issue 9 - i'm a bike bro now

Nau mai, haere mai ki clipboard, a weekly newsletter about culture and Tāmaki Makaurau by me, Reilly Hodson. You can follow me on Twitter and Instagram, listen to the soundtrack of my life, and send me an email, if you’re old school, like this mostly text-only email product. A shorter one this week, featuring the early days of my foray into cycle commuting, “lessgo” and all the links you need this Sunday morning.

biking (solo)

I lead the best kind of life, commute wise. My partner and I live in a flat which is a 5 minute walk away from my workplace, 20 minutes from university, and walkable to the majority of the best cafes, restaurants, bars and shops in town. Since we moved here, I haven’t topped up my hop card once, though I do occasionally drive, infrequently.

Another thing which is important to know about me is that I am not someone who finds exercise, for its own particularly enjoyable. I basically stopped playing “competitive” sport when I got to high school, in favour of debating and musical theatre, I’ve never been a member of a gym, and I do not go for runs.

This week, though, I decided to get back on the bike. I inherited a pretty intense racing bike from my dad, which I’d done some commuting on a year or so back, but not touched since. After watching a bunch of people cycling on Instagram (shout out clipboard community members Cyrus, Emile and Jeremy), I felt like it was time to suck it up and get back to it. University is still semi-online, and the weather isn’t particularly consistent, so I only went once, but it was a great decision, that I’ll be doubling down on in the future.

Like I said, I live pretty close to university, but biking is still just a faster way to get there, and one which does (in the words, over and over, of Jacinda Ardern) double, or even triple duty, adding the benefits of some cardio exercise, and just being flat out fun. I had been quite unsure about cycling on the road, but it’s remarkably safe, and particularly post lockdown there are a lot of bikes on the road that you can, fairly easily, drop in behind and follow, if you aren’t in a massive hurry. If bike commuting is an option, I’d highly recommend it. Make sure you do some practice, first, though, if you’re in the physical shape I am, because it turns out you can’t just hop back on a bike after not exercising for nearly two years and be totally fine…

clips

• GQ has a brilliant round up of the menswear brands worth spending your money on, and the garments you should buy off them. I would love to see the theory of this package applied to other types of businesses, restaurants for example.

• Lana Lopesi does a brilliant breakdown of the etymology of “lessgo” or perhaps “leshgo” that is really about the way in which we as Pakeha New Zealanders lean on Pacific communities for “kiwi” slang.

• Minimalism expert Kyle Chayka dives into why algorithmic design is so… weird.

• Home cook, podcaster and experiential marketer Jason Stewart, aka Them Jeans, on the Travis Scott McDonalds meal, one of the more interesting collaborations in recent memory.

• Sohla El-Waylly is no longer on the cancelled Bon Appetit YouTube channel, but she has a new show with Andrew Rea of Binging with Babish, and it’s delightful.

• A guide to freaking your iPhone home screen once you’ve got the new update.

• I’m waiting on my Green party vintage jumper, so seeing this meme about other party’s merch ideas really tickled me.

• New Church & AP! A great tune that kind of sounds like this Slowthai song, but make it Auckland.

• Daily Daily is open again for sit in service! If you haven’t tried a filter coffee from Josh and Albert, you’re missing out. I’ll be there this morning, maybe I’ll catch you there.

Thanks for reading clipboard. Remember to follow me on twitter and instagram, and send me an email with recommendations, questions or work opportunities. See you next week. Apologies for the late arrival, Substack appears to have been bamboozled by daylight saving, which was a silly tradition even before it inconvenienced me.