Yesterday evening, as I made my way through the folder in my inbox where all emails that may yield links & inspiration for this newsletter get automatically archived, I found this NYT editorial (gift link) about a Yale professor, Colleen Kinder, who does phone-free summers abroad in France with her students.
Colleen, writes about how since 2017 that it actually has gotten easier to get her kids to ditch their phone:
"These days, my students seem to find disconnecting as exotic as France itself — a foreign place they long to know, explore and re-encounter themselves through, as we so often do in travel."
I've seen my screen time creep up recently & with the cliche crescendo of New Year's resolutions looming, I'm definitely feeling the draw to change my routine in 2026.
Reading this, I bet you're like: "sounds sick, I probably should too..."
Well, guess what? We're not alone. My second sign & inspiration was this essay on Blackbird Spyplane entitled This life gives you nothing.
"Your attention is all you have. Wasting it is annihilating."
I'll spare you the spoiler, but reading through it got me to consider phone-free mornings (and/or evenings?). And, I know quitting/limiting social media does not mean you'll read more books.
But, whether that's a bike ride, making music, reading a book, sewing, or drawing, getting more out of life than the endless doomscroll void is the logical conclusion that every tech company would rather you avoid.
Thank you for reading, and wishing you a wonderful holiday season, a sweet start to the New Year, and all the best in 2026,
Jon
p.s. need more reading inspiration & routine ideas? Check out Carolyn Yoo's here.
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December
January
- 🇳🇱 4 AMS CX COMP | UWTC – UITHOORN
- 🇳🇱 7 Wheelrunner Wednesday Ride (Weekly at 6:30am)
- 🇧🇪 16-18 Velofollies
Bikes
Twotone Consulting Welcomes Veloe® Italy as New Client, Supporting International PR Expansion
We recently kicked off with Veloe with a focus on the German market but we'll also be with them a Velofollies in a few weeks! Read the news & learn more about Veloe here.
Bikerumor Dives Deeper Into Quirk's 2026 Plans & Beyond
Cory Benson
Cory shares more of Rob's goals for the Durmitor (performance road bike), the Mamtor (endurance road platform), and the Kegety (a modern gravel bike). Read here.
“A Hundred Words for Wind” — An Icelandic Cycle - to - Ski Saga by Cody Cirillo and Matthew Tufts Captures the Wild Spirit of Human-Powered Adventure
A 1000 mile circumnavigation of Iceland carrying all their gear & ski equipment on Old Man Mountain racks! More about the adventure in our newsroom.
Ideas
Finding Nessie Wins Best Film of 2025 from Bikepacking.com
Escape Collective is Hiring Mktg, Reporter & Contributor Roles
Escape Collective
One of the best teams in the game putting out the best journalism in the industry is hiring!
Something Ominous Is Happening in the AI Economy
Rogé Karma
I'm definitely on the curmudgeon end of the spectrum when it comes to AI and my take always starts with how brands/apps keep making the 'use this AI' feature button bigger and bigger + placing it where you'll inadvertently click it & get hooked. This article uses CoreWeave as an example of all the financial ponzi pie plate spinning required to keep this trend rolling. Seems dicey!
Friends
Full Calendar: A B2B Sales Trade Show Blueprint
Jakob Thusgaard
Story time: Twotone used to B2B lead gen in the Saas space in our early days. Not only that, I started a B2B sales meetup here called Sales Hacker. It reached 1,000 people in our meetup group. Wild! Well, one of the best speakers and a great member of the community back then was Jakob Thusgaard. And you know, all the consternation about the value of tradeshows in the cycling industry recently? Maybe they need to read Jakob's tips?! ; )
Playground: What can we learn from bike messenger alleycats? // Unsanctioned races and The Commons
What can we learn from bike messenger alleycats? They may be the ultimate example of rejecting the enclosure of a city. My friend Claire Tyler's most recent documentary looks at how alleycats push back against enclosed city space, and change the ideas of dominance and exploitation. It’s the ultimate emancipation for the bike messenger who spends their life so intimately tied to the enclosed streets of the city. Rejecting the ideas of enclosure. Creating the ultimate playground.
This is Not a Bicycle
spencer harding
Dang! Two Petor links in 2 weeks? Stay tuned for more big Bespoked news in the New Year!
"A bicycle and a camera have to be the most efficient combination of tools to try to make sense of as much of the world as possible, as quickly as possible. [...] I don’t feel as old as I am, probably because I’m still more curious than ever. Probably I’m still curious because, where I can, I mostly travel by bike." – Petor Georgallou
Radness
The best science images of 2025 — Nature’s picks
Ok, all of these are rad! Enjoy.The best science images of 2025 — Nature’s picks
Thank you for reading!
Here's to more actual rhythm in 2026!