I woke up excited, as I was finally going to attempt biking all the way to Zurich today. Still not sure about being able to properly fix a puncture, but not really caring. My philosophy is that experiencing a puncture in Switzerland is probably safer than driving a car in Italy including seatbelt and full-face helmet. And so, speaking of bursting, I stuffed myself with oats, peanut butter, and berries, filled my water bottle and put on my special bike earrings and covered my limbs with sunscreen. With my Garmin route all set, I carried my bike down all four floors to a post-apocalyptically deserted street —there's nothing like cycling on a Sunday.
The real fun started past Laufenburg. I’ve found that biking east, it takes about two whole hours to leave the fugly industrial flair of Basel’s periphery, and step into more scenic landscapes.
But then, the climb past Fricktal caught me off guard (not really, since Garmin did warn me over and over and over. More in an emotional sense). With an 800m ascent at up to 13° steepness, I missed the feeling of going uphill with cleats, but not enough to risk another extracurricular visit to the Unispital. Once I reached the top of the hill, I stopped briefly, with a light tinnitus in my ears and an unsettling brightness before my eyes. Switzerland might be safe when it comes to punctures, but I don’t know about passing out alone in the middle of the road at 178 bpm. Still, we all know what will happen. Just like with a tough birth, I will forget the pain soon enough and repeat the experience before one can say "Bewusstlosigkeit".
Following the GPS, I managed to complete the 94km route in under five hours moving time. Past Laufenburg, it was pleasant enough, but I couldn’t help remembering last week’s kayaking near Interlaken, or my recent visit to Lake Léman. Despite my self-diagnosed fissural cartilage damage in the lateral face of my borderline lateralized left patella due to my 5am 10k morning runs in the winter (obviously too proud to feel as dumb as I should), I am excited and motivated to look for newer routes near water, possibly, or even ideally, in places I’ve never been before.
The hour-long ICE ride back felt like a lullaby embracing my tired, soon to be stiff body, which I struggled to keep awake. Only the fear of ending up in Hamburg when I'm actually expected at the geriatric hospital at 8 am sharp tomorrow morning, combined with the music in my ears, kept me awake (as a side note, I still don’t know what it is about me and country music. It moves me so deeply, yet I don’t own a truck, I don’t drink beer, and I have never seen the night sky in Alabama).
Anyways. Another successful new biking milestone completed, and another challenge I have proven myself capable of conquering without becoming (fully) unconscious.
