By now, just two days before the New Year, the interest in the top stories for 2011 at this blog must be reaching a fever pitch.
While many other blogs already have divulged their top stories, I've been holding back before showing my hand.
Unfortunately, my site stat database only shows month-by-month results. Since I'm too lazy to add them up, here is a monthly look at the stories blog readers found most interesting this year. [Photo above from 2011 Seattle to Portland Bicycle Classic.]
January
“Computer snafu ties up registration for Cascade Bicycle Club.”
Unfortunately, this story was updated so many times that I can't find
the original.
Suffice to say that overloaded servers on the Cascade Bicycle Club ride registration day
stymied office workers all over the Seattle area who were trying to
sign up for RSVP (Ride from Seattle to Vancouver and Party).
The upshot
was the addition of a new bicycle ride, RSVP II, and changes to the
registration system, including an RSVP lottery system. Cascade tells us How to register for 2012 events.
February
“Myth busting the RAGBRAI and Ride the Rockies bike tours”
found that some bike rides across Iowa have more elevation gain than the counterpart in Colorado; rolling hills vs. one long climb per day.
“Mount Rainier's Carbon River
Road to become a bike – hike trail” reported that the national park
decided give up trying to repair an old, high-maintenance auto road.
March
“Bicycles play a role following Japan earthquake and tsunami” told how people in Tokyo immediately turned to bicycles for transportation after the earthquake closed public transit system.
“Are your cycling pants flame retardant?” also got a lot
of hits in March, although the story was written in 2008. A guy in Poland is
riding his bicycle down the road when his pants catch fire. I don't make this stuff up.
April
“Frontier Airlines' new baggage policy favors cyclists” reported the
happy news that the airline will treat boxed bicycles as regular
luggage, with no exorbitant surcharges.
May
“Tyler Hamilton saw Lance Armstrong use EPO: '60 Minutes” received the most hits in May. Hamilton finally admits to doping in his cycling career and says he
witnessed Armstrong do so too.
Further down the list, we find out that
the weather at Lake Tahoe is just too sketchy for cycling, even in May:
“2011 Tour of California Stage 1 canceled.”
June
Hints on how to get last-minute tickets for STP drew the most interest:
“Updates for 2011 Seattle-to-Portland (STP) bike ride.”
Meanwhile there
was good news that repairs were finished on the John Wayne Pioneer Trail and “Snoqualmie Pass Tunnel to
open in July 2011” after its closure in January 2009.
July
A preview for a stage at the Tour de France topped the popularity list in July. It summed up the efforts of Cadel Evans, Alberto Contador and the Brothers Schleck and was illustrated with a Google StreetView “movie” of the upcoming stage provided by Dennis Wegewijs at Cycling the Alps — “Stage 16's doorway to the Alps; virtual bike ride on Col du Manse”.
My personal favorite was “Is this remarkable world bicycle traveler the first 'Fred'?” A fellow by the name of Fred Birchmore traveled the world by bicycle in the 1930s, and his bike ended up in the Smithsonian Institution.
August
The Tour de France had ended, but a film clip from French director Louis Malle from the sidelines of the 1962 drew visitors to “The Tour de France has been around almost forever.”
My write-up on an overnight bike camping trip to the John Wayne Pioneer Trail drew lots of readers to “An overnight bike trip to Snoqualmie Tunnel finds a popular destination.”
September
“Update: Threat to federal funding for bicycling improvements averted” was a follow-up to a call by bicycle advocates for a letter-writing campaign to Congress. Oklahoma Sen. Tom Coburn had said he would try to block a transportation bill to strip bicycle and pedestrian funding from it. After Coburn backed down, Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul launched a threat a few weeks later, which was rejected by the Senate.
October
After finally getting the California legislature to pass a 3-foot passing law, California bike advocates were torpedoed by Gov. Jerry Brown — “California's Gov. Brown vetoes 3-foot passing law.”
November
Always a favorite, “12 bicycle wall calendars for 2012; the sexy and sublime,” topped the hard-hitting cycling news for November. It might be the stunning scenery offered by cycling photographer Graham Watson, or perhaps the German calendar that features scantily clad female cyclists.
December
A quirky old article about bicycling touring in the English countryside got a lot of reads — “Hints on bicycle touring, circa 1883; most hold true today.”
On a sadder note, so did “Police and court records speak volumes on two Kirkland bicycle fatalities.” It examined police and court records in two tragedies of 2011.
For comparison, here are the most popular bicycling stories at the Cyclelicious bicycle blog for the past year.
Also, the Grist website chimed in with its top bicycling stories of 2011.
Recent Comments