Change Is In The Air

Last day at Fisherman's Wharf

Change Is In The Air

 

Last day at Fisherman's Wharf

Last day at Fisherman’s Wharf

I can’t believe it has been 2 weeks since we came back from our month-long Pacific Northwest bike tour from Vancouver to San Francisco.  Neither of us has thrown our legs over our 2-wheel companions ever since we got off on July 26th in San Francisco. Heck, my bike’s front wheel hasn’t been reassembled back onto the bike since I hauled it back home.  The bike is just sitting in one corner of my garage while the front wheel is leaned over on the other side.

Bicycling? What’s That?

To say I am disinterested would be an understatement.  I guess when you’ve been living on a bike for 31 days and riding 1413 miles, I can see why I’m not even interested in hopping back on anytime soon.  It is not to say that I am completely disinterested.  I’ve actually miss riding my bike and was planning on going for a bike ride earlier this week but when the time came, I shamefully grabbed my car keys and drove off in favor of time.  The modern comforts have been pampering my tender muscles and sore rear end.  The large part of not being on the bike are all the social commitments I’ve made since coming back.  Most of it is to celebrate my birthday (why should I turn down a free meal?).

So what has been happening for the last 2 weeks?  On the personal level, I am trying to clear out my house and list it for sale.  Majority of my furniture has been sold while I try to sell the remaining items and continue to clean my property.  Enough about me, let’s dive into what’s important to you, my readers.

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Site Changes

From the site’s perspective, I’ve given MilestoneRides.com a face lift.  I’ve changed the front page to add more eye candy with sliding images which highlights things I want you to see and added a few new sections like a “Gears & Gadgets”.  Why have I decided to go through with these changes?  I have given a lot of thought to what my site brings to you and felt that many of the posts I’ve shared have been in the line of my experiences a la personal blog style.  It has been a good sounding board for all things bicycle touring but based on the amount of traffic my site attracts, people want to know more about specific things.  That is why my 1,000 mile review of my Salsa Vaya has been a big hit on the site thus far based on user traffic and comments.  I want to reset and to refocus my efforts to help bring more blog posts like that in the forefront while still have off topic posts about our adventures.  I would like this site to be more valuable resource for you when you’re ready to pack up your panniers and take that bike tour you’re planning.

Bike lock up

Photo by Richard Masoner

Interbike Focused

Another driving force for this change is my selfish goal to attend Interbike this year as a member of the press.  If you don’t know what Interbike is, it is the major industry-wide-all-things-bicycle trade show in Las Vegas which happens every September.  The requirements are to have relevant content which appeals to both my readers and the exhibitors as well as 1000 unique views per month.  I have enough traffic coming to the site but I need to reorganize so that we highlight things that exhibitors are interested, unbiased review of their products.  Someone from Interbike actually called me to discuss this and I told him I was in the process of making my changes so part 1 is done and now to do part 2, a product review and then I’m going to resubmit the site again and hope that I am given that 3 day pass.  Worse case scenario, I pay to attend on Friday and hang out in Las Vegas the other 2 days.

Big Things To Come

In addition to the site revamp, I have a big project that I am going to start on and hopefully kick it off later this year.  I can’t say much about it on here but those who know me in person have a good idea what I am planning on doing to help monetize my passion in bicycle touring.  Stay tuned for any breaking news but for now I am in incubation mode in drawing out my plans and do research as necessary.

As I push on with these side projects, I’ll be planning some more local bike tours or just get on the bike for some longer rides.  Being off the bike has made me feel like something is missing in my life.  I need it to be whole once again and getting on the bicycle is what’s going to help.

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