Skating

A week ago I proposed a bicycle ride to Mies, before stopping at the Port de Crans for coffee. Quite a few people joined the chat but no one committed to turning up. I woke up in the morning and said “I’m thinking of setting off early, since no one had confirmed. When no one said “wait, wait, wait” I set off on my bicycle ride.

The conditions were excellent. I was warm, the roads were quiet, and the views were pleasant. I even thought “These are fantastic cycling conditions, it’s a mistake to stay indoors and zwift when the weather is so pleasant.

Yesterday I was planning to walk from Nyon to La Barillette but rather than take the usual route that takes me via a set of cabins where there is sometimes a dog I wanted to try an alternate route. In the end I used the Switzerland Mobility app and website because I can trust that the paths they suggest actually exist.

Garmin Explore

At first I was experimenting with the Garmin Explore App and although it does provide us with the opportunity to draw routes it creates a track but we don’t have information about whether it’s on a road, or other surfaces, and we’re not sure that the data is correct.

A few days ago I saw someone rollerblading along one of the local paths so it got me to think about this sport that we have forgotten about other the years. 20 years ago we used to rollerskate and rollerblade before discovering easier to do sports that didn’t require carrying a large bag and spare shoes.

Back in the day rollerblades had much smaller wheels and the main sport was to stay upright. Over two decades wheels have become bigger. Mine are 80mm and some can be up to 110 mm tall. The difference between the original wheels is that you couldn’t lean as much. With 80mm and especially with 110 mm wheels you can really carve.