Yes sir, my name is on the list

I was checking out Kerkove's blog the other day to see his daily Kerkovian on-the-bike shot and heart rate/elevation/distance/caloric intake/weather/horoscope chart when I found a nugget of information worth sharing with the class. Jeff was proudly announcing that he had made the list of The Top Fifty Most Influential Cycling Blogs (although he waited humbly till the end of his post to make the announcement).

There he is at number 39.

Of course I went looking for my name, and I was thrilled that I beat Kerkove at something cycling related, albeit by only 3 places. I was kinda bummed at my placing, for as we all know if I can't win I want to at least come in at 6th place or dead on mid-pack. I was neither and none.

I did my best to understand exactly how these rankings were established, but I won't lie to you and say I totally grasped the rules. Some of it has to do with having a Facebook page that can be "fanned" and also "twittering" was another factor. I do neither, and I don't think that this report will be the impetus that moves me to do either. Jill is way the hell up there, and she doesn't even twitter or have a "fannable" Facebook page, but then again she keeps posting the occasional hottie image to keep her male fans coming back in droves. Of course Bike Snob and Fatty are crushing it, and I doubt anybody really woulda thought that coulda been any different. It's an interesting list to say the least, and perhaps I'll find some time to click over to some of the other sites I've never heard of before. Not because I want to expand my horizons, but just to see what makes them better and then copy it over here.

Funniest thing I read about the Top Fifty?

"As much as there is a vast quantity of cycling blogs, these are clearly of a professional grade."

He (she?) obviously didn't actually read my blog.

Regarding yesterday's comments...

WPG said... Awesome. Film more please.

More film? That film was the culmination of multiple time consuming efforts, starting with a 2.5 hour ride that normally takes 1.0 hours to do when I'm not fiddling with a camera and going back to an interesting section for more takes. Then there was an hour spent watching the clips and labeling them so I would know what I was looking at when I went to edit them. Then I spent another hour renaming them in chronological order since when I renamed them by trail feature they went into an alphabetical list making it hard for me to remember the actual order of events. After that there was the 3.5 hour marathon session of editing Tuesday night. That essentially means "creating" the video was a seven hour process. Of course most of the time was spent fixing my mistakes and learning how to use Movie Maker, so perhaps I could cut that time down substantially next time.

AdamB said... STRIKE! Freakin' Awesome. The way you are riding the Niner I wonder why you need the Moots-brothers bike/fork combo. Nice work.

There are other features out at Poplar that I won't hit on a rigid bike EVER. I look forward to getting the squish out there, and I had mixed feelings about riding the Meatplow out there, but I needed to ride the new cockpit at least once before PMBAR.

Blair said... You're gonna need to ask for some vacation time to edit all the video from PMBAR....

I am considering wearing the GoPro at PMBAR. I have checked to see that it is compatible with my hydration pack, but since I kinda want to win I don't know if I want an additional, unnecessary distraction to take my mind outta the game.
Luis G. said... How does the Niner fork behave on those drops?

It felt like a rigid fork. I can't tell if it was any better than a steel fork in those types of situations. Where it truly shines is on fast, rooty bumps... high frequency stuff. On the drops it did what I wanted it to do... not break.

jonnyb said...

I think I read somewhere that there is a way to put the camera in the chest harness upside down so that you can see down the trail more.

Point taken. Tried it upside down last night... worked like a charm.

Karen said... It's not often that one sees video of moves like that with a computer on the handlebar also in the frame. Probably a HR monitor no less.

Stabby is not so much interested in how far he goes, but he does like to know how fast he moves. HR monitor? Not the Stabby we all know. I think if he knew his heart rate he might become concerned and quit riding altogether.

Well, I'm off to the doctor's office with my mom where I will spend the day in a waiting room posting my old shit on eBay, tinkering with ideas for my next Dirt Rag article, and perhaps playing a jolly good game of Minesweeper.