Bloggers have been blogging for a few years, but 2005 is the Year of the Blog. Mainstream media are participating, the portals and search engines have jumped into blogging in a big way, corporate America is spending money in the blogosphere, useful tools proliferated in 2005, and everybody and their bikes began blogging this year.
You, faithful readers, will be the ones to pick the Best Bike Blogs of 2005. Leave a comment below for nominations of your favorite bike blogs. After the list of nominees is created, you will have the opportunity in December to vote for your favorite blogs next month.
I'll select a few that I think are worthy of mention, but beyond that it will be a pure popularity contest. Remember to vote early and vote often when the time comes.
If you know of some easy-to-use voting/survey software then please let me know about it. MySQL and PHP are available on my server.
The blogs don't have to be purely about bicycling, but they should have a strong bike flavor. The type of biking isn't important: lifestyle, roadie, MTB, OCP, bent, race news, utility, advocacy, VC, facilities, CM or whatever -- it's all open for nomination.
The blogs that are in my blogroll are automatically nominated, but please feel free to mention them anyway in your comments. Please nominate your own blogs. Please help spread the word!
Tags: popularity blog blogging
Should be a fun contest! Two survey/polling solutions you might want to check out are Perseus SurveySolutions Express http://express.perseus.com/perseus/asp/login.aspx and PollMonkey. FreeBlogPoll.com also looks promising. J-Vicious (a contributor on my blog) used SurveySolutions Express for the booth babe contest he put up the other day http://express.perseus.com/perseus/surveys/1734848031/64bff3be.htm
ReplyDeleteIt gives an unprecedented level of control for a free tool. There are no ads and unlimited questions and choices. Highly recommended, but more difficult to use then something like freeblogpoll.
How tacky is it to nominate your own blog?
ReplyDeletehttp://bike-riding-donut-guy.blogspot.com/
I'm one tacky bastard.
Good idea. Can I nominate Cyclelicious (or is that just blatent sucking up)?
ReplyDeleteIn addition to the ones in your blogroll, I will nominate
http://masiguy.blogspot.com/
and
http://www.bikeportland.org/
I guess I should mention that Cyclelicious isn't eligible :-)
ReplyDeleteGraham also posted some of his nominations over at GC. Thanks, BTW, for the survey software suggestions.
George: I guess you have to be tacky if you're making donuts. All that sticky glaze stuff and all. Feel free to nominate yourself, however.
Thanks for including my site in this list! Stay tuned for some solid new stuff in the next month or so.
ReplyDeleteAs for my vote, even though this thing will go down as an out-and-out popularity contest, I'm placing my hand in the air for Bike Portland.
The site itself is a great exercise in community building and is a really good example of using the Internet to raise awareness about advocacy issues in a particular area / region. Sure, Bike Portland doesn't have the latest images of gear or reviews of the 'good stuff', but it does have info on how to make Portland a better place to be -- something that's way more important than how someone else thinks the new El Caminos work on the trail.
http://www.bikeportland.org
bloggage
ReplyDeletesince nov ought four
www.rockwool.blogspot.com
the most factory blog
You might try: Survey Monkey
ReplyDeleteamy has a good idea
ReplyDeletethere may be a short term free test of the survey monkey
if you do go ahead with this BEST BIKE BLOGS thing
I think that the word of mouth needs to spread
perhaps there should be a logo
and a flyer
then
each blog who has been nominated
should put the flyer and the link to the survey on their blog
wish my links were more extensive and up to date
I nominate myself
I nominate martino's bike diary
I nominate velorution
I nominate bicycles and icicles
then of course there is Fatmarc
and many spin offs in my region
DT used to have a great blog
but it lost priority
he debated going big
but I think he need to shift his concentration
who else
who else
I bet there are three bicycle blogs that I regularlyu go back to but have not mentioned
-jg
http://gwadzilla.blogspot.com/
I'd like to nominate Oil is for sissies. blog.lib.umn.edu/thil0020/carfreelife/
ReplyDeleteWordy, but satisfying.
alright, alright, fine. the cd got me.
