A Relaxed Bike Club Switzerland Ride

I considered going for yet another hike yesterday. I didn’t, for two reasons. The first reason is that I had to commit on Wednesday night and I wasn’t ready to commit on Wednesday for Saturday. The second reason is that the group has a black list for people that don’t turn up with a valid reason. I much prefer the "If you’re late we won’t wait" school of punctuality.

I decided instead to join a Bike club Switzerland ride. I have been thinking about joining them for a few weeks, but because of hikes, or logistics I didn’t bother. The logistics are ‘needing a light for an evening ride’ or having to get Geneva, going for a ride, and then having to get back.

Originally my plan for yesterday morning was to wake at 6 and be ready to ride by 07:30 to meet the group at 09:00. I woke to the sound of very heavy rain so I checked whether it was forecast for when I was riding between Nyon and Geneva. As it was I mentioned the rain. It was suggested that I meet the group at Tartine & Co and this was perfect for me.

As usual I arrived half an hour early and waited, and around the expected time the group arrived. We had breakfast/snack before riding from Nyon to Geneva. The pace was comfortable for me.

When I ride with the Divonne Skoda group I usually find that the ride is exhausting because whereas I have a few hundred kilometres of riding in my legs, they have thousands. With the Skoda group I have to work hard to keep up. With the BCS group I had no such issue with the relaxed group. In reality I felt so good that I toyed with the idea of adding an extra 40 kilometres to the loop to get my 100k ride goal achieved.

When speaking with people I said that I enjoyed the pace, and that I considered doing a longer ride. The issue is that when I rode by myself, out of Geneva, I pushed. I pushed myself to the point of bonking, and having to work towards just getting home.

My goal was to find a group of people to ride with that didn’t exhaust me. I did. I achieved my aim. Now I want to ride with this group more often. I want to ride with people, where I am not pushing so hard that I am knackered at the end of the ride. With a slow pace I can work on covering longer distances. I want to have a group to ride with on a regular basis. I could then choose between cycling and hiking, and every so often via ferrata.

The second reason for my lack of energy, on the way home, is that it was around 14:00 and I had not had lunch. If I had stopped to eat something then I believe I could have attempted to ride 100k. I have ridden 100k, more than once. It’s a matter of energy reserves.

And finally, my reason for setting off at 07:30 if the weather had been good is that it would have given me an hour and a half to cycle from Nyon to Geneva and I could have tried to resist the urge to sprint. If I cycle at a relaxed pace then I can cycle far, but if I push hard, then I can cycle fast, but not far. That’s why group rides have value. That’s why I want to cycle with groups regularly.