Climbing a mountain before breakfast…
...and swimming in a lake for lunch.
Tired and cold I get up. Everything hurts, I slept like a bird on a pole, woke up many times during the whole night, feeling like I would fall from the bench which was my bed.
It did rain and there where some crazy winds blowing over the mountain top I slept on. Glad that I had found that shed, I pack up my gear.
It’s a foggy day and I have to get down 800m of height just to re-climb 1500m. It’s freezing cold, as my numb hands remind me, that I had forgotten to bring gloves with me, again. Not sure what I dread more, the freezing decent or the sweating climb on the other side of it.
Somewhere between the first and the second downward bend I cry for the first time that day. Why am I here? Why is it me? Who actually am I?
Everything feels awful. I am cold, hungry, tired, dirty. Why am I doing this?
Eventually I reach a little village, my fingers didn’t freeze off and my mind got a little calmer. I buy some bananas at a market-stall that is about to set up and fill up my water bottles. Now I am as ready as I can get on a foggy morning in June, somewhere in the Swiss Jura, to clime that “Col du Chasseral” in front of me. Maybe I should thank the clouds to envelop the top of it, otherwise I might have despaired to much, to see what laid in front of me.
Of what happened after I don’t remember much. A few endless bends in a thick forest, that didn’t seem to stop. Sweat, cars overtaking. Eventually I reach a first top of another mountain on the way. I eat some bananas, dates and peanuts on the bench of a closed restaurant.
Soon I set off again, now my cold sweat makes me shiver. How fucking cold is it here in June? Or did I just forget how awful these mountain climbs where?
Then I cry again. It actually feels good. Still not sure why I am doing this, who I am and what for. But this time I get a glimpse. I know this mountain has a top. I am still far from it, but I know eventually I’ll reach it. And I know there is one road leading me there, steep, hard and freezing cold, but I can’t miss it.
A few cute cows say hello on the way, I eat some more dates and the forest disappears, lays under me now, there are no more trees growing up here.
All of a sudden it is getting easier, as if I had crossed all limits of resistance. I am getting there, I see the end of this. And I go along the last few kilometres with my spirit lighter and my legs stronger, looking back at the road deep down on my right side. “That’s where I have been struggling just a little while ago...”
I arrive, drenched in my own sweat on a foggy mountain top, now view, no wind and no bench to sit on. I take it as it is. For the missing wind I am willing to take all the other inconviniences. My eyes fill up with tears again. How beautiful it is to be here?
Not sure why I did this, but somehow it feels great.
My mind feels cleared out and fresh like the air around me. Nothing is there for me and still I belong here as much as the rocks that have been laying there for centuries. There is no comfort to enjoy, except the one I carry with me, but there is all this beauty to admire, that no one can take away from this place.
A cyclist couple passes and we chat a bit. She tells me about the current temperature which is indeed only 4°C and further more felicitates me on having climbed the mountain from the west with luggage, which she remembered to be barely managable. Reassured I agknowledge my achievement a little more.
Even though the cold is forcing us to set an end to the conversation and they part the way I came from, all the cold in the world couldn’t hold me off making that coffee I had been looking forward to through all the painful eternities climbing up these 1500 metres.
As I drink it and eat a lot of bread, almond butter and dates, I am wondering if I will be able to stop eating before my fingers will now definitely freeze off.
All fingers and toes still in place I reach a lake for lunch. After an endless descent, the water of that lake feels almost as warm as a bath.
A mountain before breakfast and a lake for lunch.
Cheers for stopping by and enjoy your week!
All photos and words are owned by ©kesityu taken and written by myself.
USE #BILPCOIIN OR #BPC TO EARN BPC TOKENS
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Love life, be happy
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Problems
Thank you!!
Cycling in the cold is not funny indeed. It must be hard to choose clothes for all different weather types when you have to be select in what you can bring with you.
Who would have known you would need gloves in June. The weather is crazy at the moment.
Good luck with the rest of your journey! I hope the weather will get better.
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For sure, some warmth would be very welcome...
A lot of layers is what saves me, surely it would be easier and lighter if I could rely more on the weather. But I am willing to take that in return for all the mesmerizing mountain views:)
Kindred spirits. You make me want to fix my bike and hit the road. But I would also have to get a cart for Pilot. No room for that in my apartment... maybe a basket, like Toto's.
Reading your post about the mountains just made me think, there is some kind of resonance there...😊
A basket should do, and since I know now that you also have the weird attraction to that freedom in the middle of the forest with rain and tents and all that... cycling might be just your thing😁
I think you are right and am actually considering exploring that lifestyle. Not sure how I will keep a bike in my studio, perhaps I need to get rid of more stuff so I can have more life.
