I think that’s why bike magazines stay in business: the sport, the trails, and people in general are constantly changing. So I think that’s an important point: if we stay on the cutting edge of change, there will eventually be new things that no one has yet written on, and that’s when an opportunity REALLY opens up for ingenuity!

I stopped caring about whether it has been said before by others or better because blogging – for me – is a way of building relationships with like-minded people. Like you!

We truly do belong to a great group of people and all of us are better off having people like you in it.

What’s important is that we harness the group movement out there at really important times. For instance, here in London as I’m sure you know we have an issue with cyclists being killed by HGVs. After the last death all of the bloggers got together and agreed to write about the issue at the same time. Because combined we have a huge readership we were able to mobilise quite a few people and really raise the awareness of an issue. That’s the smarts when it comes to blogging, and I’d love to see more of that kind of networking going on between cycle bloggers. Shared insight is a great thing! It doesn’t even have to be for a political ride; you could organise a big ride, like Bikehugger’s mobilesocials, or whatever, and it’s a great way for the bloggers to cross-pollinate their sites with one another’s readers and really build a cycling community.

Keep up the great work!

I try to divide my posts into three basic types: Ride Reports, Technical, Social

* Ride Reports will be different every single time. Even the way the wind blows and the air tastes is different on each individual ride. You can never duplicate the same ride twice. So these have never been written and they are full of original pictures and maps to encourage other riders to explore the same places.

* Technical Reports can be found everywhere. I try to draw from a pool of knowledge and experience, including my own, to help educate my audience so they can find the info in one place. Sometimes the reports are from my own testing and others I collect from all over. If a reader comes by to see a ride report, then they might have questions about technique or what type of equipment people are using.

* As I ride I pass some interesting and unique places. I try to include a little historical and ethnological background for the reader to help them get more out of otherwise pretty pictures. Discussions may range from government policy, social theory, ideology, (post) colonial theory, architecture and much more. These posts really add depth to a ride and can help fellow riders learn to view their rides differently. What was once just a building becomes filled with symbolic meaning.

There is so much more to say to add depth and meaning to our imagined community of cyclists. It adds to the body of literature and information that creates a vivid picture of “cycling”.

Keep writing!