OFF BIKE

This is a special edition of OFF BIKE, in the words of David:
What is Wheels For Heroes? I’ll try and explain from my perspective...

Bicycles have always represented fun to me. When I was a kid they gave me the freedom I needed. As I got older that freedom led to adventure, and as I got stronger the bicycle introduced me to speed, eventually it led me to racing. I’ve spent the majority of my life racing. I stopped in 2014.

In 2015 I went to a big lunch in London and I met Will Butler-Adams, the CEO of Brompton, he asked me, “You’re the Tour de France racer, right?” He told me he worked at Brompton, and I said, “You’re the folding bike guys, right?”

He had an idea: there were all these MAMILS out there whom looked down upon Brompton, because it was... well, it’s wasn’t a road bike, and it folded.

I was one of those people - it wasn’t until Will convinced me to borrow a Brompton for a few days that I got it. It was the first bicycle that was more than fun, it served a purpose, it’s designed to be utilitarian, to improve your life, to make things simpler, to make things better.

So back to Wheels For Heroes. Brompton wants to help our key workers, the people whom have such an important purpose right now, they’re going to supply bikes to help them get to their jobs, and they’re going to make a loss doing it, this isn’t a marketing exercise because I know Brompton so well, they’re an engineering company first, and if they do something it’s to solve a problem.

Alec is a shining light in the urban cycling scene, although road bike orientated he couldn't be more far removed from the World Tour. He's a criterium racing specialist, DJ, cycling coach, entrepreneur, he also won the Brompton World Championships for CHPT3 as a bit of fun. His team, Tekkerz CC (Cycling Charisma), is introducing a new concept to UK cycling, one that is much needed. Beyond all of this he is one of the loveliest people you could know, generous and kind. He may exist on the edge of the cycling scene, yet he couldn't be more encouraging to welcome you in.

Hélène is the Founder and CEO of WILD AI - an AI-powered App designed specifically for women and their physiology. Her accomplished background in business and science combined with her love for sport put her in a unique position to change an industry that is, like many others, male biased. Although women make up nearly half of the population, a recent paper on "Sex Bias in Neuroscience and Biomedical Research" shows that 80% of the animals used in research are male. "These findings cannot be applied to women who are impacted daily by the 500 menstrual cycles they'll experience over 40 years. More so, a 22 year old taking the pill has different nutritional needs, physiology and digestion than a 47 year old perimenopausal woman."

David Millar and Mikkel B Rasmussen relaunch the OFF BIKE podcast. Ironically it is happening when we're forbidden by the law to ride our bikes, our respective countries of Spain and Denmark have us on lockdown during the Coronavirus pandemic. Being literally off bike was never the plan when we created this, yet here we are, we discuss our current situations and what we make of it all, and we try to explain why we've been absent and what we have planned. Previous episodes include:

• #1 - Sir Paul Smith (Designer)
• #2 - Phil Gilbert Jr (Head of Design at IBM)
• #3 - Tim Marlow (Director of the Royal Academy of Arts in London

In 2012, Phil was asked to rejuvenate the legendary IBM design program, spearheading a broader transformation of how the company’s teams understand and solve complex problems. The program has established a modern standard for the role of the arts in business — adding formally-trained designers into IBM at an unprecedented scale, and reskilling its global workforce in design thinking and agile practices. This transformation has been documented in the New York Times, Fortune and in the documentary film "The Loop", produced by InVision as a part of its Design Disruptors series.

For this work, in 2018 Phil was inducted into the New York Foundation for the Arts' Hall of Fame. He is also co-chair of IBM's Global Women's Executive Committee, advocating for greater gender diversity and inclusion. Phil’s career includes 30 years as a start-up entrepreneur, and he speaks regularly on topics of corporate culture and large scale transformation. He graduated as a Pe-et (top ten) senior from the University of Oklahoma in 1978 and lives in Austin, Texas.
Phil is also a cyclist, and he rode with David and Mikkel in Girona, October 2019, where this interview took place.