My Family of Cycling Bloggers

At the moment, I am living in a place called Saskatchewan….and today is the provincial holiday called Family Day.  Now, I say “at the moment” because as I will unfold in my blogging future, our family is on the mission of relocating to a warmer climate and  we plan to be there very soon.  All will be revealed in due time, and the stories of the adventure along the way should hopefully make for entertaining reading.

Family Day

Anyway, because it is Family Day, I wanted to take the opportunity to write about my online cycling blog family.  As the new kid on the block, I have been actively searching to see who all is swimming the blogging seas with me.  In my search, I have come across some fantastic blogs…each of them with their own slightly different take on the topic we love.

To comment on all the cycling blogs out there would be impossible, so for the purpose of this article I am going to focus on those blogs considered to be in the same cycling category as this one, but still won’t get to them all.  Okay, so what category is that, exactly?  Good question.

Well, as the name implies, this is a blog about all of us who love the bike.  No matter what skill level you are, what type of bike you ride, where you’re from, or who you are.  It’s also a blog celebrating the success of our own personal cycling victories…where every cyclist is a champion.  It’s a blog giving real world reviews of the products we feel will help any cyclist come closer to their personal goals.  Finally, it is a blog about a bike lover and his family in search of a new life.

So it’s a pretty diverse market that I’m dealing with here, but then again, it may just be a nice little sub category.  You see, there are blogs that primarily deal with competitive cycling.  Some that focus on the commuter cyclist. Bike shop blogs.  Bike organization blogs.  And the list goes on.  Each of them incredibly passionate about the bike, but tending to focus their attention on their own particular niche.

Can You Really Classify Us?

If I had to classify a category (or community) for lovingthebike.com, I would say it’s “a cycling blog created by someone who is simply passionate about biking in general”.  So with that said, I would like to highlight my family of bloggers who I consider part of this community.

Okay, I have to apologize right now because I can guarantee that I’m going to miss some incredible bloggers in this community.  (Shout back and me and let me know that I missed you so I can check you out).  I’m also going to miss out commenting on some amazing bloggers who are part of other cycling communities.  Like I said, every cyclist is a champion and I commend you on blogging about your passion….sorry I didn’t get you into this post.

Let Me Introduce You To My Family

I was going to start off the list with the one I consider to be king of the cycling blog….none other than www.fatcyclist.com.  Elden, aka “Fatty”, deserves all the recognition he has received, but I’m not going to include him in my direct community of bloggers.  He has done amazing things for the cyclists and for bloggers in general, and if you haven’t yet read his posts….get on over there.

www.bikingtolive.com is a great blog written by Bryan, and he says he does it for the purpose of developing a healthy lifestyle through cycling.  In my opinion, it is a down to earth blog from a guy that has passion for cycling oozing from every word he writes.  He provides inspirational material with passion, honesty, and humor.  Like he says, “I’m not a personal trainer”, but I feel his material will motivate people to be better and to find the love for the bike.

Kathleen King is an artist with a major “crush” on cycling.  Her passion for cycling comes through with an artistic spin and she can be found at www.surfeitofpassion.blogspot.com.  She doesn’t have a lot of posts, but what’s there is interesting and visually appealing.  Check out her “bike scribbles”.

There is something about the look of www.bikecrave.com that I really like.  The site itself has a nice clean look to it, and I want to credit Jeff for having a well put together site.  Jeff Bean is the author of this blog and he is, no doubt, loving the bike.  In his own words, he says that “to ride a bike is to be alive, to see the world in new ways, to feel exhilaration as well as challenges, and even disappointments.”  He also has a very cool and unique charity program called “Penny per mile” where he encourages riders to donate a penny for every mile they log on the bike.  Nice work.  Keep the insightful blogs and great charity flowing.

From Las Angeles, California comes a blogger known as GTinLA (www.gtinla.wordpress.com).  I believe that Gerhard is his name, and you can tell that he is a guy in love with his sport.  He’s not a competitive cyclist, but like any great rider, he loves a good challenge.  His blogs are generally about riding and the rides he has been on, but they unfold into deeper stories than that.  He has a way of drawing you into the story so that you feel like you’re actually there.  And since there is usually one fantastic ride involved, it’s a nice place to be.

Marijo Lamarche’s site is about “cycling and everything else” and you can find her at  www.marijolamarche.wordpress.com. But as you can tell from her huge list of “why I love cycling”, the bike is definitely at the top of her passion directory.  The story I liked best is the one about her emotional roller coaster that lasted from December 2, 2009 to February 6, 2010.  It started with a mammography and, as expected, became a life-changing event…the description of her journey is worth a read.  Being from Quebec, Canada there are parts of her blog written in French.  Although I couldn’t read those sections, it is nice to see her stay true to herself with a bilingual blog.

www.oldguy2wheels.wordpress.com hails from one of my favorite cities in the world…Austin, Texas.  This guy has used cycling to change his life and the lives of others as well.  Tim considers himself someone interested in bicycle advocacy and it definitely shines through.  It looks like he’s only been blogging for a couple months, but he’s got a load of great posts already.  He talks about a variety of topics, all with the underlying theme of a love for the bike and the benefits that come from it.

Okay, so www.mylifeonthebike.com may not exactly be a cycling blog, but I had to include it because of what they stand for.  They are more of a videocast all about “making the ride a way of life”.  They have a lot going on at their site so I’m still in the process of investigating all that they have been up to, but I do know that they are on a mission of cycling the world and meeting interesting people along the way.  And they are videoing it so that we all can share in the experience.  Keep it going Emily and Garbiel, I’ll be with you on the journey.

One of the most amazing stories I’ve come across in the last year is the Vogel’s bicycle journey from Alaska to Argentina.  This family of four left Alaska in June of 2008 and expect to make it to the Southern tip of South America sometime around December, 2010.  I personally find them a huge inspiration, not only for what they are doing on the bike, but what they are doing for their family.  What an amazing experience and I often find myself living vicariously through their adventures.  For a very interesting read and incredible stories, check them out at www.familyonbikes.org.

I could go on and on with other sites like www.bikenoob.wordpress.com, www.adventuresonabike.com, and www.lifeandbikes.blogspot.com, but I’m going to wrap this Family Day post up.

What A Nice Place To Call Home

I can honestly say….100% completely honestly say that I have been so impressed with the cycling sites I have come across so far.  I know there are many more out there and look forward to locating them in the near future.  This is a great community of cycling bloggers and I’m happy to be a part of it.  In essence, we are all a part of the huge cycling community out there….different aspects of cycling, but all of us genuinely loving the bike.  I take great joy in the fact that I’m meeting incredible people with amazing stories every day in the social media world, and it makes me even prouder to call myself a cyclist.

Photo courtesy of http://www.flickr.com/photos/nocklebeast

Tags: Cycling Blog, Cycling Blog Community, Great Cycling Blog