A bit of a revelation, and a long ride with the locomotive...

Part One : The Revelation...

I think I've realized why Switzerland - and Europe in general - is so... appealing, different, insane, extraordinary, overwhelming... for me.  It all comes down to a simple concept we all know as SENSORY OVERLOAD!!!

Gustation - umm, if you haven't heard, the food over here is, as Wendy might say, "way better than fast food" - but no, it's not like Wendy's either.  It's amazing.  To relate it to sensory overload, everything is just stronger - the cheese is strong, the schokolade is delicious, the bread is tastier... not just that, but it's just better.  Better for you, better tasting, better food.

Olfaction - oh boy, the smells of the food.  Wait... no more food, okay.  Well, I must say that the smells are much stronger over here in general, especially when it comes to manure.  Yes, we're talking good, old-fashion cow s***.  On today's ride, I was so overwhelmed by the smell of newly manured fields, that I just about passed out.

Mechanoreception - this one is more of a stretch, but here's one thing that's surprisingly different about the sense of touch.  The mineral complexion in the water is different over here, making the H20 "harder"... After a laundry, the clothes seem to be starched, and after a shower, your hair and skin feel different.  It's kind of weird, different water...

Audition - I wake up every morning to hundreds of sounds outside my window - not to romanticize or anything.  The birds chirping, the trains training, the cars, the buses, horns, people... throughout the day, through the many different settings I walk and ride through, there is an odd contrast of noise and silence, that makes the silence even more noticeable, and the noise even noisier.  If that makes a smidgen of sense.

Vision - The most important sensory organ for day to day activity -  in Europe - is stimulated beyond belief.  There is just SO MUCH to look at!  The vegetation is thick, the population is high, and there is just stuff EVERYWHERE.  Most of it's beautiful - old buildings, moss on thousands of trees making the forest greener than normal, trinkets in everyone's yard - although some of it's not - the new McDonalds, for example.

That's my six cents on things... 

Part Two: That Hammered-Into-The-Ground Feeling

Rode for the first time with Beat- the Swiss National Coach, my coach, and the head of the family I live with - today.  Seriously no offense, but HOW OLD IS THIS GUY?  I have never gotten so beat up on a road ride with anyone, and Beat must be at least 50.  Haha, no pun intended on the name Beat to "beating" me up, but it does fit nicely.  Let's get the run-down.  Headed down to "The Lion Hotel" for our normal Wednesday group-ride with all the kids from Granichen.  From there, a 2.5 hour training on the trails around Aargau, working on technical shenanigans every so often - a moderate pace, but nothing to scoff at, you understand.  During this training, I told myself to forget the mental block from the previous week in Giverola and ride like I meant it - which worked fabulously, despite my fork's inability to keep up... broken again.  So, it was a good day... But it wasn't over yet... oh no.  Beat was ready for a psychological breakdown of my most seemingly most predominant cycling skill: Climbing.  After the training, I got a call-over from my new coach, and a statement that went something like "We go more climbing."  "um, okay".  So, after a 2.5 hour training, Beat and I headed out for an additional 2 hours on the bike.  From Granichen, we headed East, towards Unterkulm, where we took a right up into the hills towards Schoftsland.  Right away, Beat appeared to be attacking me on the climb.  I was unprepared, and found myself struggling on the back wheel of this impeccable-climbing-form locomotive.  By the end of an 8 minute interval that seemed like hours, we topped of the climb and were greeted by the aforementioned pungent smell of manure...  We repeated this lunacy 2 more times, and then once more on a separate climb from Muhen to Granichen on a different route home.  

I really like toast, but only for my own eating.  Not only am I toast, but Beat practically ate me today.