The 2020 Olympic Games conclude this Sunday, so if you haven’t already gotten your fill of record-breaking feats of physical fitness, there’s still time to tune in.
For what it's worth, NBC’s streaming platform, Peacock, certainly isn't winning any medals from me. I’ve found it to be disappointingly limited in Olympic cycling content. Fortunately, the athletes have been bringing enough excitement to make the limited selection of clips available extremely worthwhile.
Case in point: Australian BMX rider Logan Martin launched himself high into the air, then did something completely crazy. He intentionally let go of his bike, made it do a front flip, and mounted it again before landing safely on the ground.
Let's review. Flight to Tokyo: $740. Olympic gold medal: $810. Keeping all 206 bones in your body intact: Priceless.
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If you are equal parts aesthete and athlete, then you may be interested in Trek’s Project One. This microsite invites you to pick up your digital paint brush and create your dream bike with a multitude of paint options, design schemes, and customized text. Compared to most other bike manufacturers, which generally limit shoppers to only a couple of predetermined color combos, Project One offers a refreshing level of personalization.
There are big upsides for Trek too: more revenue, more customer loyalty, and more data. Like the Coca-Cola Freestyle fountain drink machine, which gives the Coca-Cola company insight into the flavor preferences of users who mix and match different Coke products into a single cup, I expect that Trek closely examines the Project One selections to identify color trends and make more informed predictions about consumer preferences for the coming years.
Side note: If you haven’t revisited what your favorite color is since opening a box of Crayolas in kindergarten, here's a fun way to get reacquainted with the color wheel.
Crank It
A Lap of Lac Léman
Photo credit: Alexander Kovacs
Since my first visit to Switzerland, I’ve been entertaining the idea of a trip around Lac Léman. This scenic 108-mile loop is touted as offering “fantastic views of the lake and surrounding mountains, as well as ancient towns and villages.”
At long last, the opportunity to circumnavigate the lake has presented itself. Provided the delta variant doesn't return us all to a state of lockdown, I'll be Geneva-bound later this month and on a rented road bike soon thereafter.
I’m especially loving the idea of pit-stopping regularly at picturesque medieval towns like Yvoire to inhale all the carbs my body can handle. As a self-supported rider, ales, baguettes, and croissants – my European ABCs – will take me the whole distance around the lake. The century ride will be challenging, as they always are, but I believe anything is possible with the right combination of bakeries and bars to power my journey.
The currently scheduled date for the ride is Friday, September 2. That leaves me a few weeks to train hard and build up my gluten tolerance. That’s a thing, right? 🙏
Coffee Stop
Can't Say No to Nitro
Photo credit: Elevate Beer
When selecting a draught beer, two words carry a tremendous amount of sway for me: “on nitro.” Nitro beers are effervesced with 30% nitrogen and 70% carbon dioxide. As a result, tiny bubbles appear to dance down the sides of the glass, delivering a velvety creaminess that feels delightfully dessert-like while also taking some of the bitterness out of the flavor.
Guinness claims to have pioneered this approach, but now several beers like Left Hand’s Milk Stout and Mother Earth’s Cali Creamin’ are available on nitro. Even better, Cali Creamin’ is now nitrogenated in a can, meaning you can “hard pour” your way to a beer that’s entirely passable as draught, even when a tap is nowhere in sight. For this upgrade, you do pay more, but considerably less than what you’d pay for a pint from any tavern worth its salt.
In the summer of 2016, nitro made the leap from beer to iced coffee at a small coffee company out of Seattle called Starbucks. I’ve tried it a few times, and while nitro makes black coffee infinitely more palatable, it’s a far cry from my beloved dirty chai lattes. Light bulb moment: Dirty chai lattes on nitro.
Jaunt Back
Gram Cracker
Photo credit: Jordan Bierly
The lightest production bikes these days weigh in between 13 and 14 pounds. That means if you rode one of these bikes to the store for a couple gallons of milk, the milk would weigh more than your entire rig. Of course, at around $10K each, these bikes are generally not of the grocery-getting variety.
At my level of recreational riding, I don't pay much attention to bike weight. While I appreciate and prefer riding lightweight bikes to heavier ones, I’ve always thought that the much more efficient and economical route to shedding extra pounds is to take them off the rider.
That said, for the weight weenies among us, there are some simple, affordable ways to cut as much as a kilo off of your current bike, simply by doing things like removing unnecessary tools from saddle bags and swapping in lightweight accessories like bottle cages. For those seeking bigger weight decreases, there’s no shortage of ways to drop grams. Here are some of the most tried and true.
Cool Down
Toggle Goggles
Photo credit: David Hellmann
Typically, a pro who excels in the Tour de France wouldn’t be found fraternizing with the likes of the Mountain Bike World Cup, and vice versa. Though both are forms of cycling, their respective demands and skill sets are arguably quite different. That’s why pro cyclists like Mathieu van der Poel, who abandoned this year's Tour de France to compete in Olympic Mountain biking, are a bit enigmatic.
Personally, I like dabbling in both sports because I believe they make me a stronger all-around rider. Plus, once I’ve been crouched over on a road bike for a while, hopping onto a mountain bike feels like climbing onto a La-Z-Boy. Rolling mindlessly up a curb – or down a flight of stairs, for that matter – is exhilarating. I see the city around me not as a series of sprints and climbs waiting to be tackled, but as a playground where anywhere is possible.
It works the other way as well. After I’ve huffed and puffed enough times trying to get that La-Z-Boy up to 15 mph, switching back to a road bike feels magical. There’s a relative effortlessness to carving city streets and covering great distances, and it's addicting.
With this in mind, it stands to reason that if you added BMX and track to your repertoire of road and mountain biking, you may take on super cycling powers the likes of which the world has never seen. Anyone doing all of the above? Hit “Reply” and let me know how it feels to ride with your cape on.
Peel Off
YouTube
Tomorrow I depart for my ninth annual pilgrimage to Traverse City, Michigan. The town's tourism website describes it as a place “where the road stretches ahead, taking you to endless lakes and rivers, charming downtowns, historic lighthouses, and rolling vineyards.”
For me, it’s a little slice of cycling heaven, and I fully intend to log some high-quality miles. I might squeeze in some writing time as well, but for now, plan on the next Group Ride coming August 19.
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Group Ride is a newsletter for the social cyclist. I curate content from bike manufacturers, shops and media sources to bring you information and inspiration to ride more confidently and comfortably.
