Hello!
Surprise! I managed to get an issue out after my first really relaxing Sunday in what feels like quite some time. It has been a busy few weeks at Twotone HQ since issue Nº240 which culminated to yesterday's Ride Out Around the Olympic. Our greatest contribution to the event beyond PR promotion and day-of photography was to get the Puncheur duo from Belgium up to Amsterdam to do a custom spray-paint portrait of Piet van Heusden, the Netherlands' oldest living world champion!
Cutting to the chase, I saw Kevin Kelly recently turned 70 and his list I last shared at the beginning of corona two years ago (check out #4 as it pertains to this week's title) was just the beginning. He shared 99 when he turned 69 & for his 70th: a whopping 103!
Again, I've picked only 10 to share here:
- Don't keep making the same mistakes; try to make new mistakes.
- If you stop to listen to a musician or street performer for more than a minute, you owe them a dollar.
- Efficiency is highly overrated; Goofing off is highly underrated. Regularly scheduled sabbaths, sabbaticals, vacations, breaks, aimless walks and time off are essential for top performance of any kind. The best work ethic requires a good rest ethic.
- When you lead, your real job is to create more leaders, not more followers.
- Productivity is often a distraction. Don’t aim for better ways to get through your tasks as quickly as possible, rather aim for better tasks that you never want to stop doing.
- Immediately pay what you owe to vendors, workers, and contractors. They will go out of their way to work with you first and next time.
- Your growth as a conscious being is measured by the number of uncomfortable conversations you are willing to have.
- Speak confidently as if you are right, but listen carefully as if you are wrong.
- The consistency of your endeavors (exercise, companionship, work) is more important than the quantity. Nothing beats small things done every day, which is way more important than what you do occasionally.
- Spend as much time crafting the subject line of an email as the message itself because the subject line is often the only thing people read.
- When you have some success, the feeling of being an imposter can be real. Who am I fooling? But when you create things that only you — with your unique talents and experience — can do, then you are absolutely not an imposter. You are the ordained. It is your duty to work on things that only you can do.
- A wise man said, “Before you speak, let your words pass through three gates. At the first gate, ask yourself, “Is it true?” At the second gate ask, “Is it necessary?” At the third gate ask, “Is it kind?”
- For the best results with your children, spend only half the money you think you should, but double the time with them.
Ok, ok. That's 13. ; )
The whole list is epic!
thank you, as always, for reading & sharing this newsletter,
Jon
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📷 banner image by my colleague @kike.molares for @rideout.amsterdam's innagural @rondesvanamsterdam event: #rideoutaroundtheolympic
Cycling
"I'll be back soon. Count on me" – Changing perceptions of motherhood in cycling
After 125 years of Paris-Roubaix, women finally raced those fabled cobbles as well. Several months after winning that historic 1st edition of the women's race last October, Britain's Lizzie Deignan was pregnant with her second child. She announced that she was temporarily retiring from cycling but in same press release, the Trek-Segafredo team announced that her contract would be extended until 2024.
This was a very big and very uncommon announcement.
Gazelle New Heritage; Rediscover Amsterdam by e-bike Jun 9, 10 or 11
Learn about today's technologies and tomorrow's heritage while riding on the latest Gazelle e-bikes in the city of Amsterdam from Ride Out.
Silver stuff and rear derailer stuff...
Grant from Rivendell digresses about his affinity for rust, various versions of silver finishing on rear derailleurs & even dives into the 'derailer' that Riv is working on. Cool!
Friends
Cybro at Bespoked 2021 & 2022!
Some nice nostalgia from last year's Bespoked on their insta as they featured our friends at Cybro:
"It was great fun meeting and hanging out with @cybroindustries who against all odds made it over from Italy to last years Bespoked. They brought their award winning separable dropout system for running a @carbondrive as well as their unique style of building using CNC aluminium lugs with carbon tubes.
They'll be back this year with a bigger booth in the velodrome! We can't wait to catch up this year and see what new stuff they've been up to."
Learn more about Cybro Industries here.
Ocean Industries' Spotlight on Greece
My friend Panos Sinopoulos of Fixed Gear Volunteer & Ocean Industries, a Greek sports savvy public relations agency, recently caught up & he shared a cool Greek cycling scene overview:
- Mark Cavendish performed his 10-day spring training of 2021 in Athens, his coach is Greek and before that he was head coach of a semi-pro race academy that had its annual training in Greece.
- Rad Race, created a cycling camp in Greece last October, Gore Wear sent them to shoot the summer 2021 collection in Greece & Rad Race’s new apparel are also shot in Greece.
- There are some Greece-based manufacturers that sell globally like Donhou Bikes and Ena Bags.
- Greece apparently has its own Gravel Channel. Whoa!
- There are some nice fixed gear races taking place there too.
- Spray.Bike was created there. (hey guys!)
- 3T presented its new gravel bike on the island of Kos. And Panos could help make this a possibility for other brands too.
- The Tour of Greece 2022 took place a few weeks ago; revived after 10 years of pause.
Catrin Bach's ebooks written in Croatia
I first got to know Catrin when I bought German baby books from her before I moved to Amsterdam and still spoke German to my son more than 10 years ago!
Catrin recently asked me to share this link & this code 'TWOTONE50' for 50% off all her books in her webstore valid only this month.
I'm keen to perhaps visit her in Rab, Croatia with my family this summer!
Work
What Your Younger Employees Are Really Thinking
Twelve millennials talked to Times Opinion about the Great Resignation, returning to the office and the workplace in America today.
Quite skewed to USA opinions but you could argue that some of the sentiment is generational & international as well. Food for thought, nonetheless.
Also on the NYT: Why We Can’t Quit the Guitar Solo.
So are your younger employees thinking about guitar solos? 🤔
Yerbo' Burnout survey
I found this anonymous survey asking about your emotions and perceptions regarding your current job very interesting. I'll consider how to incorporate it and/or other surveys below into our team to keep track of stress & other factors proactively.
They also have a Work Engagement survey, Mental Traps survey & Job Satisfaction Survey. Pretty neat!
Radness
Daft & Dox Present: WHEREABOUTS | Sights & Sounds
Whereabouts is a brand new, adventurous live music & gravel experience in the Ardennes!
Taking place July 1st - 3rd, you'll head down to the most iconic areas of the Ardennes near Malmedy, Belgium to leave early in the morning on the 2nd, enjoy the landscape during the day, and come back to Daft Hotel for a shower, food, drinks, and live music in the evening. It is going to be radical!
Learn more & reserve your spot here.