Let’s F*&%?g ride this 💖 ✊🏿 🌈
Excuse my French (this time for real)
Wow people how much I missed chilled events discovering new routes with old and new friends.
It is all about the ‘s on the Headline of this newsletter. Let’s F*&%?g ride this. Just do it together, not on one of those solo discovery ride, that I really like but populated my Komoot records too much earlier this year.
Well, I think there are many ways to enjoy good company and awesome rides, but I have a bucket of things I usually do to make some new friends and ride some new roads at the same time. Here is a peek for you.
🍓 Shop scouting: Once in a while, I like to explore some bike shops: the smaller and the more independent the better. Cool people usually hang out there, and they know a lot about the nit and grit of the surroundings.
🍇 Coffee Stopping (or better groceries): Cyclists are not only the ones lighting on the (dirty) roads, they are also the ones filling their bellies with junk food, bad coffee, and cheap beers at the end of the rides. I usually check around at the end of my trail hammering and find many of them ready to chat and plan for the next rides.
🍌 Peak Spotting: I do it all the time, stop at a water spring at the top of the most iconic Zurich city dirt climb (Uetliberg). There a lot of people smell the accomplishment of the first climb of the day and super keen to chat. It is a good excuse to continue the ride together and chitty chat about some group rides.
🍋 Gram Jamming: Yep, social media are the best to meet new friends. I know, it can be scary to let an algorithm influence your social (life), but, hey, cyclists are cool people for real and they will be approachable and nice also on IG.
🥭 Community Fishing: Awesome, I met a lot of people in the ways above and then the multiplier is on. I ride, enjoy, talk, explore together with them, and, when I move to another place for living or touring, well, I ask my community and anybody has a friend or a friend of a friend to cruise or offer a sofa to crash into.
🍒 Event Starring: Now it’s time to spin those wheels and see something new. I go to events as much as I can, and often I go there alone. The cycling family is happy to share anything with me, and most of the long-time cycling friends were made at events I went to alone.
Folks it is sooooo coooooool discovering new places with new friends, and I believe that the small things I wrote above can be applied in any contest of life (music, acting, playing, working, parting, harder, stronger) because doing things together is always the best.
Thanks a lot for reading it (and thanks Hristos cameoing the header pic and for inspiring for the subject line of this issue) If you liked this piece and you would like to support me please consider paying me a coffee, the link is down here 👇
Otherwise, just forward this email to your contacts, it is also a great help for me.
Peace Out ✌️
Cycling Glimpses 💖
Stories start traveling up and down through the grape vine
I talked events and friends. Well, this is exactly how that story comes around. The Bohemian Border Bash Race is a spin-off of the Bohemian Border Bash Camp: basically, the way my bud Vendelín Ondřej Veselý makes people discover the stunning area between Bohemia and Moravia using his eyes and style. Stoke, chill, grit and fun with one single line: Ignoring Borders Since 2019. This year was the first edition of the BBBR and to celebrate it, bikepacking.com featured a story of my friends Jon Woodroof, Bas Rotgans with photos of another friend Nils Laengner. Well, I consider myself a regular of the Camp, but if in the future I would consider a decent kick-off in the ultraendurance world, well, probably the Bohemian Border Bash Race will be my choice. And this article put a solid brick on my potential plan (for now).
2021 Bohemian Border Bash Race Recap: Tales from Two Riders 🐿️ — Enjoy it in 10 min
The only reason we were on Amazon was because we had to be
I was attracted by this article because I love the brand PNW: awesome mountain bike components reasonably priced and with sick style. Then I realized that they pioneered ditching the e-commerce monster with the goal of saving their business while supporting local shops. Well, this is exactly the summary of my idea of sustainable business against extreme consumerism and crappy manufacturing. I believe that instead of complaining while keep on being only part of the game we all need to make a move, companies as well, and, damn, Aaron did it.
As demand for bikes surged, Amazon got in the way 🤠 — Read it in 7 mins (if you can)
What is the meaning of life?
Dunno what to tell you people: I love Nam and Ultraromance aesthetics and narrative style. Even just to explain what’s best for different surfaces, they explode iconic sentences and deep style. And it has a lot of meaning too: nothing is similar but everything is fun to ride. Is this the synthesis of inclusivity? Is inclusivity the bottom line of life?
How To Choose The Right Bike Tire 🥌 — It is just 8.54 mins
Mountain sparkles ✨
She is very clever so she should do it
People, after this story I broke into tears. I was commuting my way with the train looking for some mountain stories for a content project, and I found this: the Ballard family through the Nanga Parbat challenge. I say nothing more than that: even in the cold 8am train people offered me tissues hearing my loud sobbing while staring at the phone. It is so powerful.
The story of Tom Ballard who disappeared on Nanga Parbat in 2019 | The Last Mountain 🐻 — Watch it for 4:36 mins
Sounds 🎧
I still wanna skate it. Can I skate it?
Yep, skateboard made a huge jump into my life this year, and I love discovering a sport that is way more than that and characters that are more than just glossy magazine covers. And this interview with Lizzie Armanto is exactly this, a talk that goes from the Olympics to horror movies with the same smoothness of a drivetrain degreaser.
Lizzie Armanto UNLEASHED Podcast E15 🎷 — Refresh your hears for 60:18 mins
The BroomWagon Podcast 🚌
The last episode for a bit
Yo people, I’m wrapping the Sustainable conversations as well as the #4 season of the BroomWagon Podcast. How does it look like? Are you sad? Don’t be, I should (should) be back soon, in the meantime just enjoy an amazing chat with Iris Slappendel and Lexi Brown of IRIS (I Ride in Style) about circular design and sustainability, but also women’s cycling development and inclusivity. I’m so happy to have had Iris and Lexi putting the BW Podcast to rest, for now: I have a lot to process thanks to them.
Sustainable Conversations on the BroomWagon 🚌 S2E4: Iris Slappendel & Lexi Brown — IRIS 🦄 — Listen for 1.15h
Cheers 🍻
Thanks a lot for reading ‘till here. Don’t forget to share it with your friends and see you later. You want to tell me something, give me feedback or shout at my mouth? Hit reply and let me know. 🎯
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