Off the Cuff - August 2025
A pilot watch masquerading as a field watch, a speedy new commuter bike, a road trip read, and your Sunday football companion...
Off The Cuff is a "snackable" article series at A Wristed Development featuring the watch I've had on my wrist the most within the last couple of weeks and three other quick-hitting recommendations, including (but not limited to) good reads, gear obsessions, great video content recommendations, vintage finds, and so on. Without further ado, let's get stuck into it.
08/17/2024 - Well, my friends, we are officially in the dog days of summer here in the Northern hemisphere. It is the time of year when it feels like we have one foot still firmly planted in summer, and the other in the approaching autumn season. I've been trying to make the most of the warm weather while it is still here. Monica and I hit Valley Fair the other weekend, and I went for a long open water swim in Cedar Lake with some friends just yesterday. I am admittedly looking forward to Fall and what the season brings with it, but for now, I'll live in ignorant bliss that it won't be really here for at least another month... hopefully.
One On the Wrist
IWC Spitfire
This is a watch I had kept a loose eye on since its release back in 2019, alongside its chronograph sibling. Originally, I lusted after the chronograph, and while I do still like that watch, I'm just not a big chronograph guy. Earlier this year, I was up late one night browsing eBay and the forums (as one does late at night) and threw a haphazard bid on this, not thinking it would last, given the price was below market and because it had four more days on the auction.
You might imagine I was pretty excited to see that my lone bid won out and I was able to add this to my collection for what many might consider a sweetheart of a deal. It isn't a watch that really screams "summer," but I've been wearing it a ton during the warmer months. Even though it is technically a pilot's watch, it really gives off more of a field watch vibe. It is simple, robust, and well-made in a way that feels luxurious without straying into something overly precious or pretentious.
The matte black dial against the simple white arabic numerals makes the dial supremely legible, and the tasteful light use of faux patina and the splash of red on the watch's namesake add a touch of character that separates it from IWC's Mark series pilot's watches. I remember being in Maine last year for my annual family trip out there and thinking I needed to add a field watch to my collection, as it would really fit the mood of the upper Northeast. I'm sure I'll be bringing it with me when I fly out there in a few weeks.
Three Off the Cuff
Specialized Turbo Vado 5.0 IGH eBike
For the last 10 years, I've owned only one bike -- a Raleigh Revino Carbon One road bike. I originally bought this bike when I was living along one of Minneapolis' greatest bike paths, the Midtown Greenway. At that time, I would regularly bike the Greenway for exercise and sightseeing during our warm weather season. It is also connected to numerous other bike paths, offering practically endless access to the Twin Cities. I would regularly log anywhere between 15 miles and upwards of 50 miles per ride. The bike was exceptionally light, nimble, and fast -- offering excellent riding experiences for road or well-paved surfaces.
As I moved away from easy access to the Midtown Greenway, my rides decreased in distance and became more and more casual over time. Fast forward to now, my home base is in the Northeast, and we still live near one of Minneapolis' other great bike paths, The Grand Rounds. So, why, you might ask, has my riding declined to the point where last year I didn't ride my bike further than the Dairy Queen, just a few blocks from my house? Much to my chagrin, as I've gotten older, the old Raleigh Revino has gotten really rough on my body to ride with any regularity or any distance. I tried everything to salvage my enjoyment of that bike -- new saddle, improved padding on the drop bars, chamois shorts, the list goes on. Nothing brought back the joy I used to experience when riding it in my 20s. It got to the point where I just thought I didn't like biking anymore.
That changed when, back in March, my fiancée and I took a trip to Amsterdam and, as one of our numerous excursions, did an eBike half-day tour to the Dutch countryside. I hadn't enjoyed myself that much on a bike in a long time, and that ultimately got the gears turning. I started doing research on the practically endless options for eBikes. My search forced me to come to terms with the type of biking I actually do and the type of biking I wanted to do. The former consisted mostly of short rides around my neighborhood. The latter took some time to think about, but I realized it would be really nice to have a bike set-up I could easily ride to do a Friday night Chipotle run or a mid-week run to pick up some groceries and the occasional leisure ride in between.
Enter the Specialized Turbo Vado 5.0 IGH. A commuter-style eBike at its core, but an incredibly versatile bike as you zoom in and get hands-on with it. It checked several boxes I was looking for -- built-in fenders, built-in front and rear lighting, front fork and seat post suspension to soften the bumps of urban riding, wider tires and wheels, and a comfortable saddle (seat for you non-bike folks). A bonus feature is a radar sensor that shows you as cars or other bikers are approaching from the rear on the bike's control monitor, so you aren't constantly needing to check your six for approaching vehicles.
The most incredible feature of the bike is the internal gear hub (IGH), which is essentially the bike equivalent of an automatic transmission. It does all of the shifting for you based on the desired cadence you select. I thought I would miss having control over shifting, but boy, was I wrong. On top of automatic shifting, all of the gearing is housed in a rear internal hub (hence the name), and rather than a chain, it is driven by a sort of ribbed belt, almost similar to a car's serpentine belt, which provides the benefit of requiring significantly less regular maintenance and improves riding in wet conditions.
