picked up quite a few books, and we will see if I get around to reading them. I think I might.
Cows eating grass between Switzerland and France
We are in the middle of a pandemic. Although my interest in books, and in drinking vessels may seem eccentric, and it is, there is rationality nonetheless. I pick up a lot of books, but I also start reading many books at a time, and leave some unfinished for weeks or months. I think that I may find the books interesting, even if I do not read them instantly. I also don’t spend money when I find free books. I only spend time and energy, and those are both used up by the walks anyway.
For drininking vessels it is absurd, in winter, when we do not get thirsty during walks, and when walks last for shorter periods of time. At the same time I suspect that if I did not have a choice of water bottles then I would quickly grow bored of drinking water and revert to Coke and Rivella.
Another thing that is not discussed, is the habit of buying bottles of coke, water and other recipients. There is also the habit of drinking hot chocolate from a machine and always using a new cup. One recent purchase is to ensure that when I am in an office again I will be able to have hot chocolate in the same recipient over and over, without filling a bin with empty paper cups.
In my experience of hiking, especially in summer, you often want at least two bottles of water, of differing sizes depending on the duration of the walk, effort, and temperature. I have one 500ml for my daily walks, one 600ml, one 750ml and two one thousand ml bottles. Those are for walking. For cycling I now have two new 500ml bottles. I have one 300ml vacuum travel mug for take away drinks and one 500ml cup. I boil water before my walk, and drink it when I need to warm up again.
When I get my 0.47ml travel mug with a screw on lid then I will have what is required for road trips. If I used the 300 or 500ml cups I would spill the liquid either on myself or in the car. With the one I just ordered I have a good option for road trips.
I did buy a lot of water bottles recently but they last for years. It is only because my 1L and 0.5l aluminium sigg bottles seem to have suffered from not being used during the pandemic, after years of loyal service before the pandemic, and because my camelbak forge was damaged by overuse that I replaced it. With the cycling water bottles I am replacing them because they always get black mould and I’d prefer not to risk my health. This time Almost everything I bought is machine washable. I will find an excuse to get new toys eventually, but for the forseeable future I should no longer have any excuse.
And in summary. This year I have spent 388 hours hiking 1929 kilometres, burning about 142,987 kcals. In total I have spent 486 hours doing sports, covering a distance of 3248 kilometres and ascended 25,708 meters. Not too lazy after all.
We are in a pandemic where the only disease vector is proximity to others, so in theory this is one of the easiest pandemics to overcome, and end. In practice people are like cats, and getting them to self-isolate is like herding cats. Paradoxically if people were as hard to herd as cats, then the pandemic would have ended over a year ago and today we’d be doing something more fun.
During this pandemic we see that the numbers take weeks to make their way back down but they bounce back up very fast. We have gone from 100 cases per day two weeks ago to four hundred today. If I see the number of cases rising this is a reason to be more, rather than less cautious. This is a reason to do less, rather than more. This is a reason to spend as little time as possible in risky situations.
L’Office fédéral de la santé publique a fait état mardi de 483 cas supplémentaires de coronavirus en 24 heures.
In the 00s (zeros/2000s) Foot and Mouth was active in England. As a precaution we had to walk in soapy water with our shoes to avoid spreading anything. We were also asked not to go to the New Forest to avoid spreading that virus to the ponies and other animals. Back in those days they were trying to contain an epidemic.
Fast forward two decades and we are in week 80 of this pandemic, depending on what you use as a starting point. This means that we have had eighty weeks to learn about, get to understand, and finally to respond to and reduce the threat.
During this pandemic we have seen people fail to change their habits from one year to the next. This failure to change habits prevents life from moving on. Everyone is busy sabotaging the pandemic’s recovery.
Last night a politician actually said “Sorry” for lifting restrictions too soon. Politicians should react this way. Politicians should apologise, when an entire nation has to live in self-isolation for over a year, because their policies failed to bring a pandemic to an end.
La taskforce scientifique de la Confédération a alerté mardi sur une probable augmentation des hospitalisations à venir. Depuis le début du mois de juillet, le nombre de cas de contaminations liées au variant Delta double chaque semaine. Les infections ont particulièrement augmenté chez les 26 à 34 ans, suivis des 16 à 24 ans.
Since the start of july the number of infections from the Delta variant has doubled, this affects those from 16-24 and 26-34 and they expect hospitalisations to start going up soon.
We’re in a paradoxical situation, beccause if we self-isolate we’re silly not to enjoy ourselves, like everyone else. If we do not self-isolate, and everyone else does not self-isolate then we are providing the virus with a fantastic opportunity to spread.
The challenge during this pandemic, is not to take precautions, and to take a break from normal habits, it is seeing that others throw caution to the wind, and that there is no end in sight, not because we don’t know how to beat this virus, but because politicians always find a way to get the virus to spread again, through their incompetence. So far one politician has said “sorry”. All of them should.
Yesterday I looked at the wind, and when I saw that it was coming from the east I decided to cycle into it, for the outward journey, and back, with it, on the journey back. Originally my plan was to cycle to Rolle and to turn around but the plan changed. I was cycling and I overtook a woman. I like to challenge myself to overtake everyone. I especially like to overtake everyone, as a personal challenge, until I am too tired.
A little later I checked behind me and I saw a cyclist drafting behind me and I thought, “will he overtake and will we take turns drafting for each other.” but the person never did. I struggled hard, against the wind at moments. I was still comfortable but I could feel fatigue growing after Rolle. I could feel myself slow, but still no overtaking. Eventually I indicated that I was turning left, to head upwards and I turned around.
The person that had drafted behind me for half an hour was the girl/woman I had overtaken. I thought I was being drafted by a lazy man, but in reality I was being a gentlemanly wind plough for another cyclist. I wish I had known, I would have continued the ride.
In a different age I would have decided to continue, and had a conversation. We are in the pandemic age, and we know that men talking to women they do not know, is easily construed as worthy as trouble, so not worth the danger.
On the flipside I found that I love the concept of cycling with a woman, of either us being the remora, whilst the other makes it easier for the other. I am infatuated with the idea of cycling activities with women as company, as I was for climbing, hiking and via ferrata. So in reality I haven’t changed. Just the sport has.
Although it was a strenuous bit of riding with an anonymous person taking advantage to make less effort behind me, this was the most intimate moment of this pandemic. A full half hour with a stranger, with barely a word exchanged. A “good continuation” when I changed course, but that was it. The pandemic has made life like this for celibate people who are careful not to get or spread covid.
We now have years of solitude under our belt. Our idea of intimacy is so simplified that a shared bike ride with no exchanged words, becomes a “shared experience”. My ambitions are so much lower now. A bike ride in silence has become enough,
The pandemic will not end, and I am impatient for the next experience like this. I enjoyed the experience, and the conviviality of a shared bike ride.
Back to the main reason for this blog post. If you cycle along the lake and climb from the lake road to Aubonne, the ride is more gentle and pleasant. The part after the arboretum is more demanding and drivers behave like idiots so it’s worth being wary of them. Once at the top the ride down is nice. Ride past Signal de Bougy, turn left and that’s where the nice downhill section starts.
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