That would be good to write over the door or on the bathroom mirror!
I agree, to it a lot, and still have to remind myself of it, constantly as it seems...
...also you could start by putting the bike on the back of the car?
Bike needs new everything right now.. possibly just needs to be new bike, really. Back of the car is for camping or massage table/chair for work, but I did get rid of some stuff today!!
💓
I am happy that those tears eventually turned into happy tears :<)
Imagine not being able to cry ( that's me. Still working on that. I manage a couple of tears, every now and then ).
When reading this, I can't help but feel that it's super healthy therapy that you are doing, which sounds so much better than sitting in a chair, talking to a shrink. It sounds extremely cathartic and after all this exertion, all little things taste and feel better than ever.
Loved to read this!😘
Thank you Vincent, I loved reading that reply from you💛
Recently I had a conversation with someone about the cycling, and she as well was saying how it brings up everything so much more intensely. I guess it is the physical, mental, emotional and the outside all coming together and somehow much amplified... wich can easily end up in tears both of sadness or happiness. And wich in "every days life" might not happen that often, with shrink or without😁
Maybe thats where it makes it easier to "digest" all the other thoughts and worries of life. And definitely appreciate more, all the little details, indeed🌸
❤️
For your information: I have never been to therapy. I prefer to talk things through with good friends, spend time with myself - sitting with my thoughts and feelings - and or be active or creative.
That is my free therapy.
Cycling trips can be hard, I imagine even more so doing them solo.
The worst day I ever had cycling had to do with a mountain climb too. After getting lost in the mountains (no phone service = no GPS), a friend and I spent hours cycling. Finally we came upon a sign showing the distance to our location and it was like 140 km away still.
Eventually our plan was to cross the mountains in the middle of Japan, and at that moment, the other destination on the sign was across the mountains and the same distance, so we decided to get the mountain crossing over with.
It rained all day and we had a head wind. The ascent was endless. We were pedaling, but at times, it seriously felt like we weren’t moving at all. It was absolutely brutal, both physically and mentally.
As we got closer to dusk, we began to worry about running out of light and having to stay overnight in the mountains and in the rain. Had it only been 4 degrees, like it was for you, we would have really been in trouble.
Finally, though, we did reach the top. And then we had this incredibly beautiful and relaxing descent that went on and on for probably 30 kilometers or more, right down to the ocean.
Was it worth the struggle? I don’t know, but without the struggle, we wouldn’t have gotten to the point where we were able to have such an incredible experience.
That sounds awful and like a very exciting experience! Especially when it all comes together, 140km by themselves would be already a mission, and then life adds up mountains and rain... and only a limited amount of energy and daylight. Do you go for cycling trips from time to time?
That's what I wonder too, each time. And then I see how it slowly changes me, my mind, how I think or how I take things in life and then I feel like, yes, it is definitely worth the struggle, in the long run!
Years ago, I used to talk day trips, but I’ve only ever done one extended long-distance trip. To say it was an adventure is an understatement.
I put a flimsy rack over my back tire and tied a mountain climbing backpack to it and left without even knowing how to change a tire. 🤣
After the third day, I ended up in the hospital with heat stroke, and on day five I rode another 140 kilometers and then climbed a small mountain (on foot) at the destination because my friend and I arrived 10 minutes after the cable car shut down for the night.
It was wild, but well worth it. I definitely hope to do it again in the future.
That's the kind of stories I want to talk about to people!!😂 Or thats the people I want around me, that are able to tell stories like that. Either way that:
...sums it up pretty well.
They may well be all around you. If you met me, you probably wouldn’t think I have stories like that to tell just by looking at me.
Starting families (read as having kids) means that a lot of things change. 😊
Before having kids, I dreamed of continuing to have adventures like that and to do so with a family, but I haven’t yet figured it out. When you have to account for your spouse’s likes and dislikes, and the personalities of your children (which you don’t get to pick), it can feel pretty complicated. I say feel, because this might just be an issue I have. Maybe doing so is easier than I think.
A good reminder not to judge too much from the looks:)
Hmm yes, that is something, that would go together in my life, (in my head, so far) then on the other side it is already quite hard to do even when you only have to consider yourself...
It probably feels easier after you have done it? And I bet that it would definitely take some time to figure it out. On the other side a family is quite another adventure of life all together, I imagine?
You are doing it because it is liberating and because you needed it. Besides, it's nice to face everything and yourself.
I send you lots of good vibes! 🤗
You get it, I thought you would! 😊
Thank you, a lot of love back to you as well💕