Five for Riding

Five years ago today, I published my very first post on this blog with the picture you see above. What a ride it's been (pun intended). I normally don't do very lengthy posts on here, but I have quite the adventure planned for this one, so before I get into all that, I want to get some important things out of the way.

As much as I enjoy riding and writing about riding, it wouldn't be nearly as special if I weren't able to share it with all of you in so many ways. Sharing rides is of course the most obvious one, but there are also those of you who have given the gifts of cycling through birthdays/holidays, all of you who stop in here regularly to read about what I/we do, those who share these words and pictures with friends, and those who are further inspired to do epic things (bike-related or otherwise) in their day-to-day lives because of my/our experiences. For all of this and so much more, I thank all of you.

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I began this blog with an idea to share some of the interesting stories that seemed to arise simply from being on a bike every day, and also to share some more ambiguous stories thru pictures (see: Rustcycles and Nice Racks). I started it simply wanting to get thoughts out of my head and into some sort of creative space. As unintentionally as possible, it became its own animal whereby I had the opportunity to share, collaborate, inform, inspire, and be inspired by others at the same time. It's never been about making money, but it has been about getting rich through experiences.

Camp Chase Trail, Columbus, January 2020

It's also survived thru pretty much everything my life could throw at it: three different moves, a horrific injury, friends, enemies, multiple changes in lifestyle and jobs...I could go on, and that's probably my favourite thing about this little project that I'll remind you, started on a whim. It's endured. I've hardly ever kept up with anything in my life (that wasn't music) for longer than a few months, so I get a sense of accomplishment thinking about doing this for five years. I guess that means this tiny little space of cyberspace is special to me, right?

Center City Philly, May 2017

I've spent some time in the last few days looking back, which I think is healthy to do every once in awhile. Seeing where I've been and projecting myself to some of the moments I've shared on here has helped me to see how far I've come, and also exposed areas where I still feel I can do better. It's shown me once again just how magical riding a bike can be. Riding can be a transformative thing, binding together individuals of any race, generation, belief, sexual orientation, athletic prowess, choice of lifestyle, and the list goes on. If you've been to this space before, I know you understand this already.

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And with that, it's time for a few trips down memory lane. I knew this day was approaching, and because of that, I had decided not to do an end-of-year post for 2019. I mean, it's still less than a month after the new year. So before I go into some of my favourite memories of the past five years, I'd first like to share some of my favourite experiences from 2019:

• 5) Everybody Wants to be Naked and Famous
• Fittingly, as I celebrate 5 years of blogging, I also celebrated my 5th Philly Naked Bike Ride last August.
• 4) How I Spent (Most of) my Summer Vacation
• After a pretty hectic and somewhat stressful start to Summer, I returned to the blogosphere with a brief update on what my family had been up to in those months, including buying our first house together! It almost felt like a victory lap.
• 3) YOU get a Bike, and YOU get a Bike!
• A few days after my nephew got his first bike, our daughter got her first big girl bike!
• 2) Staycation Sensation
• Because of work schedules, I don't often get to share rides to and from school with the kiddo. I was extremely lucky to share one with her AND my stepdad in September (with a bonus full family ride to get donuts). 
• 1) Tent-ative Plans
• I had done a great number of things on a bike before March 2019, but I'd never gone bike camping. My experienced cycling buddy Jason took me along for my first ride.

Christmas Day, 2019

2019 was a "different" year. It was my first full year living in the greater Columbus area, and as much as you can prepare yourself, you're never truly ready for everything a new experience will throw at you. But that's part of the fun, right? It was still a very good year, and at the very least, I've learned a lot.

