Lake Loop

Five things from this week

This week: GIFs, GIFs and more GIFs. Plus other things!

🔗 Any text that is underlined is a link that can be clicked 🔗

---

Last Saturday I rode the Lake Loop route around Lake Monona in Madison, Wisconsin, as part of a fundraising event for the Clean Lake Alliance. Clean lakes are the best lakes.

I usually ride my bike to get somewhere like the library, post office or bus stop so it was a new experience to just… ride.

---

About three minutes into the ride I exclaimed to no one, “It’s all cyclical!”

Pedals turning over and over. Breathing in and breathing out. Crawling up hills and flying back down them. The circle of life. Decked out professional cyclists passing parents hauling small children passing leisurely elderly couples. Drawing circles. Wheels spinning around and around. The seasons. Tires deflating and inflating. Cycles and cycling. Blood flowing away from the heart and back to it. Finishing at the starting line.

---

This week I made some animations inspired by the Lake Loop.

---

Views of Lake Monona and the opposite shoreline from the Lake Loop route

---

---

Halfway through I popped an inner tube.

I immediately realized how completely and totally unprepared I was for this ride. I had no way to fix a flat and no spare. Luckily my wife was driving our car to meet me at a nearby park so I gave her a call, informed her of my defeat and asked her to pick me up.

I was starting to disassemble my bike to fit into our trunk when I heard, “Do you need some help?” A cyclist had stopped to make sure I was okay. I told him about my situation and sheepishly explained my unpreparedness. He said, “What size?” then proceeded to pull out an inner tube and a small bike pump.

Alex saved the day.

In about 15 minutes the tire was changed and I was once again looping the lake. Thank you, Alex!

---

---

The spinning wheel of death but for cyclists

Knox made all these drawings this week of the Lake Loop route. After he drew one he would point to the top of the shape and say, “Here’s where we ate lunch,” and then point at the bottom and say, “Here’s where Alex helped with the flat tire.”

---

ALSO

• Hilarious post-it drawings –

  Steinbergdrawscartoons
  (“Two Beavers Eating a Tree for Dinner” was my favorite)

• A wonderful animation about the lost Loon in Las Vegas –

  Gentle Drawings
  (make sure your sound is on)

• World Building vs Content Marketing – Kening Zhu

• Behind the scenes with The Guardian creative team making all its election artwork by hand – It’s Nice That

• Similar to the “Human Intelligence” badges these “Human Made” icons are free to download and use (thanks, Peter).

---

Comics I read this week:

Look Back – Tatsuki Fujimoto / Here – Richard McGuire / The Con Artists – Luke Healy

---

*points at his eyes after waking up* “They keep shutting!”

---

This newsletter was made by Mitchell Volk with help from Carly Volk and Knox Volk. It was written, edited, illustrated and animated between June 17 and June 23, 2024. It was sent from Sun Prairie, Wisconsin, USA. It took 5 hours and 20 minutes to make. It was made with love.