La machine bleu

I have a new bicycle! (I always want to write bycicle, because this makes more sense to my phonetically challenged brain - I blame German) It's name is an allusion to the Green Machine , an ill-fated bike I bought in Canberra, from Toys'R Us of all places. Naturally enough, it was total crap - the left crank kept falling off, and then finally the front wheel warped for no apparent reason. Luckily I was able to get my money back (after much swearing, threatening bodily harm to salespeople and general carrying on).

Why a bike? I got sick and tired of taking the metro each day, especially when I had the strong suspicion that riding a bike would be faster - and I was right. Also, since the ticket for the metro costs 50 CHF per month, my purchase will amortize (did you know that amortize comes from the vulgar Latin admortire, to kill? One day I would like to learn Latin or old Greek, although I fear that is a very abstract wish which will prove as fleeting as the morning haze in the harsh light of the midday sun of required effort) in about 9 months. Provided, of course, that I don't buy other stuff for my bike, such as some sort of bags for my stuff, tyres with spikes for ice, etc.

It took me 20 minutes to go the EPFL, compared to about 35 minutes with the metro - and that was with me not too sure of the best way as well as not too sure of my new bike, leading to pansy behavior like breaking when going downhill (which happens now and then in Lausanne). I am sure I can cut that down to about 15 minutes in the morning. Going back is another story altogether, due to the sad fact that the EPFL lies considerably lower than my flat.

To the right of la machine bleu is my new little backpack (see what I said about accessoires above), bought about 2 days after the bike, to put my laptop in.

Both the bike and the backpack where already tested in rain, snow and combinations thereof. Yuck! Australia's weather is much more argreeable for biking!