Cycotherapy Friday News Roundup
Happy Friday.
Happy Friday, cycopaths.
Thanks for voting on your favorite name for this new news roundup thingy. I’ll admit, it was hard to pass up using the word “thingy” in the title. That’s OK, though. The People have spoken.
Quick story time.
I missed Wednesday’s post because I was a little bummed. I know, not a great excuse. On Monday, you see, I went boating for the first time in like three years and because of the time that had lapsed, I boated hard. My brother-in-law, God love him, loves to drive boats fast. He just got a new one and it has two jets instead of the conventional propellers. Fast bugger. And so me and everyone else daring enough to be whipped around on a tube were his guinea pigs. It’s not his fault, though. We encouraged and fueled his need for speed on his new giant floating jet. Like, dude this thing is fast. And, Paul this thing is so smooth and quiet. And fast. Did I mention it has jets? Like, literal jets, man.
Well, on the last run of the afternoon, it was me and one of his sons tethered to the inflatable tube, hanging on for our dear little lives, the choppy waves giving us everything they got to knock us completely off and out. We hung for a while. A long while. My strategy was to not let go. And it went well until it didn’t. I don’t remember exactly what happened. One moment I was hanging on, outside of the wake, as they say, where the waves are supersized, and we hit one of them head on. Like Starsky & Hutch’s 1976 Gran Torino in a chase scene, the tube is no longer a tube but a sail, catching the air, pulling us violently into the stratosphere where all we remember is seeing each other’s wide-eyed faces in slow motion as we plummeted into the concrete-hard water. When we hit, time speeds up again — our bodies becoming elastic crash dummies mangled and beaten. In the water, everything goes dark for a moment before I open my eyes and take a gasping breath for the first time in like, I don’t know, three infinitely long seconds.
We’re laughing like hyenas. Because what else do you do? I mean, it was fun and I bet the image of two men flying uncontrollably through the air was a pretty funny image to everyone who bore witness. We get back onto the boat and I realize my chest hurts. Weird. Hurts when I breathe deeply too. Is my chest broken? Nah. Your chest can’t break. Sternum though? No idea. Oh, maybe I have a bruised rib. Can’t be a cracked rib. Hitting water can’t do that.
Many articles online later, I think it’s a bruised rib.
So on Tuesday night, when I came to my computer to write something for Wednesday, I just couldn’t. Maybe there was just too much to write about, because on Sunday, when I went out for a ride on my bike and was feeling really good, really strong, a mechanical mishap cut my ride short. It bummed me out a bit, but overall, the three-day weekend was great. I had an awesome time hanging out with family and friends and it was good to at least get outside under the sun for a little and have some laughs and smell the sunscreen and the morning dew and hear the birds singing about the start of a new season.
There was too much to compute. Needed a day to synthesize.
Nonetheless, we’re back baby.
headlines
The Year of the E-bike?
Last week’s piece about New York’s rebate program for e-bikes got me interested to know about other legislation in states across the country. I found this interesting piece on Minnesota Public Radio that discusses the state’s new rebate program, which offers a maximum rebate of $1,500, up to 75% of the value of a new e-bike. It’s scaled based on a person’s income. If you’re curious how these rebate programs stack up against each other, check out this article — it summarizes state and city legislation. There are currently 12 states nationwide that have state-wide rebate programs, and several of these states have cities with their own versions.
I’m not sure what I think about this yet. At this point, I’m just curious. At first glance, I’m a bit leery of the government letting my local bike shop know how much money I make so they can determine how much I can afford. And why e-bikes? What about offering a rebate for regular, leg-powered bikes too? And when does it become the government offering rebates for scooters, OneWheels and hoverboards?
Remember COVID-19’s impact on the cycling industry?
A lot of people came onto cycling during the pandemic. It was something safe to do, and turns out, healthy. I think most people know this. But how much of an impact did it really have? There’s a new report out on the actual impact of the pandemic on the bike industry. And it was big. Like, 620% big.
The report showed a 620% increase in bikes and bike accessories sales between 2020 and 2023. In just a few months in 2020, monthly spending on bikes and accessories rose from around $6 billion per month to over $8 billion per month.
New requirement for city council people: get hit by a car
Pedestrian deaths in the U.S. are the highest they’ve been in 40 years. This has spurred lawmakers across the country to take a hard look at efficient ways to make streets safer and to slow drivers down. I thought this little snippet in an AP article was interesting: “Atlanta City Councilman Jason Dozier said he realized he could have been another victim — he was hit by a car while riding a bike. ‘That experience really did a lot to radicalize me,’ Dozier said.”
