The Up and Down Flat Ride

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Yesterday I went for a bike ride. When I looked at the route I thought "this looks like a nice calm, relaxed ride. It wasn’t. I rode with group 2, which is a fast group, going uphill at 20-40 km/h on certain segments.

You might look at a cycling route and think "this looks flat, it doesn’t go to the top of the Jura" but don’t let that mislead you. When you’re riding at the foot of the Jura it’s easy to climb, and then descend, and then climb again, and then descend, and then climb yet again. In the end we did 1100m of climbing over 80 kilometres cycled.

It’s not just that the climbs were numerous but that one or two were up steep gradients, so you need to be fit to manage them. If you lose steam, and you’re clipped in, you might not have time to unclip before you fall either on to a wall, or down to the road.

At one point someone stopped, and I had nowhere to flee but a ditch. Luckily the person quickly started moving again. I was half a second from falling. Unclipping is easy, when you expect to, but it’s hard when you don’t.

It’s after this incident with group 2 that we met up with group 3 and I chatted with them. It’s at this point that I chose to continue with them.

I enjoy the challenge of groups one, and two, but I also love the conviviality of group three. The opportunity to stop and look at the view, to have a drink, and then to ride at a more relaxed pace. I like being able to look at the view, rather than the wheel, and the person in front. I like having a pace where I can take a photo while I’m riding.

I like riding with groups that like riding for the pleasure of riding, rather than groups that ride to be fast. I love the sense of being fit and fast, and able to keep up with fast people. I also love treating bike rides as if they were hikes. I like to stop, look at the landscape and take photos. I like to stop for a coffee if that is possible.

Not Tired

What is to be appreciated about yesterday’s ride is that we did a lot of climbing. We climbed the equivalent of the Jura, from Nyon, and I didn’t feel it. I did get tired and cold by the end. I never felt that I had done a lot of climbing, until I heard a comment about the amount of climbing we did.

It’s also a long ride. Eighty kilometres, in Autumn, with the wind, the drizzle, the cold, and the lack of daylight, is an achievement. I saw that other people are managing 130 kilometre rides, despite the colder weather, and frequent rain.

And Finally

Before I finished this post I felt the need for a siesta. I feel that the Autumn cold is putting a lot of stress on my body, and my immune system. I’ve been trying to sleep more to compensate for the extra energy expenditure. I don’t like Autumn, and the start of winter. I don’t like the shortening days and the colder temperatures. The paradox is that I felt good during the ride, until I got cold.