ReplyDeletematt chester usually has something interesting to say about cycling, simple living, and the consumerist culture we live in:
http://www.mattchester.com/blog/
michael rasmussen has documented cycling in his life for 3 years now, starting from the moment he stopped being a couch potato and started becoming a commuter, then a fixie rider, then a tourist, and more recently, a full-fledged randonneur. he also just changed software and it looks a lot nicer than the old page:
http://www.patch.com/words/
good old ed knows how to crank out the satire (and paranoia from apparently being the only cyclist in oklahoma) and i'm surprised no one has mentioned him yet:
http://cycledog.blogspot.com/
and, what the hell, i have no shame. me:
http://bikefridaywalter.blogdrive.com/
lastly, though i wouldn't necessarily consider this an official vote, i know at least one friend who without a doubt would vote for..
http://drunkcyclist.com/
hate to say it, but i'd like to include cyclelicious in there.
I nominate ThirtySixLame:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.thirtysixlame.com/journal/
This blogger has a really unique style.
Choosing one is impossible. There are too many approaches and creative categories.
ReplyDeleteI nominate Gwadzilla for best documentary photo project. (gwadzilla.blogspot.com)
I nominate The Old Bag for most creative writing. (oldbag.blogspot.com)
I nominate Up In Alaska for most inspired writing, and best new blog. (arcticglass.blogspot.com)
I wish I could nominate several others for a group award for keeping me informed and entertained each day. Or maybe they should be punished for taking up so much of my time ...
Great idea!
ReplyDeleteI'll nominate BikePortland.org.
In addition to being well-written, topical and visually appealing, the blog covers the Portland bike scene like a blanket. Jonathan's blog is a must-read for any cyclist Portland. He's committing a friggin' public service!
here we are: velovelo.blogspot.com...
ReplyDeleteSince I'm not the first one to nominate my own blog I don't feel so "tacky"! Here's my travelogue (blog) about amateur racing and recreational cycling:
ReplyDeletesteephill.tv bike travelogue
Two cents: it would be nice to have something better than a "vote early and vote often" system. In any case, it would be great to see a bike blogs beauty contest.
As long as we're being tacky and nominating our own:
ReplyDeletehttp://daveshields.blogspot.com/
With all of the nominees I'll probably split things up into categories. I'll keep "beauty contest" suggestion in mind.
ReplyDeleteThe blogs I'd nominate are already listed. Lets see who I can add.
ReplyDeleteGoClipless
Random Thoughts
Cars Suck
And I know there's tons more I could put... Including my own. But I don't wanna.
But I will promote the Bike Blogs Directory
Hah!
I have just a few more that I'd like to add to the prestigious list of nominees.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.bikingbis.com/blog
http://www.cicle.org/cicle_content/index.php
http://bicyclemarketingwatch.blogspot.com/
Unlike some others The Cycling Dude ( http://www.cyclingdude.com ) will not be nominatin' himself. ;-D
ReplyDeleteI will let my Blog, and its content, speak for itself, and let readers of both of our Blogs make that judgement for themselves.
As for who I'd nominate, aside from some of those listed, who I link to, let me suggest a BikeBlog of a different sort than how most of us do ours:
1. Voyage, Voyage = http://www.voyagevoyage.com/en/
How many of you even know this site exists?
Into touring?
Into good story telling?
Into Photography? ( A couple hundred, or so, Photos! )
This place is a MUST.
And means an investment of time on your part to enjoy, and appreciate.
Nina shares the Journal of her Father, Rob, who took a Bike Tour thru Europe in 1953.
In 2003 she retraced his route then posted her own journal of her adventure.
THIS is BikeBlogging at its purest, and best, and all of us who write about our own escapades can learn from both examples.
As for someone to watch for 2006:
I'd like to suggest Larry La Grande, of New Orleans...
Great Bicycle Trails, and City Rides Worldwide = http://world-class-bike-trails.blogspot.com/
The reason is obvious for anyone who has read my archive of coverage of the aftermath of Katrina.
Larry's Blog started out with one mission in mind... but not too long after that came Katrina, and the posts on his Blog now is starting to cover more than the original intent had in mind.
Let me say Gwadzilla has a good idea about the Logo/flyer/survey thing.
Thanks for your time, and Happy Cycling!