Cycotherapy News Roundup: Heaviness, e-bikes, the TDF, rats, turning out the light and Fun.
Another wacky roundup of tidbits on the interwebs that is only mildly related to cycling
Hello everyone.
Thanks for taking some time out of your day to get caught up on some of cycling’s interesting stories. I hope they entertain, inform, move and/or inspire.
I’m going to be honest with you all. It was a heavy news week. Tragic stories. Lots of reporting on things involving death. Of young people. And loss. Building this newsletter — this fun, bouncing, jocular newsletter — felt sorta wrong this week.
I just want the world to not be so messed up.
I hope your week hasn’t been filled with depressing news. If it has, here’s some stuff that might make you (and, hopefully, eventually, me) smile. Or at least distract you for a minute or two. And if your week has been amazing and wonderful, I’m glad for you. Envious even.
Sincerely,
dillon.
headlines & links
Cavendish sets sight on TDF stage-win record
It’s official. Mark Cavendish, the 38 year-old cyclist who announced his retirement in May, has experienced a change of heart. He said, in true cycopath fashion: "I was ready, I was at peace, but the more I've ridden this summer, I just love riding my bike.” He starts the Tour of Turkey in a couple days, but has set his sights on a 35th stage win in 2024 to join the annals of TDF greatness.
E-bike sales outpace electric cars in U.S.
I mean, it makes sense. An e-bike is much less expensive than it is to buy a new electric car — even after the IRS’ $7,500 tax credit. This Forbes piece outlines the rise of e-bike sales in the U.S. But e-bikes are also outpacing pedal bike sales in Germany.
Speaking of Germany …
The country’s car makers want in on the E revolution. Porsche and Audi have their own e-bike fleets. How much will a Porsche e-bike set you back? Anywhere from $9,500 to $15,350. Save some money and go with a $9,400 Audi e-bike. Or, you know, just get a pedal bike for, like $150.
Gravel in the TDF 2024
There’s going to be a gravel section during the ninth stage of the Tour de France. The inclusion of a “white road” section through the Troyes region has been used before, in 2022, and will likely spark lots of debate. Again. We won’t know how long of a gravel section this ninth stage will be until three weeks, when the entire men’s and women’s route will be revealed.
Lael Wilcox wants to be the fastest woman
…to travel around the world on a bike. She plans to ride 18,000 miles in just 110 days, which would beat the current record of 124 days, 10 hours, and 50 minutes held by Jenny Graham since 2018. She’ll probably do it. She won the Trans Am Bike Race in 2016, becoming the first woman and the first American to win it. (And she had only started racing in 2014.) That’s not all, though. Check out this woman’s Wikipedia page. It’s nuts how accomplished she is.
feature of the week
Not at all a story about cycling … I just really enjoyed reading this piece by J.B. MacKinnon. He defends the most abhorred of vermin, the rat, in this feature-length story published in Hakai Magazine. He then offers a seemingly preposterous solution to cities plagued with their existence: communicate with them. But how?
If the rat was not the bête noire of the Black Death; if it poses a low risk of disease in many places, and, where it is poses a higher risk, is a better reflection of how poorly our societies care for the vulnerable than the real dangers of the animal itself; if the rat is not aggressive or filthy; if the rat is not a shadow of our worst qualities but instead can reflect our best; and if—perhaps most important of all—we cannot win our cruel war against them, then an obvious question remains. What are we to do about rats?
The surprising answer—one that recalls Barthélemy de Chasseneuz’s demand that the voice of rats be heard—may be this: communicate with them.
book excerpt of the week
NO DIFFERENCE
Small as a peanut,
Big as a giant,
We’re all the same size
When we turn out the light.
Rich as a sultan,
Poor as a mite,
We’re all worth the same
When we turn out the light.
Red, black or orange,
Yellow or white,
We all look the same
When we turn out the light.
So maybe the way
To make everything right
Is for God to just reach out
And turn off the light!
Shel Silverstein — Where the Sidewalk Ends