2016

In no particular order, here’s a list of notable facts of 2016 in the insignificant little life of mine:

1. I’m healthy and in good shape. I’m not saying I lead a healthy life, just that I somehow manage not to get sick. My diet is still mostly impulse based. I should really act on this.
2. I stayed in Switzerland for holidays: Verbier, Lenzerheide, Dad’s place. During several previous trips, e.g. New Zealand or Iceland, I saw lots of beautiful places, but I realised that I haven’t really visited my own country. So for example instead of going biking far away, I spent 3 days in Lenzerheide, a place I’ve never been to before.
3. I’ve also gone DH biking in other new places besides Lenzerheide like Zermatt, Chur, Morgins and Chaumont (Neuchâtel). All great. And my new bike is awesome.

   

4. Mountain biking buddies in 2016 were Damien, Gabriel, Urs, Gabriele and Artiom. I also did 2 road bike tours with Alessandra.
5. I’ve been to fewer places for non-DH mountain biking than I would have wanted. I don’t think it was laziness, but the poor weather conditions over the weekends. I don’t remember honestly. Besides my home turf the Uetliberg, I’ve been to Aargau, La Berra (Fribourg), Zugerberg. Really not much. I have to improve this.
6. The fourth form of biking I enjoy is of course BMX. I’ve been to Ruben’s awesome bowl in Málaga with Damien, Alex P, Guillaume, Fouego, Michael, Yo, Alex M, Fred, Bruno and Cyril. Good times. I’ve been to the pump track in Grenchen with Gabriel & family. I did a solo trip to the bowl in Sarnen, alternating riding sessions and swimming in the sea. Then Guillaume moved to Zürich and we’ve since been a couple of times to the indoor skatepark in Zürich, to the one in Basel, in Biel and the crazy setup in Strasbourg. We’ve also been to the Näfels bowl once. The NT Dirt crew started digging the new trails at the Glattpark in Zürich, so I’ve helped out a couple of times so far and I’m really looking forward to spring/summer 2017 for some nice trails sessions! The skills park also opened recently in Winterthur, so 2017 looks promising.

   

   

   

7. Enough about biking. I’ve been to a couple of rad concerts:
   • Terrorgruppe (in St. Gallen)
   • Sick Of It All
   • Strung Out
   • The Interrupters, my 2016 crush
   • WIZO, finally!
8. I had a minor “career” crisis towards the end of winter and looked into CAS digital typography. I’ve been to an info presentation, but the professor there demotivated me so much that I gave up. Apparently it’s meant for designers who want to get into computery stuff, not the other way around.
9. At my job, we’ve been mostly working on beta.doodle.com. There’s still a lot to be done, but you can expect a brand new Doodle in 2017. The team has been growing a lot lately.
10. In 2016, I’ve been pretty good at not spending too much money. I think the only major purchase was an iPad Pro 9.7”. No new bike! Major achievement. I didn’t even order any bike parts. I don’t know if I can keep this up in 2017 though, as Damien is trying hard to make me buy a Santa Cruz Nomad.
11. I “quit” Facebook and Instagram at the beginning of summer, in the sense that the apps have been removed from my iPhone and iPad, I do not post anything anymore and check them exactly once a day, for a total of about 5 minutes. I don’t feel better or worse, it’s just a lot less pointlessness in my life.
12. While I’m on the social network subject, I had a whopping 3.5 Tinder dates. 90% awkwardness resulting in absolutely nothing. I don’t really care. Tinder feels like dating for the lazy, which I totally am.
13. I was on national tv. Very shortly.
14. I watched a lot of tv shows, and 2 really stood out for me in 2016: Stranger Things and Westworld.
15. Last but not least, I should start to invest my time into something. I’ve spent so many evenings and weekends doing exactly nothing. I see so many people around me complaining that they don’t have time for anything, whereas I have the feeling I somehow have too much time. Weird.