Hey!
What are you doing Dec 13th? Hopefully celebrating 5 years of Twotone with us here in Amsterdam! Updates about the party below!
Though I can't say the past 5 years have gone by particularly fast but 2019 surely has. And speaking of long stretches of quick tempo with bursts of of bareknuckle acceleration, I've been pinning race numbers & getting back in the groove of bike racing on the track & in the mud recently.
Not only have I been suffering mid-pack but sharing some funny race recaps too: last week at Sloten, the week before at Spaarnwoude, Twiske & Excelsior. Thank you for all the filming Brayden!
It's great to be back as mostly in the past two years, I thought I was too busy or exhausted to ride and certainly not fit to race. But, of course, I knew being chronically stressed meant I was doing something wrong. I think most people share the goal to build a remarkable life, if so, then busyness and exhaustion should be your enemy.
There is this classic post by Cal Newport entitled If You’re Busy, You’re Doing Something Wrong: The Surprisingly Relaxed Lives of Elite Achievers. It is Cal's interpretation of this paper written in the early 1990s by a trio of psychologists who descended upon the Universität der Künste, a historic arts academy in the heart of West Berlin. They came to study the violinists. Cal emphasises the distinction between hard work and hard to do work:
• Hard work is deliberate practice. It’s not fun while you’re doing it, but you don’t have to do too much of it in any one day (the elite players spent, on average, 3.5 hours per day engaged in deliberate practice, broken into two sessions). It also provides you measurable progress in a skill, which generates a strong sense of contentment and motivation. Therefore, although hard work is hard, it’s not draining and it can fit nicely into a relaxed and enjoyable day.
• Hard to do work, by contrast, is draining. It has you running around all day in a state of false busyness that leaves you, like the average players from the Berlin study, feeling tired and stressed. It also, as we just learned, has very little to do with real accomplishment.
There are a few lessons in his post but as many of the 310 comments echo: the elite players actually got more rest. I’ve written about this a lot.Rest is best! So for me, ensuring that I deliberately balance work (hard work & hard to do work) & life (responsibilities & fun) + getting enough rest has meant getting back into racing not only felt possible but sparked more stoke & vigor for everything else too!
As always, thank you for reading!
with appreciation,
Jon
p.s.
If you enjoy this issue, please consider spreading the word:
➫ 🐦 Please tweet💼 Share on LinkedIn🚩Post on FB.
p.p.s.
Cycling
Far Ride Magazine, Issue 11
Some time ago, Sogon from Far Ride asked to write about fatherhood and cycling.
Pick up an issue to read it here.
The photo above is from a very special day on the bike with Otto & Mira in Belgium for 2016's Retro Ronde van Vlaanderen. ❤️
Pen Paper Steel
I love extra special builds like this. ❤️
Soigneur - Mallorcan Gravel
Jelle is my neighbor, does rad things for Patagonia Europe + has an inspiring instagram.
I wanna get back to Mallorca soon too. But without a plane ; )
Challenges, Company Mistakes & Climate Change
Andrew Thorn interviewed by Stefano aka Calamaro 🦑 on The Broom Wagon
Thank you for for the shout in the intro Stefano!
On Broom Wagon – Season 3 – Episode 7, Stefano features the Ampler Challenge, an extreme commute challenge with their amazing e-bikes. This year Ampler chose 3 amazing stories among more than 3500 applicants. Among those 3, Stefano chose to decided to Andrew, who chose to ride his Ampler Curt to Iona on the west coast of Scotland. The place he went for his honeymoon 22 years ago and has wanted to return to since his wife died 8 years ago in 2011.
- More about The Ampler challenge: https://amplerbikes.com/en/ampler-challenge-2019
- More about Andrew's story: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uiIT5utLSYQ
23 Mistakes This Creative Marketing Agency Made This Year
To be fair, I could claim more than a few of these too.
How about you?
What Footage From 1980s Bike Races Can Teach Us About Climate Change
Ignore the Lycra.
Look at the flowers.
Twotone Turns Five!
We’re throwing a mega party to celebrate 5 years of pushing big gears!
Running an agency is never easy & having consistently inspiring clients, a tireless dream team of dedicated colleagues and the special opportunity to work predominately in the cycling industry has made it all more than worth it!
These incredible classic kit homage mash-ups are courtesy @yorit_kluitman of @pathfinder_giro.
He re-designed our orange logo years ago & we tasked him with a remix. We love it. ♥️ We’ll be doing some limited stickers, patches and, of course, pins by @buzzorama!
PERMANENT PARTY FAVORS
@frankvandersman of @pointofnoreturn.studio made flash for #twotoneturnsfive.
We’re also amped to announce that @paulsmoothsailingtattoo will be supporting & also tattooing @workspacesix on Dec 13, 2019.
Plan to get get your tattoo between 5pm & 9pm.
First come, first serve!
Do Nothing EP, by Fix Everything
We've booked local Amsterdam band Fix Everything to play our 5 year party. Listen to their EP here on bandcamp (or Spotify) & read more about how this band ended up on my radar here. So stoked!
Radness
Simon Hedman's video for Strava's Must Ride campaign
This is what my friend Simon can do with:
- 1 x Camera
- 1 x Fiat 500 + driver
- 5 x Local cyclists
- 1 x 100km of road in the south of Sweden
I first featured photos from this project 5 issues ago ; )