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Bike Noob Enters the Terrible Twos

02.18.2010 by Ray Niekamp // 15 Comments

The Terrible Twos

It’s hard to believe, but the Bike Noob blog is two years old today. This calls for a celebration. What do you think of the new look?

Not only a new look, but a new address as well. From now on, we’re simply Bikenoob.com. If you’ve bookmarked bikenoob.wordpress.com, that’s fine — you’ll be redirected. But why not enter the new address, and bookmark the site again?

The Bike Noob name has always drawn comment from friends and readers. Usually, it’s something like, “Hey, you’re not a noob anymore. Time to change the name of the blog.”

Believe me, I’ve considered that.

But I’m not going to change.

Bike Noob is my brand. It gets a lot of recognition from bikers locally and from people in some of the oddest places who run across it. I could change the name, but haven’t come up with anything that has the impact of Bike Noob.

However, over the two years I’ve been writing here, the focus of the blog has been evolving.

It started as a personal journal of a new road biker’s introduction to the sport. It chronicled early long training rides, joining a bike club, falling with clipless pedals — in short, the kinds of things other new bikers might be interested in reading about.

But as I’ve gained experience on the bike, I’ve been branching out and writing on other topics, even including some bike advocacy every now and then, more posts about riding safely, and in general, focusing on how to make road biking more enjoyable.

Besides, as the subhead says — I’m always learning something new. It’s not just me — many of us are noobs. This blog has a lot of loyal readers who are experienced cyclists, but come here for a variety of reasons — information, story-telling style, humor, whatever. I’m grateful that you have latched onto the blog and are staying with it.

For me, Bike Noob is an enjoyable hobby. When I started this, I never imagined it would last two years. But I keep going because every once in awhile, a blog post captures the imagination of readers, and triggers a flurry of commenting and emails. What a kick!

I’m also extremely gratified that two professional journalists have joined the Bike Noob fold as guest posters. Both Jeff Hemmel and Don Blount add different voices to the blog, and the information and stories they share have been an important contribution to the blog’s success.

How do I measure success? My page views are up over a year ago, from about 700 per week to 1,700 per week. Readers are sticking around a little longer, and reading more than one post during a visit. I seem to have regular readers in all 50 United States, and in many countries. Among these is a cadre of loyal readers who check in regularly and add their viewpoints in the comments. In turn, I pay attention to a whole raft of other bike blogs, by reading their RSS feeds.

My learning curve on the bike has been smoothed out by the wonderful feedback I get from readers. Many of you have urged me to keep delivering information that newer bikers can use, and I’m pleased that more experienced bikers seem to enjoy adding their knowledge to the conversation via the comments.

So, there you go. I admit it: I’m not a noob anymore. But as long as I keep learning new things about my favorite pastime, I think the Bike Noob moniker is appropriate.

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Comments

  1. gtinla says

    February 18, 2010 at 11:14 am

    Great entry as always – two thumbs up on the new look!

    Reply
  2. Darryl says

    February 18, 2010 at 12:10 pm

    Congratulations on your accomplishments and the new look. Here’s to your continued success.
    As someone in the position you were in two years ago….do you have any advice to a new cycling blogger?

    Reply
    • rainycamp says

      February 18, 2010 at 12:23 pm

      Darryl, I think focusing the topic of your blog is key. A previous blog of mine rambled over different topics, and had almost no readers. I abandoned it.

      Reply
  3. Bryan says

    February 18, 2010 at 1:59 pm

    Congrats Noob! You’ve got an excellent blog that I’ve always admired. Congrats on reaching two years and good luck for many more.

    The theme looks great. I thought it looked like Thesis. It isn’t but the designer is the same guy that made Thesis hence the similarities.

    Reply
    • rainycamp says

      February 18, 2010 at 7:24 pm

      Thanks, Bryan. I don’t know much about themes, so I just picked one that I thought looked good.

      Reply
  4. Dana says

    February 18, 2010 at 2:58 pm

    Happy Birthday! Or is it Happy Anniversary? Either way, congratulations!

    Reply
    • rainycamp says

      February 18, 2010 at 7:26 pm

      Thanks, Dana. We’ll go with cumpleaños, and leave it at that.

      Reply
  5. Don says

    February 18, 2010 at 7:32 pm

    Congrats. Two years and counting. Thanks for letting me be a contributor to this.

    Reply
    • Jeff says

      February 18, 2010 at 9:28 pm

      I’ll echo Don. Congratulations, and thanks for letting me be a part of it all. Love the new theme!

      Reply
  6. RamonH says

    February 18, 2010 at 9:29 pm

    Congratulations on your anniversary. I have learned much from reading your excellent posts. Keep up the good work and the good cycling 😀

    -RamonH

    Reply
  7. tombike says

    February 19, 2010 at 6:13 am

    Happy Anniversary! I think your site is great because we’re all “Noobs” at heart – there’s always something to learn, somewhere new to ride, new challenges and new stuff to buy in cycling. You do a great job capturing all of that. -Tom

    Reply
    • rainycamp says

      February 19, 2010 at 9:39 am

      Thanks, Tom. That’s the spirit I’m trying to capture.

      Reply
  8. chrisfit2009 says

    February 19, 2010 at 3:29 pm

    Oh no! Not another terrible two! I have one daughter who has just finished them and another who is about to start.

    I’m afraid I’ll have to stop reading your blog. Email me when you hit the fabulous fours 😉

    1700 hits a week is awesome, I’m sitting at around 50 on a good week. Let’s hope I have half the success you’ve had.

    Congrats and keep going!

    Reply
  9. Sine Botchen says

    February 20, 2010 at 3:59 pm

    Great achievement! This October will mark 20 years since the first time I threw my leg over the top tube of a mountain bike and began trespassing in the hills of Northwest Austin, and I still learn something new with every blog. You byline could be “Bike Noob – it’s not just for roadies”.. heh, heh, ok mebbe not. Anyway.. Congrats on the milestone!!

    Reply
  10. Alice says

    February 22, 2010 at 8:21 am

    Congrats on two years! The new design looks good.

    Reply

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