Pandemics and Bike Technology
Pandemics and bike technology isn’t a topic that normally goes together. A thing about publishing a bike technology blog during a global pandemic is that bike technology is no longer at the forefront of everyone’s attention. Where once the industry was on a relentless release schedule, now everything is on hold. This pause happened when competitors were attempting to catch up to each other with motorized bikes of their own and gravel.
The relationship between companies, competitors, the marketplace, and customers remains important for all sorts of reasons. And, I’m working hard on being a high-quality information source. Still, the machinations of the bicycle industry are not important compared to questions like
- How many people will COVID-19 infect?
- How many people will it kill?
- Can our healthcare system handle it?
- When will the economy recover?
- Will we attend a trade show this year?
We won’t know the answers for weeks. I fear the worst. This week, WHO declared COVID-19 a pandemic. This Medium post by Tomas Pueyo persuasively argues that the United States is currently seeing exponential infection rates and that hospitals will be overwhelmed.
While Pueyo’s a marketer and not an epidemiologist, he makes the case for “social distancing.” I don’t have a hot take on the topic, but do recommend that everyone reads that piece. Then modify your behavior if you’re still spending time in public. Also read newsletters from journalists like Casey Newton.
Hopefully, soon we’ll get back to our normal lives. When we do, I’ll have plenty to share.