Side Roads: Expectations and Reality, Unbound’s “Dumbass,” and More
I wanted to share a video that gave me a lot to ponder on this week’s rides. I’m a fan of Dustin Klein’s “Everything’s Been Done” YouTube channel. He delivers consistently great cycling content presented with an artist’s sensibility. The guy’s got soul.
In truth, his latest video is only tangentially about bikes. It’s a deep reflection on the gap so many of us feel between our expectations and reality as we pass life’s milestones or accomplish longtime goals.
“There’s this expectation that things are supposed to just suddenly feel different,” he explains. “But then you wake up the next day and there’s still a massive list of things to do and you’ve just gotta go to work.”
These are issues Dustin has clearly wrestled with. And having both sold my business and launched a website in the last year, they resonate mightily with me as well. I won’t spoil his conclusions, but, suffice it to say, I think he’s got some real insights and would highly recommend that you give this inventive video essay 11 minutes of your time. Let me know what you think.
What Else I’ve Been Reading this Week
I’m happy to see that 5280 continues to do the kind of longform journalism that was among my reasons for starting the magazine in the first place. Here’s a wonderfully told piece by Gordy Megroz on Colorado’s beloved Revel Bikes and its founder’s quest to reclaim the company after he sold it to private equity. Though the story consistently refers to Revel as a mountain-bike brand, it’s worth pointing out that they also make some sweet gravel bikes.
It’s all-too-common for cycling media to blindly fall for whatever expensive new trend bike manufacturers decide to throw at us. That’s why I was so glad to see Josh Ross’ appropriately skeptical take on 32-inch wheels for gravel bikes in Velo. Maybe we’ll all be spinning these enormous hoops in five years, but Ross smartly stepped back from the wind-tunnel data to more broadly consider what it is we actually want from our bikes.
They say that age is but a number. Well, in this case the number is 93. As in 93-year-old self-described “dumbass” Fred Schmid, who is planning another crack at the Unbound 200 later this month. Schmid was profiled by Anne-Marije Rook for Cycling Weekly.
