I should have something momentous to say here. Can’t think of anything much, though. This, according to the fine folks at WordPress, is the 1,000th post I’ve put up on this blog since it began in 2008. Cool. I wonder if it will take another six years to get to 2,000. Thank you, readers, for your indulgence over all this wasted bandwidth.
Happy Noobaversary To Me!
This one caught me by surprise. It’s the sixth anniversary of Bike Noob. I hadn’t even thought about the fact that I’ve been writing this blog for six years, until the folks at WordPress sent me a congratulatory message.
How’s the past year been? A mixed bag, I think. I’ve noticed that my posts have not kept to the rigid three-a-week schedule I used to observe, and that I’ve been posting a little less often recently. I think that has to do with a colder-than-usual winter this year, and a marked reduction in miles ridden as a result. It’s hard to keep interested when you find yourself preferring to stay indoors. Now that the weather is getting back to what Texas bikers expect (a high of 80 degrees — 26C — is expected today), I’m sure I’ll be out there more often, and get my writing back on a regular schedule.
Some highlights of note over the past year: I hit my all-time high in daily page views back on July 11, with 1,482 views that day. That’s when I realized that my 2008 Specialized Allez Elite really isn’t an entry-level bike. Or maybe it was when I took a bad fall after sliding on an oil slick in the road on a really hot day. The most-viewed post for the past year was an old one: an item about an online Bike Comparison Tool from 2011.
It’s also clear that I’ll have to start paying more attention to social media than I have been. My Bike Noob Facebook page and Twitter feed attract a lot of people to the blog.
Thanks for all of you who keep coming back to read the ramblings of this over-the-hill cyclist. But once you’re over the hill, it’s all downhill, right? And we cyclists love downhills!
A Bike Noob Milestone
No, I didn’t set a King of the Mountain on Strava. Nor did I do a personal best for mileage in one day. What I did do was survive.
Today is the Fifth Anniversary of the Bike Noob blog.
When I started the blog, I never thought it would last this long. Instead, I figured I’d lose interest and fold the whole thing within the first year. But, like a bad penny, I keep turning up.
It’s been a labor of love. I look forward every week to Tuesday, Thursday, and Sunday evenings, which is when I write the entries. Sometimes, I sit down at the keyboard with nothing to say. I force myself to crank something out, and often, that post generates more page views and comments than others that I thought had more substance. That’s something I haven’t done well here — really understand my audience.
But I know we all share an interest in riding our bikes, so I hope we can keep up this back-and-forth for another full year. Thanks to you all.
And thanks to my guest bloggers, Jeff Hemmel and Don Blount. Each brings a distinctive point of view to their contributions, and Bike Noob is made richer for their work.
To celebrate this anniversary, I’ve decided to perk things up a bit, so I’ve added a new look to this blog. Hope you like it. I’m not a flashy guy, and it’s not a flashy look, but it’s clean and minimalist, and that fits my personality.
And now, after a 38-mile ride in some tough wind, and an emotionally draining season finale to “Downton Abbey,” it’s time to get to bed, so I can do some more riding and writing later this week.