As someone who was hit by an SUV while riding his road bike two years ago, that resonated with me. I wouldn’t say I’m radicalized, but I definitely pay more attention to what cities are doing to make cycling and walking on streets safer. Maybe more council people and legislators need to get hit by cars? (Only kidding. Kinda.)
The politicization of ‘new mobility’
Speaking of making streets safer and urban planning and whatnot, here’s an article that gets into what the author calls conspiracy theories about “Agenda 21” and 15-minute cities. Sheesh.
Don’t get me wrong, I like me a juicy conspiracy. But come on. Infrastructure is like the most boring thing about government ever. I don’t think urban planners and engineers are conspiring to make sidewalks wider to make room for AI-powered robots to roam the streets and check for vaccine passports. But then again, the COVID-19 lab leak used to be a conspiracy theory pushed by the likes of Joe Rogan and Alex Berenson until it wasn’t.
An update: transgenderism in elite cycling
Transgender women are not allowed to compete in elite cycling races in the UK. That rule, which hasn’t come into effect just yet, was announced by British Cycling on May 26. “The research concluded that riders who went through puberty as a male have a clear performative advantage that cannot be fully mitigated by testosterone suppression.” The policy change came 13 months after British Cycling changed its rules following transgender woman Emily Bridges’ attempt to race at the national omnium championships as a female rider.
feature of the week
This story has nothing to do with cycling. Remember that story I told you in the beginning of this newsletter? The one about me bruising or cracking my rib during an intense water tubing experience? Well, right before I decided to get on the tube, “Lighting Crashes” by Live played over the boat’s radio. I was jamming. Great, weird song. And the song has been lodged in my head since.
So at some point this last week, I found this article written by Andy Greene for Rolling Stone and it’s about Chris Shinn, the man who fronted for the band from 2012 to 2016, and how he landed the gig. And then it’s about how he lost the gig and still (at least since November 2022) turns off the radio when he hears “Lightning Crashes” because of how it dredges up memories of performing it and then losing it all because the rest of the band just decided to oust him. And now — get this — he rides his bike to help him cope and keep him healthy. (So this story most definitely does have something to do with cycling.)
song of the week
No surprise here.
dish of the week
Smoked Brisket garnished with pickled onions & jalapeños. This was also part of our three-day weekend. I finally just went for it and the meat turned out awesome, despite my neurotic reading and re-reading of various recipes all over the internet. There are 57 million different ways you can smoke a brisket, but here’s one. Feel free to use it. This is all for a 17.5 pound brisket.
For the pickled stuff
-Fill up a jar or glassware that you can cover with 1 cup of hot water, 1 cup of apple cider vinegar.
-Pour 1 tablespoon of sugar and 1 tablespoon of salt into the liquid. Stir and let it dissolve.
-Slice a red onion. Thin slices. And then slice 3-4 jalapeños.
-Put them in the jar or container and cover. Refrigerate until ready to eat.
For the brisket
-Pre-heat your smoker to 225 degrees. If you’re using a charcoal smoker, places some wood chunks or chips in with the charcoal. I used oak.-Trim the meat. Check out this video for guidance.
-Rub both sides with yellow mustard. Then, coat it with salt and pepper and garlic powder. Make sure it’s properly coated.
-Put the meat on the grill and shut the lid. Leave it for 6 hours.
-Check the internal temp. When it reads 165-175, pull it off the grill. Put some room-temp butter on the meat, along with some brown sugar, on both sides. Wrap it with butcher paper.
-Put it back on the grill and shut the lid for another 7 hours or so, checking the internal temperature periodically.
-When the internal temperature reaches 200-210 degrees, take it off. You’re done, almost.
-Let it rest for 30 minutes to 2 hours.
-If you need it to stay hot for a while before you eat, read this article and follow the instructions for keeping it in a cooler. Very effective. I did this and it stayed piping hot for a solid four hours. Could have kept it hot for another four hours, really.
-When you’re ready to eat, slice it up against the grain.
Thanks for reading today, folks. I hope your Friday rocks and I hope your weekend is full of riding and happiness. And if it’s not full of riding and happiness, I hope it at least rocks.
Hey, do me a favor and tell your friends about this newsletter. (If you like it, that is. If you don’t like it, why are you still here man?)
Feeling the rib pain too. I think I broke some on Sunday falling on my dirt bike! What a way to start the summer.
The brisket was the BEST I have ever had!!