Preparing for this issue, I was reading Stew Boyd's Work Futures newsletter & his latest issue kicks off with this Margaret Wheatley quote:

"We can’t be creative if we refuse to be confused. Change always starts with confusion; cherished interpretations must dissolve to make way for the new."

A tough pill to swallow for all the know-it-alls-out there! ; ) Myself included though I do say: "strong opinions, loosely held". 😆 This week's preamble is composed of additional wisdom Stew shared from Wheatley's book, Turning to One Another: Simple Conversations to Restore Hope to the Future:

👂 "We have the opportunity many times a day, every day, to listen to others, curious rather than certain."

🙂⃤🙂⃤ "But the greatest benefit of all is that listening moves us closer."

🔗 "When we listen with less judgment, we always develop better relationships with each other."

📜 "It’s not differences that divide us. It’s our judgments about each other that do."

🤔 "Curiosity and good listening bring us back together."

🤨 "Sometimes we hesitate to listen for differences because we don’t want to change."

😌 "We’re comfortable with our lives, and if we listened to anyone who raised questions, we’d have to get engaged in changing things."

🥱 "If we don’t listen, things can stay as they are and we won’t have to expend any energy."

💡 "But most of us do see things in our life or in the world that we would like to be different."

🧏🏻‍♀️ "If that’s true, we have to listen more, not less."

😬 "And we have to be willing to move into the very uncomfortable place of uncertainty."

I hope that got your wheels turning like it did for me! Related: consider making optimism your default setting. ; )

with appreciation,

Jon

p.s.

I had too much to include in this issue to some links that didn't get full features: buycycle's US expansion: a case study in cross-Atlantic success, Will Butler-Adams, CEO at Brompton Bicycles, speaks with Danielle Reiff-Jongerius in the fifth article for CIN exploring diversity in the cycling industry & a little peek into the factory tour I did Wednesday at Van Raam. (Dutch) I'll post an insta reel about it this week! And my friend Jelle is organizing a bike rave in The Hague! 🪩

Upcoming Events

September

🇨🇿 5-8 Bohemian Border Bash Camp
🇳🇱 7 Bike Rave The Hague
🇳🇱 8 Women's 100 at WS6
🇪🇸 20-22 Sea Otter Girona
🇳🇱 27 Dox Under The Tracks

October

🇩🇪 18-20 Bespoked Dresden
🇳🇱 25-26 Cargo Bike Festival

November

🇳🇱 29 Twotone Ten Year Party!

📻

The next episode of The Mechanics of Joy with Ben Hillsdon, Global Communications Manager at Canyon, will air LIVE on September 12 at 2pm CET!

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Bikes

The Bohemian Border Bash Race '24 Kicked off!

Follow the racers here. Badlands is in full swing and September is action-packed in the bikepacking department! I'm Czechia bound for my 5th BBB Camp. Looking forward to seeing a few of you there! : )

Le Pilgrimage Begins Sept 12th

Anne & Simon of Le Pilgrimage organize my favorite event that I've yet to participate in!This year is sold out but maybe I'll see you there next year? (Press Material available here)

Best of Marnix 2024 🔥

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Soulcycle celebrated 25 years of business with Saturday's Best of Marnix Jam! Congrats to all the participants! Full results here. I made tons of clips but haven't made my edit yet! 😅 (Sem's hip-to-wall flight was one of my favorite moves of the comp!)

Ideas

State of Travel 2024

I spotted this report in Grace Gordon's most recent newsletter. Only 408 pages... 🤯 But I've included her insightful TL;DR below:

📉"travel to USA is notably down from 2019 - 2023"

🏆"Sport events + concerts are a major catalyst for travel both domestic + international"

🛂"2023 was a record year for intl travel for Americans, with over 22 million people registering for passports (more than any year on record)"

✈️"India is one of the countries most eager to visit USA; they have 52% more interest in coming, vs Japan who have gone down -54%"

🧘🏼"intl “wellness tourism” is up 175% (!!), and is favored as a travel motivator by those earning 200k+

👤"interest in solo travel is surging, and a market presently valued at approx $484 billion"

The Bikepacking Cookbook

The Bikepacking Cookbook: Recipes for Your Bikepacking Adventures

A digital cookbook designed to take the stress out of cooking on a bikepacking trip. Filled with 26 trail-tested recipes, cooking tips and heaps of inspiration.

I love this! Admittedly, I've never bikepacked with a stove but will. And will refer to this resource. When I can, I bring pizza or other packable prize foods for when I reach the summit with a cola or beer. Krista Diamond recently wrote about exactly that.