Hello! Also an extra hello to quite a few new subscribers! : )
I've spent this week working at Workspace Six again. The Netherlands is easing restrictions and we've also restarted our Ampler Test rides. I've been outside enough riding recently but being 'back at work' was a welcome step in the return to normalcy.
Compared to the Zoom Gloom theme of last week, at least for me and many others I've ran into over the past week, here in Amsterdam: the tide feels to be turning back to enjoying life together.
How is it going where you are?
Well, for today's intro I thought to share some truisms courtesy of Kevin Kelly, who turned 68 recently. I won't share all 68 that he published but I'll share my top 10. Though all 68 are sooo good!
1. Always demand a deadline. A deadline weeds out the extraneous and the ordinary. It prevents you from trying to make it perfect, so you have to make it different. Different is better.
2. Gratitude will unlock all other virtues and is something you can get better at.
3. Treating a person to a meal never fails, and is so easy to do. It’s powerful with old friends and a great way to make new friends.
4. Pros are just amateurs who know how to gracefully recover from their mistakes.
5. To make mistakes is human. To own your mistakes is divine. Nothing elevates a person higher than quickly admitting and taking personal responsibility for the mistakes you make and then fixing them fairly. If you mess up, fess up. It’s astounding how powerful this ownership is.
6. Trust me: There is no “them”.
7. The more you are interested in others, the more interesting they find you. To be interesting, be interested.
8. Optimize your generosity. No one on their deathbed has ever regretted giving too much away.
9. The Golden Rule will never fail you. It is the foundation of all other virtues.
10. Show up. Keep showing up. Somebody successful said: 99% of success is just showing up.
11. Over the long term, the future is decided by optimists. To be an optimist you don’t have to ignore all the many problems we create; you just have to imagine improving our capacity to solve problems.
Ok, that was 11 but all the more reason to read all 68.
all the best from Amsterdam and have a good weekend,
Jon
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cover photo by Lian van Leeuwen
The Bike | What, how and why do we ride?
The Legendary Jay Sycip of Chris King, Sycip Design on We Got To Hang Out.
If you don't know Jay, you should! What a pleasure listen to this story : )
One thing we know is that Jay Sycip has taste. He's a designer by training, gourmand by appetite, and a fastidious collector of fine things that go fast. It's plausibly true that at one point Jay was considered the San Francisco James Bond. These days he spends his time fine tuning the aesthetic at Chris King Components while pampering his 911 or spending hours aboard his e-bike. Yes he owned a bike company. Yes he owned a nightclub. But we'll get to all of that in the pod.
5/31 Jon Woodroof – Pen Paper Steel
Richard from Pen Paper Steel has been interviewing a person a day for the whole month of May. I'm honored to have been on this list!
So if you're keen to read about what I've been up to in corona time, my opinion of the gravel scene + new quarantine hobbies... check it out :D
Now is the time to enable active travel, not just encourage it
Nice one from Adam at Fusion Media in London! Let's stop the return of ‘carownervirus’ too!
The Work | How Twotone & others are working
During a Pandemic, ‘How Are You?’ Is a Bad Question
The “How are you?” “I’m fine” exchange has typically been a bit of a deceptive one. [...] The dialogue is an “adjacency pair,” or a short two-person script that is performed in a particular order. [...] Fulfilling the expectation to say you’re “fine” when your life is even just a little less fine than usual can be hard. Saying “I’m fine” when the honest answer [...] can feel like an outright farce.
Consider: 'What’s your day been like so far?' or 'Are you still holding up okay?' because: "One of the kindest gestures we can extend to others in a time like this is to make clear that they don’t have to pretend they’re fine."
GRAVEL BIKE MAGAZINE
@roadbike.magazin has launched GRAVELBIKE & it’s awesome!
Corona has had us all cooped up for so long that seeing so many familiar faces in print not only evoked wistful nostalgia for unpaved adventure with friends but sparked starry-eyed optimism for when we’ll all ride together again!
Congratulations to the whole editorial team for making a first issue that beautifully depicts the eclectic community that gravel riding has grown to become here in Europe and beyond.
Thank you for making this magazine!
Das neue Gravelbike Magazin & seine Gründer - People Abroad
Building upon the last link is a deeper dive behind the new GRAVELBIKE magazine from Germany.
The read is auf Deutsch but here is a google translation.
The World | How life could change around the 🌎
Interview with an Outsider
Maisa Imamović interviewed Ruth Les, fka as Jess Henderson, founder of Outsider.
I've linked to Jess' (now ending soon) newsletter here several times here and suggest you give this one a read too!
How the origin story of the Adman is harming our industry
Executive Strategy Director Miriam Plon Sauer on the destructive self-narrative the PR and comms industry has - and how we can change it.
"To me, one of the big misunderstandings of brand purpose is that it has to be linked to societal or environmental causes. Brand purpose is not necessarily an ethical question. It's about what the purpose of your brand is. You can't just pick up an environmental or societal issue to attract a new audience. You have to find something that's true to the brand and its heritage."
spoiler alert: "There are a lot of great ways to make a positive contribution to society that are not necessarily societal or environmental. "
TAKE ACTION
ShiftCyclingCulture published new Take Action pages on their site about how we all can make a difference. Now, more than ever.
Radness
DER JUNGE MUSS VON DER STRASSE
Ad Lips Productions made a beautiful short film about Marc Maurer:
Back in the days I always thought I need to ride as many kilometers or meters in elevation as possible
Or that I have to have a high average speed
At some point I realized that it was total nonsense I just want to have fun and want to be free riding my bike.
I don’t want to torture myself all the time I just don’t like the whole performance idea