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I'd like to start my "best of" five years with events that seemed to be most popular. It's really tough to quantify what you, the audience enjoys, so the only measurement I have (besides trying to remember what people have told me they liked) are page views. So with that, here are the top posts on this blog by readership, all-time. I'm actually surprised by a couple of these:

• 5) Zippity Doo Dah
• The Doo Dah Parade in Columbus is an annual celebration of the liberty & lunacy of freedom of speech through humor. The family and I decided to take our first "big" adventure by biking to it on July 4th, 2018, in the midst of a heat wave.
• 4) Oliver Clothesoff
• My 1st Philly Naked Bike Ride. The PNBR blog post usually ended the year as the top post by readership because SEX SELLS whether you want to believe it or not. Ha!
• 3) The Naked Miles
• My 3rd Philly Naked Bike Ride, which happened to be my final PNBR as a Philly resident (for now, anyway).
• 2) Bike to School
• My girlfriend and I convinced Faith to ride her bike to school, something neither of us had ever done ourselves.
• 1) For the Love of Wash Cycling
• My gut-wrenching farewell to the job that inspired this very blog. I'd be remiss if I didn't mention that re-reading it did cause me to tear up a little.

My last day as a Wash Cyclist, May 2018

If you spent a little time to read all of those, first of all, thank you. Secondly, though they may have garnered the most page views and there are some great stories in there, some of MY favourite experiences were left out. If you feel so inclined, help yourself to some of my best memories I've tried to recall. This is by no means a complete list, and these are in no particular order:

• When Worlds Collide
• I took a bike and a train to a job site in Northwest Philly to work for TV-13, my former full-time employer that operates more than 75 miles outside the city.
• The 700 Club
• Logging just over 700 miles in April 2018, a feat I'd never accomplished before, and I'm not sure I'll ever accomplish again.
• New Kid on the Block
• The first ride on "The Bike With no Name," who has now traversed well over 7k miles in 7 different states in just under 4 years.
• 300
• Celebrating my friend Todd's 58th birthday with a 58-mile ride that inspired me to start my own birthday biking tradition...
• 33 on the 33rd
• My first (and so far only) attempt at riding my age in miles on my birthday, which morphed into my Bike Your Birth Month tradition. 
• Beach Bikin' Away
• Riding 44 miles on the Atlantic Coastal Highway in search of beer with my good buddy Amy.
• We Only Come out at Night
• Braving the frigid Winter to view holiday light displays in Philly.
• Everywhere Man
• I was literally all over the place in April 2017, including Philly, Columbus, and Pittsburgh with my girlfriend.
• Bikin' on the Bayou
• Exploring perhaps my favourite bike share system so far, in NOLA.
• The Abandoned Blog
• Biking part of the Abandoned PA Turnpike, which was definitely one of the most unique trail experiences of my adventures.
• Cyclotherapy
• Welcoming "My Therapist" to my family of bikes.
• The 10,000 Mile View
• Logging my 10,000th mile (on Strava) in September of 2019.

Philadelphia Museum of Art (Todd's Birthday Ride), April 2016

Because I love random statistics, indulge me if you will:

• According to Strava, I've logged over 10,500 miles since May 2016, plus who knows how many more before then. Put into perspective, that's enough to have gone across the United States nearly four times. Side note, I'd still like to do that one day.
• *Only* 1,439 of those miles were work-related, much less than I thought before I looked it up. Still, that's more than 5 times the width of Pennsylvania, and nearly 7 times the width of Ohio.
• I've published 491 posts on this blog, which baffles me. Nearly 100 posts a year. I never imagined being capable of coming up with that many ideas. You never know until you try, right?
• Since this adventure began, I've been on two wheels in 9 different states and 2 different countries (so far).

New Orleans, LA, December 2018

So what do the next five years hold? You know me better than to try to predict that. About the only thing I can guarantee you is that my family and bikes will be involved. Thanks as always for riding along, and here's to many more miles and adventures.

I wrote the bulk of today's post before yesterday's tragic helicopter crash that claimed the lives of Kobe Bryant and his daughter Gianna. Whether you were a fan of his or the game of basketball or not, it's a tragic event involving a larger-than-life figure that should be another reminder to us all: appreciate what you have, be thankful and kind, and love your loved ones deeply every single day. I'm as guilty of forgetting to do this just like almost everyone, so I hope we can all be better, together. Tomorrow is never guaranteed for anyone.