Hello!
This past weekend was the 1st Environmental Impact Cycling Barcamp hosted by Shift Cycling Culture & Roetz-Bikes.
Attending brands included Ampler Bikes, Riese & Müller, Canyon Bicycles, Cycloon, ROSE Bikes, Shimano Benelux / PRO Bike Gear, Swapfiets, Urban Arrow, Schindelhauer Bikes, Trek Bicycle, Bicloo Upcycling, Gravel Collective & more! Twotone shared some images here: twotoneams.link/EICB-Day-1
A special highlight for me was leading the day two ride from our office. Check out the recap video here: twotoneams.link/EICB-Day-2
It was a solid two days of challenging, inspiring & inherently international conversations about better ways to build & sell bikes. 'Looking away' certainly has a negative connotation, especially when it comes to tough topics like responsibility & sustainability, but when it comes to conversation, as I learned this week, turns out it's not that bad:
"Eye contact is a vital part of non-verbal communication and certainly useful in learning situations. Equally vital, however, is the ability to break eye contact." – Marc Smith
So the next time you're tackling a tough topic in the conversation, feel empowered to look away; it's ok!
Wishing you a great week ahead and, as always, thank you for reading & sharing this newsletter,
Jon
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- 📷 Featured image courtesy Felix Krakow at Day of EICB 2023
Cycling
Building a Women-led Cycling Community
@Pedalling.to.and.fro of the @bikepacking.buds podcast chats to El Jaskowska about her many cycling achievements, including her experience of taking part in the Transcontinental Race. El is the founder of School of Rocks, a women-led community designed to support women in building confidence riding off-road. Great episode!
How Gravel is Breaking Down Boundaries With a New Type of Cycling Club
Related to the Bikepacking Buds interview above, Katherine Moore penned a long-read article thoroughly documenting a fast-growing network of UK-based gravel communities offering both new and experienced cyclists a route into multi-terrain riding. Very inspiring stuff, Katherine!
Cycloc Says ‘Kafkaesque’ Rules Have Cost it £100,000 in Latest Tale of How Brexit is Harming Small Firms
"Cycloc, which has made a name for its distinctive indoor bicycle storage and accessories and includes Stella McCartney, Jonathan Ross and cycling star Mark Cavendish among its customers, says the EU represented 50% of its business before Brexit left it nursing a 25% decline in overall sales." - Lisa O'Carroll for The Guardian
In other news, UK universities reported a sharp post-Brexit drop in EU students. The 2021/22 academic year saw a 53% fall in the number of first-year EU students enrolling at British universities. All sour grapes for England as European business activity shows the EU may dodge the recession.
Ideas
VanMoof: The more they sell, the more they lose
"Competitors such as Belgium's Cowboy and Estonia's Ampler are certainly noticing and arguably building better bikes as the once industry leader VanMoof is showing signs of struggling to keep up."
Definitely in Amsterdam, this has been a hot topic recently that has blossomed beyond the industry gossip into national newspaper & international outlets like tech.eu too. My .02? Build bikes with serviceable industry-standard parts & focus on rider happiness, not scaling rounds of investment to reinvent the wheel.
How to Use GPT3 to Augment Your Creativity
"The AI does what you ask it and nothing more. The light is out behind its eyes. And, again, given the depths of depravity that currently pass for online content, maybe that’s for the best." – John Biggs, former New York Times journalist and editor for Laptop Magazine, Gizmodo, and TechCrunch.
Keen to try it yourself? John set up a tool for you to give it a go here.
People Who Don't Make Constant Eye Contact Could Be Paying a Lot More Attention Than You Think
Research recently published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (h/t to Adam Grant) shows that during the most engaging conversations, eye contact ebbs and flows.
Sometimes what you hear or say may make you think, and processing it may naturally cause you to look away. And that's ok! : )
Friends
Ebiking in Amsterdam – DOWNTOWN Urban Getaway
My friends Julien & Robin of Downtown Magazine got away from the clichéd take on Amsterdam and made a truly noteworthy look at my favorite city. It's Awesome!
Julien & Robin visited Kike & me at the office & Echobox Radio. Also rode with our friend & often officemate William Lounsbury and long-time friend Roos Stallinga.
They even also featured Roos Stallinga’s rules for riding in Amsterdam:
- Turning or braking? Always signal.
- Keep right at all times unless you’re overtaking.
- Don’t ride on the wrong side of the road.
- Never stop on the bike path – especially not for photos!
- Stop at junctions and give priority to vehicles from the right.
- Stop at zebra crossings.
- Don’t ever park your bike in the bike lane.
- Only ride side by side if there’s enough space for people to ride around.
- Double-lock your bike whenever possible.
- Go with the flow of the city.
International Cargo Bike Festival Announces 2023 Dates
- Running since 2012, The International Cargo Bike Festival has found a new home
- Alongside Europe’s no.1 clean energy & electric vehicle show: Fully Charged LIVE Europe
- Both shows will be held concurrently at the RAI Amsterdam November 24-26th
- Read more here!
Congrats to my friend Tom Parr, ICBF Co-organiser, on this great news!
Felix Krakow's Thoughts on the 1st Environmental Impact Cycling Barcamp
"New ideas in my head, new hope in my heart. Met many great, likeminded people, had motivating talks, discussions and interesting speeches. Great to see, that more and more brands are taking sustainability serious. On the other hand many brands were missing. Way to go!!! Errr … ride!!!" – Felix Krakow
Couldn't agree more, Felix! Sign up to Shift's newsletter to see what else they have in store!
Radness
American Nightmare, Dedicated To The Next World
The new EP & 1st 10" vinyl release from one of my all-time favorite bands, American Nightmare, is out June 2, 2023, and available to pre-order now.
The single "Self Check-Out" is alreay streaming everywhere (SPOTIFY / APPLE MUSIC) & I really dig it! (17yo me would be so proud!)
If you are in the UK, Speedowax Records in Birmingham has an exclusive limited cloudy clear version of the vinyl available HERE. Berlin's Coretex Records has the Yellow Rev version.
Deathwish Inc, Bridge 9 and Revelation Records each have exclusive limited variants. Revolver Magazine, Hard Times, and Brooklyn Vegan have a limited Silver version.
Now just to catch Wes & crew on tour this summer!
p.s. if hardcore punk isn't your jam, then maybe In Rainbows by Radiohead recreated using N64 sounds. Mostly sounds from Super Mario 64 is! ; )
