The Tri Town Times: 7/1/24

• Posted on 1 July 2024
• By Antonio Gonzalez
• Posted in the tri town times
• 0

Change in newsletter emphasis.

Hi all,

This week you may notice a different format to the Tri Town Times.

Over 6 years ago, a friend mentioned that a local athlete had done well at a major race. It was the first I had heard about it, and the conversation helped me realize I was falling out of touch with the endurance sports scene. I thought, "If I, the owner of a bicycle shop, feel out of touch, how do my clients feel?" So I committed to writing a weekly newsletter to stay abreast of our sport and industry.

I established one rule for writing the newsletter: Write it to yourself and for yourself. This simple rule has powerful benefits. Writing "to myself" clarifies the target market. Instead of pondering the many and often conflicting preferences of our thousands of clients, I simply focus on writing the newsletter I would like to receive. Personally, I prefer content that is informative, helpful, to the point, and not full of marketing material.

Writing "for myself" may sound selfish and superficial on the surface, but it creates built-in commitment and quality. The best athletes find intrinsic satisfaction in the game, practice, and process. They show up every day, rain or shine, because it's what they want to do, not because their parents or spouse told them to. When you do it for yourself, you're more likely to cherish the time spent perfecting your craft, and your craft will benefit from it.

When it comes to writing for myself, I should have guessed that the personal reflection side of the newsletter would become the most meaningful to me. Based on the feedback I get from readers like you, it's the most meaningful to you as well. As athletes, we prioritize spending a few hours each week building our bodies, fitness, and reviewing our training. Yet we sometimes neglect to spend time training our minds and reviewing our thoughts. It's hard to explain how much the few hours per week writing this newsletter has helped me in sport, business, and my personal life.

With that said, I've decided to "put more wood behind fewer arrows" and change the focus of this newsletter. The weekly reflection, often based around a core thought or quote, will become the focal point. The spirit of the newsletter will remain sports-themed, with some business thoughts thrown in for good measure, as I find they share many lessons with sports.

I will continue to highlight the most important races, industry news, shop news, and random tidbits that catch my attention during the week, but you'll find this content further down the page now. The extra hour or two per week devoted to reflection and sharing of thoughts may not sound like much but can make a significant difference. As I shared last week, it's important to know what you want to be good at, and just as important to know what you're willing to let go to focus on more important things.

I often write about the value of simplicity and how complexity has a way of creeping in over time. Building intentional simplicity in our lives becomes more important as we get older. Maybe it has to do with realizing we cannot or do not have the time to do it all. Complexity is so hard to scale, after all.

Thank you for taking a few minutes each week to read the Tri Town Times. I will continue to take your time and attention very seriously, striving to never waste it. Moving forward, you should notice this newsletter has become simpler and hopefully more memorable for it.

As Blaise Pascal once said, "If I had more time, I would have written a shorter letter."

Last week's highlights:

Local cyclists had a lot to be excited about last week:

- The Boise Mountain Bike Festival was Saturday at Bogus Basin Mountain Resort.

- Hundreds of athletes and thousands of spectators converged in downtown Boise for the Twilight Criterium on Saturday. Results.

- Kieran Haug of CS Velo Racing won the Bogus Basin Climb in a time of 1:03:08. Results.

- The Tour de France is off to a historic start: two Frenchmen have won the first two stages of the Tour, a feat not acheived for in over 50 years. Two-time Tour champion Tadej Pogačar has claimed the yellow jersey, with last year's winner Jonas Vingegaard recording the same time

- Boise-based rider Matteo Jorgenson suffered a hard crash in Stage 2 but appears to be unharmed.

Shop Ops:

- The shop will be closed Thursday for the 4th of the July holiday.

Have a great week!

Antonio Gonzalez

Tri Town Bicycles

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