Greg LeMond and the amazing candy-colored dream bike

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View this email in your browser  |  Manage newsletter subscriptions  10.03.21 Why in the world does Greg LeMond want to make an all-carbon fiber ebike? A carbon fiber racing bike, sure, that would make sense. Shave off those seconds by using the lightweight but brittle material. But an electric bike has ... a motor? Which surely the three-time Tour de France biking legend knows? It didn't make sense to Adrienne So, who has been writing about ebikes (and fitness trackers and robot vacuums and headphones) for WIRED since 2017. She decided to find out, and the result is a story about the ambitions of a racing legend who famously called out Lance Armstrong's doping only to suffer through "12 years of hell" before being vindicated in the end. LeMond is a tinkerer and innovator—pioneering the use of U-shaped handlebars, aero helmets, and carbon fiber frames starting back in the '80s. And now, one of the things he wants to tinker with (besides the ebike) is the entire US carbon fiber manufacturing industry. "The thing that struck me the most about this story was how many icebergs there were. LeMond was a big deal, and so many people thought they knew what had happened with him. But everyone had an incomplete story," So notes. She was also surprised at how interested the US government was in carbon fiber. "And no one had ever written about LeMond being a tech nerd before, and he really is and was." Can LeMond make a light, shatterproof ebike? Maybe. Bigger picture: Can ebikes get people out of their cars and help solve the global climate crisis? Also maybe. But what's for sure, So realizes when she finally tests the lightweight machine, is that an ebike doesn't have to be clunky "stinky medicine" we endure to save the planet. They can deliver an experience that is practically transcendent. Sarah Fallon | Deputy Editor, WIRED   Greg LeMond and the Amazing Candy-Colored Dream Bike BY ADRIENNE SO | 17-MINUTE READ The Tour de France legend and anti-doping crusader is building an ultralight ebike that he hopes will be fun as hell to ride—and jumpstart a US carbon-fiber boom.   Day One at the Every: An Excerpt From Dave Eggers' New Novel BY DAVE EGGERS | 20-MINUTE READ Delaney is an unlikely new hire, but she charms her way into the ecommerce giant with one goal in mind: to take down the company from within.   Why Skincare That Burns Is So Satisfying BY LEIGH COWART | 6-MINUTE READ A couple times a month, I reach for a face mask that causes me pain—and makes me feel better. The science of masochism helps explain why.   In Russia, Apple and Google Staff Get Muscled Up By the State BY JUSTIN SHERMAN | 4-MINUTE READ When US tech companies opened offices there, it was supposed to mitigate oppression. Instead those workers are now vulnerable to threats from local authorities.   'Dune' Foresaw—and Influenced—Half a Century of Global Conflict BY ANDY GREENBERG | 9-MINUTE READ From Afghanistan to cyberattacks, Frank Herbert's novel anticipated and shaped warfare as we know it.   How 'Big Funeral' Made the Afterlife So Expensive BY ELEANOR CUMMINS | 7-MINUTE READ It's time to reevaluate the cost of death-care—and its environmental impact. GET WIRED Flash Sale: Get WIRED for just $10 $5. Get the print edition and exclusive subscriber-only content. You can't see into the future, but you can subscribe to WIRED. Subscribe now.         This e-mail was sent to you by WIRED. To ensure delivery to your inbox (not bulk or junk folders), please add our e-mail address, wired@newsletters.wired.com, to your address book.   View our Privacy Policy Unsubscribe or manage your newsletter subscriptions   Copyright © Condé Nast 2021. One World Trade Center, New York, NY 10007. All rights reserved.