The only downsides of the bike are that it is over twice the weight (due mostly to the battery, IGH, and non-carbon frame) and it, aesthetically, looks significantly less cool than my old Revino Carbon One. The former is relatively forgivable now that I own a house and do not need to carry my bike up flights of stairs like I needed to do with the Revino. The latter is something I'm coming to peace with over time. I'm just not a road biker anymore -- and the cool aesthetic that goes along with it would just not pair well with a commuter bike. While the look isn't as cool, the ride certainly is equally, if not more, cool, and the best way I can encapsulate what makes this bike so great is by stealing the quip the bike salesman made when I was making a final decision on which bike to buy:
"The best bike is the one that makes you want to ride the most."
The Lincoln Highway (Towles, 2021)
The Lincoln Highway by Amor Towles is a book I picked up after reading his most notable work, A Gentleman in Moscow. Towles is one of my favorite authors; his ability to develop characters, create vivid imagery, and capture the human experience is, in my opinion, unparalleled among modern authors. I'm a reader who enjoys reading stories that parallel the seasons, take place in places I'm visiting, or mirror similar experiences I have. So, as spring turned to summer, while in Bayfield, Wisconsin, I picked this up from a local bookseller who recommended it when I explained I recently enjoyed A Gentleman in Moscow and was looking for a summer book with some adventure in the plot. Kudos to that bookseller as they absolutely nailed the recommendation.
Set in 1954, the book follows the journey of four young men on a cross-country road trip from Nebraska to New York to California. The book starts on a relatively somber note but quickly evolves into a story of new beginnings, reconciling accounts, and the pursuit of the American dream. Each chapter of the book is from a different perspective of a character in the book, predominantly those of the four main characters, but occasionally from that of a secondary or tertiary character at unique junctures of the broader story. These perspectives, at times, overlap with one another, creating a reading experience that is very evocative of the essence of the human experience.
The book delights with twists and turns, hardships and accomplishments, and is uniquely contemplative. It beckons you to read "just one more chapter" and creates such a scenery of adventure that it would cater to being a great road trip book or one that scratches the itch of wanderlust when the circumstances of life require you to be homebound.
Fantasy Football
The 2025-2026 NFL season is less than a week from kicking off. One of the things I look forward to most about the inevitable changing of seasons from summer to fall is not only real football and my beloved Minnesota Vikings, but also fantasy football. Fantasy football is one of those things that seems pretty binary -- you're either super into it or you're not. Humor me for a moment while I wax poetic about why I think it is so great.
Fantasy football started, in the early days, being done entirely on paper from writing out rosters, conducting the draft, and tabulating weekly scores, to now, being entirely digital and streamlined for pure enjoyment. While most NFL fans have one or maybe two teams they follow closely and care about, that leaves upwards of 30 teams that most fans don't really care that much about. Sure, you might like a few players on each team, but you don't really care about whether those other 30 teams win or lose during a given week.
Enter fantasy football. There is a format for every type of fantasy football player from "best ball" leagues where you draft players, there are no line-ups, and the top roster score wins each week, to "redraft", where each season you draft players to a set number of roster and bench spots and you must make your start vs. sit decisions each week to maximize your points across your starting roster, to my personal favorite format, "dynasty" where at the start of the first season you do what is called a "start up draft" where you draft your veteran and rookie players to your extensive roster (usually more starting and bench spots than redraft), then must manage that same roster indefinitely over the span of each season shaping your roster through trades with other players and an annual rookie draft of the recent players who have joined the NFL from the collegiate ranks.
If the excitement of draft season, usually occurring between mid-August and season kickoff in early September, isn't enough, you now have 18 weeks of glorious NFL football that, when paired with a fantasy football roster, makes practically every NFL game directly relevant for any participating fantasy football roster manager. Fantasy football makes every armchair quarterback and Joe-Schmoe feel like an NFL coach, which, as it turns out, is pretty badass.
Every snap, you sit with bated breath to see if your player will get you the necessary yardage, stretch across the goal line for a touchdown, or ultimately fall short. Every week, you pick your match-ups, making difficult start/sit decisions that will determine if you win or lose your match-up that week. Finally, at the end of every season, if you've battled through player injuries, been a waiver wire hawk, and posted a high enough win-loss record, you gain access to the fantasy football playoffs -- this is where champions are made. If you continue your campaign of greatness to the final match-up, the FFB Championship, you have the chance to capture the Lombardi Trophy of fantasy football, securing bragging rights and often a league championship trophy or ring (or in some cases both) to cement yourself as a true NFL savant.
If that doesn't get you all hot and bothered, I don't know what will. Now, those of you who just aren't sports guys or gals, this probably won't do anything for you. For those of you who do enjoy football but have yet to experience the exhilaration of managing a fantasy football roster, just give it a try, just once (at least). It will revolutionize the way you watch football and maximize your enjoyment of the great sport of American Football.