I am weighing out a few different options for this blog, and my personal blogging in general. When I started this blog way back in the day (over 4 years ago), I was mostly just looking for a viral place to connect with others who were as interested in bicycling as I am. Not too many of my close friends share this passion with me, and living in a smaller town makes it hard to join or even be a part of any cycling groups or clubs. This blog has done a great job of connecting me with some great cyclists all over the world. I feel like I've made some genuine friends with people I've never met, or may never meet in real life. 'Online friends' sound so ridiculous, but in this day and age, I feel it's more legit than it's ever been. Many of the folks I follow via their blogs and so one, I probably would be hanging out with quite a bit in 'real life'. If we weren't so far away of course. I've even had the good pleasure to meet some great bloggers in real life, and I like them even more than I did when I only knew them through blog contact. (And by the way, it does seem weird typing this still. Somehow I've still got a stigma regarding the whole 'internet-social' thing) Vik, is a great guy and I've bought a bike from him, rode with him and had lunch on a few occasions. Smudgemo and I met up for beers once while I was on a quick business trip to Oakland. The fact of the matter is that the internet is indeed a social place, fill with real life people. We may never meet them, but we can still hang, and get caught up in our little worlds of interest that we share. It's great. Chris, Doug, Jon, Hughie and Micheal to name a few, are people that I may never meet in person, but we do share a common interest and enjoy each other's online interaction.
That leads me to exploring some of my options. My interests are vast and varied, and many come and go. There are a few though, that do keep my interest, and I find as I'm getting older, I tend to bounce around from one thing to the next less. I love bicycles. Bummer is that in the winter my riding drops quite a bit. I run more than I ride. Food. I love food. I regularly post iPhone pics of the food in my life on my tumbler blog, which is more of just a random dump of quickly shot iphone pics. It's not interactive at all, and I like it more it's non-committal nature. Throw pics up when I can. Nothing more. I have a love/hate relationship with Facebook, and my twitter is more oriented towards business. Then there are my photography blogs, which I will keep as places for people to view my latest photography work. But lately, I've been wanting a place where I can blog about more of the activities and interests that are in my life. Cycling, running, food, design, beer, photography, family, DIY and simple living. I want to put up more quality posts, with quality images (seeing as I've got some decent camera gear) about a variety of topics.
I find myself asking if this blog is the right place to do it. The first thing that bugs me about this blog is the name. Way back when I started it, I had never put much onto the old inter-web, and I choose a nickname for it's title. My name isn't Jerome. It's Jeremy. And the URL very clearly states 'bikes' in it. Would it be fair to have less content on bikes than other topics? I think the only thing that is making me think so much about changing up to a different blog, is that this one has some sentimental value to me. It's where it all began for me, and it's done me very well. I feel that blogging here is a decision that has enriched my life and I really like what this little blog has done for me and how it's allowed me to meet and interact with so many great people.
There's a steady stream of traffic that comes here. Would I lose some of that? I guess I might. But then who cares? I do hate to inconvenience anyone who might want to continue to follow what I blog, by making them have to update their bookmarks. But, hopefully the change will be worth it with a larger stream of content that they'd enjoy. It's not an easy decision, and it hasn't been made for sure yet. But I am indeed leaning towards a new site with more content that spans a great interest of topics.
All this to say that there may be some changes coming in the way that I blog about my personal interests. Any thoughts or suggestions?
I'll keep you posted.
Cheers,
Jeremy
I think it's good to be involved in stuff, and I do feel that when you commit to something, it is important to show up. But every now and then, there comes a time when the best thing you can do, is step back. Even if only for a weekend. 
I think it's good to be involved in stuff, and I do feel that when you commit to something, it is important to show up. But every now and then, there comes a time when the best thing you can do, is step back. Even if only for a weekend. 
