And the Winners Are
With our 2011 edition of the Crank Honors going on for the past couple weeks, it has made for a very exciting May. If you haven’t guessed, I’m a fan of so many great cycling blogs out there and it’s been nice to see all the love going out to some well deserving websites.
It’s been great, and announcing the top dogs in each category is very bitter sweet. On one hand I’m stoked to let these blogs know that their fans have voted them the best in their category, but I don’t want any of the other blogs to be let down. There were a lot of votes for so many different cycling sites, and I want you to know that all of you are doing great stuff.
Hopefully y’all are blogging about cycling because you are passionate about it and love every single minute you spend on making your site great. That really is all that matters most, but it’s also fun to get feedback and honor the best.
Here’s to all of us cycling bloggers……keep up the great writing and riding. Well Done.
Okay, so let’s get to it. Here are the official results for each of the six categories in our Crank Honors voting:
Road Cycling Blog
Blog: Cycling Tips
Location: Australia
Crank History: Congratulations to Cycling Tips for repeating as the road cycling top dog. Congratulations to Wade and his Aussie crew.
About: Wade is a great cyclist and has an amazing blog happening over at Cycling Tips. He explains things by saying that he’s “just an average cyclist who can’t get enough of it.” Wade goes on to say that “the fact that I’m average is probably why it’s an addiction. If I were good I probably would have had enough of it by now. I have a lovely wife who puts up with and even encourages my cycling habit, as well as a career as an engineer that I enjoy. Life is good.”
Travel Cycling Blog
Blog: Tired of I.T.
Location: Originally from Canada, touring the world.
Crank History: This is the first time Tired of I.T. has been in the running for the Crank Honors and they should be proud because they were able to knock off last year’s powerhouse, Going Slowly who came in a very close second. Tired of I.T. received more votes than any other cycling blog in any of the categories. Well Done.
About: In early 2009 Dave started selling off every possession he owned, did a couple of test runs to work out gear kinks, and tie up any loose ends with business and personal relations and set off on his bike on April 7th, 2010. So far it has been a lifestyle shift living off a bike with 6 bags, instead of living in a large 3 bedroom house. It’s made him happy again. Now that he’s away from working with computers professionally he’s got his hobby back again and also his creativity.
Mountain Bike Blog
Blog: Greg Rides Trails
Location: United States
Crank History: Greg Rides Trails was in the running last year, but was beat out in the end. This year Greg was able to come out on top in the Mountain Bike Blog category. Congratulations, Greg.
About: At Greg Rides Trails, he is interested in sharing concrete mountain biking information and instruction with you, and doesn’t get too deep into simple stories of where he rides or what he crashed attempting to do the other day.
Lifestyle Cycling Blog
Blog: Bicycle Design
Location: United States
Crank History: The lifestyle category was the closest out of all divisions with only two to three votes separating each of the top five blogs. With a lot of different blogs being grouped into this category, it’s definitely one of the toughest. Congratulations to Bicycle Design for coming out on top.
About: Since 2005, Bicycle Design blog has been the place for discussion of design in the bicycle industry. All types of bicycles (and other human powered machines) are covered here, from the latest high-end road and mountain bikes to transportation oriented bikes and unique utilitarian designs.
Commuter Cycling Blog
Blog: Culture Cycles
Location: United States
Crank History: By splitting apart the Travel and Commuter blogs (which were part of one category last year) we were able to open it up and highlight a lot of great commuter blogs. This was another close category, but Culture Cycles was able to break away and come out on top.
About: Culture Cycles is an embrace of cycling as a community featuring the best of the best from all ends of the cycling spectrum, daily.
Women’s Cycling Blog
Blog: Bike Shop Girl
Location: United States
Crank History: We are super happy to have added the women’s cycling blog category to this year’s Crank Honors. There are a bunch of great cycling blogs that focus on promoting cycling to women and highlight all the great things happening within it. This was another very close category, with each of the top 5 blogs getting a lot of votes. Up until the last day of voting, That Messenger Chick looked like they were going to take the category….but all of a sudden the fans of Bike Shop Girl came through with force and allowed her to come out on top. Congratulations to Bike Shop Girl on being the inaugural winner of the Women’s category of Crank Honors.
About: Bike Shop Girl is about “Empowering the cyclist within you.” It’s author, Arleigh is a bicyclist, mechanic, bike fit guru, educator and says she is learning everyday.
Congratulations once again to all the cycling blogs who received votes for the 2011 Crank Honors. A huge thank you also goes out of those of you who voted and continue to support cycling blogs on a daily basis. I can speak for all of us cycling bloggers and say that we truly appreciate it.
Wow, thanks so much Daryl! I really am honored! Like you said, there were so many incredible blogs in each category, it almost hurts to pick a winner!
Congratulations, Greg. I am very happy for you.
Thanks Darryl! This is quite an honor. I am not surprised that it was very close…there were definitely some great blogs in the lifestyle category (as well as all the other categories).
Very impressive. Yes, you were up against some great blogs….but this shows that you have some very awesome fans. Congratulations once again.
Congrats to all the winners! It’s awesome to see such great blogs out there!
Thank you for such a an wonderful filled experiences.