Post by Lauren

Yesterday was really pretty so I decided to go to the beach to study French.

Normally, my mode of transportation is the TPG ( transports publics genevois) because #1 – I am lazy and #2 – I have a toe condition that I am supposed to limit walking and # 3 – TPG is awesome. We splurged on TPG annual passes and it was our best purchase yet. We can hop on and off the trams, buses and boats anytime we want. Even still, I probably still walk 2 to 3 miles a day.

While there are two buses that go to the beach, they require connections. It’s not a bad walk either, but yesterday with the sun shining, I felt brave enough to take my bike out.

We have been out on our bikes 3 times, but this was my first time without Gabe. I have been afraid so far since I am not a very good at it and city biking is intimidating to me. The big deal is that In Geneva, you have to blend in with traffic and are forbidden from using sidewalks. I like to follow him and just do whatever he since I have no clue.

I should also note that the few times we had been, it was late in the evening or on the weekends where Geneva is very quiet so there weren’t a lot of cars. For a great recap of what it’s like to bike in Geneva during the day with obstacles, check out my friend A’s post. She has really good diagrams.

On the way there, I got honked at twice. Once, really really loud. I am not sure if I mentioned that Swiss people like to point out when you do something wrong, so this was no exception. It has just never happened to me with horns yet.

Nevertheless, most of this venture to the beach was downhill, so I just managed to weave in and out of traffic to make it to the main Quai where it was easy-peasy and I could mingle with the other beach cruisers on the large bike path.

Grateful for still having my life, I happily camped out on the beach for a few hours with my French workbook enjoying the day.

Going home, I was more determined to not have anyone honk at me. I choose to go home through the park where I didn’t have to work in with the traffic. The steep park. I almost had to stop halfway through as my legs couldn’t go anymore. Then onto the main roads again.

Stopped at a light, a homeless man kept smiling at me and pointing at a BMW motorcycle parked right beside me and pointing. I am not sure if he was saying that bike was better than mine, or just laughing at my bike-skills, but it was in French and I couldn’t understand.

Nevertheless, I trudged on, up more and more hills. Cars, motorcycles, and buses whizzed by me coming about 6 inches from me. I wish they knew that I didn’t really have very much control at all. In fact, I almost hit an elderly lady while going uphill in the park. However, they continued to get within inches.

I considered leaving the bike on one particular hill as my legs wouldn’t go anymore after a really hard lifting session today at Globo Gym. I could always go back and get it later. However, I realized how hard Gabe would laugh at me if I did this. I am not sure where the energy came from in the end, or maybe it was the flat road that finally came, but I finally made it home. I had never been so grateful to see that place. I was so tired, it took 3 attempts to lift the bike back on its hook in our scary basement.

I think I may stick to the TPG during traffic hours from now on. It’s much safer for me.