Additional to yesterday’s submit, wherein I discussed Specialised, right here’s a latest promotional video for his or her Levo line of e-bikes:
Mushroom mogul Paul Stamets is a well-known mycologist, which is the technical time period for what’s extra generally referred to as a “fungus Fred.”
He’s self-taught and has a boundless enthusiasm for mushrooms, which he views as a panacea. He additionally rides a bicycle, as a result of “actually exhausting train stimulates the mind” and results in “existential bursts of creativity,” and so the most recent e-bikes from Specialised excite him practically as a lot as fungi does:
“After I’ve come to those hills previously, on my different bikes, I’d need to cease and stroll them,” he explains. Now, “I can crest that hill. I’m not defeated by the hill, I really feel a way of accomplishment. I push the envelope additional than my very own bodily skill and I nonetheless have that sense of accomplishment.”
Wait.
If actually exhausting train stimulates the mind, wouldn’t you need to trip a daily bike as an alternative of an e-bike for max mind stimulation? You’d assume so, however I assume the motor is a shortcut to the sense of accomplishment. Form of like how taking psilocybin is simpler than meditating and coaching the thoughts.
Because the video goes on, he and his pals trip deeper and deeper into the moist forest. The damp circumstances in addition to the riders’ proclivity for the organisms that thrive in them raises critical questions and issues about what sort of chamois they’re utilizing, if any. Alas, it is a topic the filmmakers don’t deal with, however right here’s Stamets with a mushroom that may decrease your blood stress, resolve your childhood emotional trauma, treatment you of alcoholism, and do your taxes:
So is Paul Stamets really onto one thing? Is he unlocking essential knowledge and reality within the age of rapacious companies and Huge Pharma? Or is he simply hawking dietary supplements of debatable efficacy? Most likely just a little little bit of each, although I do know nothing of his work and am definitely not passing judgment both means. I’m joyful to provide him the good thing about the doubt, however I admit I do try when folks with mustaches begin soulfully taking part in wood flutes in forests:
Regardless, I think this video will resonate strongly with the potential Levo buyer, who a leaked inner memo* describes thusly:
55+
Mid-to-high seven determine internet value
Lives in or near nature
Works remotely or is semi-retired
Has a lot of spare time to wander round and experiment with the doable bodily and psychological well being advantages of mushrooms, regardless of already having a premium concierge well being program, or probably as a result of having such a premium concierge well being program insures they will get rapid therapy after they by chance ingest a foul mushroom
*[Disclaimer: the “leaked internal memo” is fiction. All of this is parody. You can’t be too careful, that flautist could be Specialized’s in-house counsel.]
I’m wondering if Specialised will proceed on this vein with an “opening the SWAT door of notion” marketing campaign:
Talking of breaking on via to the opposite facet–or at the very least stepping over into it–somebody talked about fat-tired mixte bikes within the feedback on this submit the opposite day, and clearly crotchal clearance is within the zeitgeist as a result of take a look at this:
Wait a minute…these are the examples?
Uh, HELLO…
HELLO, IS ANYBODY HOME???
Speaking about step-thru “gravel bikes” and never mentioning Rivendell is like speaking about lion’s mane dietary supplements and never mentioning Paul Stamets, or speaking about litigious bike corporations and never mentioning Specialised.
After all, Rivendell bikes are additionally made from metal, and right here’s an in-depth scientific evaluation of the relative properties of metal, aluminum, and titanium when used to make bicycle frames:
Right here’s a chart:
And the conclusion:
I don’t know what any of this implies however…yay for metal, possibly?
