Understanding Cycling Through Practice: Everything is Connected
Tekné is an ancient Greek concept describing knowledge gained through making, doing, and experience.
Tekne Cycling is where I document and share what I learn through riding, experimentation, field testing, product evaluation, and writing. Whether exploring remote routes, testing equipment, developing products through Matter Lab, or analyzing complex cycling systems, the goal is the same: to better understand the relationships between riders, equipment, behaviour, and environment, and share learnings with the cycling community and industry.
Collective Excellence
Journal
Long-form writing, analysis, field notes, and technical investigations.
Ride Guides
Routes, travel reports, and lessons learned from the road and trail.
MATTER LAB
Product testing, development, prototyping, and small-scale manufacturing.
Work with Tekne
Product testing, technical storytelling, and development feedback.
Featured Posts
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Duration, path, and outcome.
The early phase of the pandemic threw me for a loop; not right away, it took time to settle in. Work on the computer, Zoom meeting after Zoom meeting; I struggled. I read a lot of fiction in an unconscious effort to escape a reality I had little control over. When do we ever have ‘control’? Never. But we think we do. I had to ride my bike in a way I’d never needed to before.
MATTER: Castelli Alpha RoS 2 Jacket
The devil is in the details, right‽ A garbage bag is wind and waterproof. A wool sweater underneath is warm. Poke some holes in strategic locations and the whole shebang is ‘breathable.’ There are metrics used to define each of these parameters, but that’s a rabbit hole I don’t want to go down. There is too much going on with the Alpha RoS 2’s design, materials, and construction to reduce its discussion to metrics that might be worth focusing on in the case of a shell. Instead, I discuss the elements that comprise a system that is very effective in the use-range its intended to perform within.
Appeal to the stone
Smooth surfaces, in the form of narratives and infrastructure, gloss the past and physical spaces that constitute each of our realities.
MATTER: UniTerra’s Nomad Manual Espresso Machine
Curiosity drives this orientation to coffee. Brewing and extraction brings art and craft to the fore, into our hands, and turns the process of experimentation and discovery into a daily ritual.
PODCAST of the WEEK #2
“The Stache is outstanding because Payson McElveen’s interesting confluence of life history, vocation, intellect and curiosity propel long-form (often 2hr +), in-depth conversations with fascinating figures from within and without cycling that transcend sport.”
Understanding the Cyborg Cyclist
In cycling, technologies that quantify performance have supplanted keen attention to sensations, yielding what has been referred to as a ‘robotic’ riding and racing. Honestly, it makes me cringe a bit whenever I hear riders say: ‘The numbers were good.’
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3 days, 3 riders, and a loop around Parc Mont Tremblant connecting Rouge Matawin Wildlife Reserve and ZEC des Nymphes. Here’s what we learned about surface conditions, campsite availability, water filtration, and wheel setups.