Cycotherapy's first-ever news bulletin thingy

Happy Friday.

I’ve been kicking around an idea for a while. Thought I’d give it a try today, see how it goes.

Today I’d like to introduce all you cycopaths to our very first newsletter. Or bulletin. I’ve been receiving Google alerts and reading lots of things on the internet related to cycling and life over the years and today I’ve decided to share it all with you in case you’re interested.

(Also, I’ve been a local news reporter for the last 10 years, so, reading and reporting the news is kinda in my blood at this point.)

It’ll come out at some point every Friday. There will be newsy stuff I’ve read over the last week related to cycling, summarized in sometimes-snarky tones. There will be a feature of the week. There will be a drink or dish recommendation (something we’ve tried over the last week that I think you might also like). I might also feature silly and/or serious videos or funny tweets or book quotes that catch my eye that you can shoot the shit about on your weekend ride with buddies.

This is the first iteration; expect it to morph and evolve as time moves forward. And please, please, feel empowered to let me know how it could be better.

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headlines

A survey on transgender participation in UCI

• USA Cycling sent out a survey to its members recently asking them about transgender eligibility. This is one of those stories with a headline that makes you say “uh-oh.” The survey is called “USA Cycling Survey on the UCI Transgender Eligibility Regulations.” Apparently, the purpose of the survey is to gain an understanding of athletes who participate in UCI events in the U.S. and to then aggregate the data for the UCI, who will in turn establish rules in this controversial gray area. But … the transgender community feels threatened by the survey and is, according to a Bicycling freelance writer, demanding the survey be rescinded.

DSG doing well after first quarter of sales

• Dick’s Sporting Goods reported a 5.3% increase in net sales from Q1. The retailer said the sales hike was driven by a 2.7% increase in transactions and higher average ticket. So maybe more people are buying bikes? Who knows. If that’s true, there might be a continuing surge of new bikers on the trails and roads. I think that’s a good thing. Period.

Memorial Day sales galore!

• Speaking of buying stuff. There’s a bunch of stores that sell cycling stuff and brands with sales this Memorial Day weekend, if you haven’t heard. From panniers to POC helmets, you’re sure to find a deal if shopping online this weekend is your thang.

Would you buy an e-bike if you got a rebate?

• E-bike sales have stayed solid for a few years now, and is expected to keep doing really, really well. So well, in fact, that states like New York are offering incentives for buying them. This Bicycling Magazine article goes into NY’s bill that offers a 50% rebate for e-bikes (classes 1-3) up to $1,100.

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feature of the week

A Mountain Bike Ride and Interview with Bob Weir

A fellow cycopath shared this gem with me a little while back. It’s a great read that, fortunately for us, ended up online some 30 years after it was printed in Dirt Rag. (RIP.) Who knew one of Grateful Dead’s founding members rode mountain bikes?

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book excerpt of the week

Everything’s water hissing under tires and bikes spraying cold fantails of grit, and no rider talks, not that I can hear over the rain and my concentrating on what I’m doing so I don’t slip and crash. Once in a while, a rider will start to talk, to say there’s a car up or a car back, if there is one, but nothing much except wet cyclists moving on the road today. No cars. No people lining the ride route. Not even the dogs have come out to chase us today. Somewhere out there the mountains loom, but nobody here can see them.

I think I’ve known all summer, maybe my whole life, that epic is as epic does, that however long the odds and impossible the goal may seem, this is no reason to sit on the couch and say it can’t be done. I ride the first fifty miles in a tropical downpour, I’ve ridden all summer to avoid a thirty-nine-year-old downslide, and when I start the first major climb of the Bridge to Bridge, up NC 181, from its intersection with Old Adako Road at 1,097 feet to Old Jonas Ridge School at 3,750 feet, when the grade won’t go away and the higher and higher I get the colder and colder and foggier and foggier the air gets till I’m literally in the clouds and can’t see a thing except the ghost forms of the riders strung along the road above me, this is when I understand what great good happens when human beings climb mountains on bicycles. We do not climb the mountain because it’s there; we climb it because we can.

Mike Magnuson — “Heft on Wheels”

drink of the week

• Yeah, yeah — I’m basic. But sometimes the simple, basic pleasures of life are enough. This week, which has been pleasantly summery, we bought a drink that is dangerously tasty: Cayman Jack Margarita. In a can. Hack: pour it over ice with a slice of lime/lemon. Enjoy in an outdoor chair or hammock. Shoes, not required. Chef’s kiss.

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Last thing before we part ways on this glorious Friday. I need a name for this new news thingy. Here are some ideas. Vote on the one you like best and we’ll go with that. If you don’t like any of the names, at least leave a suggestion in the comments!