December 2020 : A newsletter
/Current status: 🔨🚵♂️⛷
I’ve returned to cycling in twenty twenty and appreciated it more thoroughly than ever before. I’m riding not racing, pedaling a steel frame vélo with 700c x 42mm tyres in an olive and tan combination propelled by a single ring chainset and - more importantly - slowed by hydraulic disc brakes. Fifteen hundred (give or take a few 00) miles in, it’s a genuine joy.
More data? My executive decision maker says yes. I’m sampling Whoop, a health and fitness device I wear above my wrist. Three months in, the metric I’m following more closely than any other is heart rate variability (HRV). The science-inclined may appreciate these details from The Lancet. Takeaways + personal experience: try to get better rest, eat healthy, minimize blue light, stretch, hydrate, take your daily vites, meditate, sleep in a cool room, and minimize stress. The remaining hour of your day can be free time.
Loyal readers (your holiday card will be in the mail prior to 24 Dec) are aware that my lists tend to bounce from topic to topic. Exempli gratia: The Cycling Podcast. It’s not for everyone other than those who appreciate the opera of bike racing and stories from places most of us have been unable to visit in 2020, e.g. 🇫🇷🇮🇹🇪🇸 & most destinations > 2km from home.
At least my library is in top shape. Rather than list links, here’s a photo of ~3/4 of the highlights. The balance are scattered will-nilly around my return address. Note: Digital Minimalism, which you’ll be free to pursue within approximately 00:00:57.
In the event you’re shirking duty - like, now, at this moment - I offer you a recent think piece from Eric Barker: 6 Things The Most Productive People Do Every Day.
Speaking of productivity or the lack thereof, or the lack thereof as a means to eventually achieve it once the mind has had a chance to run-on, the holidays are arriving post-haste and I prefer the season of light be just that. Free prezzies: Holiday letters from legends of Greek mythology and A few minor requests before you take your holiday vacation. <- Not that most readers are venturing far this season but you’ll get the gist.
At various times and due partially to a pandemic, I took a break from making things. This didn’t help my HRV. Inspirado: Keep calm and make ugly art. Even I can do that.
In the event the whole “How’s Work?” conversation comes up on your next video call in which your video part is expected to be in the on (i.e. 🔴, occasionally blinking) position, I recommend keeping it quick regardless of your audience. Here are a few thought starters, if not to be cited by name (really, try not to do that), then perhaps to trigger a window-filled space in your brain where you occasionally stumble upon an unreasonable idea with a reasonable chance of success: Six problem-solving mindsets for very uncertain times, Video tips for surviving a covid-19 winter, and How to brief a senior executive.
Returning to seasonally heady matters: Turkey or sides: a Socratic dialogue. I curate so you can focus on the big questions.
I also plan to bake a cake. This one: Teddie’s Apple Cake. Apparently it’s ‘lovable,’ a ‘show-stopper,’ and ‘virtually indestructible.’ I hope for the sake of friends + family this is true.
Survey: Have you watched any of the EF Gone Racing vids on the YouTube 📺? No way, you haven’t? There’s still time. If you like cycling and video and rice cakes and stories of stories inside stories, then you might enjoy this rice cake recipe and this video about a guy who pedals from the farthest point south to the farthest point north in Great Britain. If not, I won’t judge.
I’m going to end this update before it gets too crazy. Maybe I’ll go skiing. The old farmer with the almanac predicts my northwest winter will be fairly average with some cold spells and snow but less snow than normal and maybe warmer than usual. The rest is just details. (How’d he/she get the almanac-writing job in the first place?) About those details: the mountain weather forecast may serve you well.
One more nugget for the history buff(s) on my DL: Prior to listening to The Rewatchables podcast, I was unaware that Rocky IV - the movie - ended the Cold War. I can barely write that with a straight face but with a little data mining the claim can be supported. More data: the film is 32% montages, an equally impressive observation. Added to queue. 🥊
And finally, a quote: “Going one more round when you don’t think you can – that’s what makes all the difference in your life.” -Rocky Balboa. Because there’s always another round.
Be well stay well.
-John