Ain't gonna lie, Kelly. Our first journal that had a lot of hits on the other site and also has a crackin' good film festival on the last page is perhaps the one I am most proud of, but is a bit dusty here on CB. That's the way it goes when posting a journal from the past.
We were complete and total newbies on that trip, made lots of mistakes, but had a complete and total adventure in four countries. We tell people that we started in one of the most difficult places in the world without having even ridden around the block on a loaded bicycle first. I mean, we were insane! And we almost gave it up right at the start, too, because we were such idiots. And now, now you can't even ride in Myanmar at all because of the war, so seeing us there in 2014 (also in 2019 in a later journal) is all the more poignant.
https://www.cycleblaze.com/journals/chindwin1415/
The film festival had three videos but I believe YouTube has taken down the 'Part I: Myanmar' one for a soundtrack violation. Dagnabit.
Hi Kelly, thank you for this post and pointing out what happens when journals were moved.
Yes we have a journal that was on that other site and in the top 50 that over half of the journal there is no indication it has been read. It is a lengthy journal RTW over a 2.5 year tour, 44 countries, so it is understandable that it would not be read here and especially since it is now 8 years old.
The link Racpat RTW 2015-2017
I just checked your link, looks like a great ride and thank you for sharing.
Rachel
I moved many journals from another site and never expected them to get a lot of attention the second time, especially since the information is increasingly dated.
I accidentally neglected to download one journal from the other site. Later the journal was rescued from oblivion thanks to John Henry at bikejournalbackup.com. His backup includes route maps that are not captured when using the other site's journal download tool.
My longer journals originally had a route map every 2-4 days, but they didn't transfer automatically. The maps were very useful, but it's a big project to restore the maps one by one. I never got around to it.
As to your original question, my biggest "sleeper" journal is Death Valley 2011 which got a huge number of views and photo ratings when first published, but not much attention here.
All these references to"another site" remind me of the Harry Potter films and "he who must not be named" aka Lord Voldemort
Is it not time to acknowledge Crazyguyonabike as another excellent cycle touring resource even if many of us don't much like the owner?
Kelly as time goes by, my older journals are ok as historical records for me, but I feel they gradually lose relevance and usefulness for others. I’d prefer to focus on current and future journals, and keep moving forward. There’s too much dust in the rear view mirror.
In terms of public viewing, my journals are long forgotten. In terms of me re-living various portions or days of a particular tour or tours, they are as golden in my eyes as the day they were written and photographed.
I understand what you are saying about dust in the rearview mirror. I also have to gently argue that many routes are still good years later - look at all of the ACA routes. We have borrowed heavily from the Andersons' Spain and Portugal routes and been very happy. Information such as lodging and restaurants does become dated. Sometimes particular roads change suitableness (that's happened on the TransAm route over Hoosier Pass in Colorado) - but there are people who enjoy doing the research on creating a good route, and also people who like to take that base and build on it. Sometimes it's nice to get a little nudge on what can still be a good tour, even 5-10 years later.
I very definitely agree with Brent that rereading my old journals brings me great pleasure.
Yes, this one; Buddy Rides A Bike. This was my first journal, and I actually learned how to create it on that other site during my first rest day. I didn't even realize there was such a thing as online journaling about a bicycle tour until I met another cyclist who gave me a link to his journal - I immediately saw the value in being able to give my friends and family real-time updates about my adventures. It was my first experience on a long tour, and I was riding across the country solo, so this whole "journaling thing" was a new experience. That journal got quite a few hits - I was surprised as I only expected my family and friends to read it and didn't realize how many folks would be interested in my attempt to cross the continent. Of course, when it was ported over here it was 5 years old and no longer fresh news, so it hasn't gotten much notice here. But it has lots of useful information for others who may be planning to ride the Transam route, and so I'm thrilled to have it "available" for discovery here on CycleBlaze. And I'm pretty happy to have discovered the CycleBlaze community, so things worked out for the best anyway.
But it's my next journal, the tour I have yet to take, the adventures and challenges that await, that really excites me. Here's to dreaming about the next one...
Definitely the value of older journals are for research. And it's exciting to see the number of journals here on cycleblaze that adds to that resource as like you said many things don't change. And it's fun to see how things may have changed!
And the research is good not only for current plans, but lots of ideas for future tours start with reading any journal.
many of us moved tour journals here in bulk from another site. Some didn’t get the attention they might have, had they been posted at the time.
Today I drove through Navajo Nation, in Arizona. We rode an excellent tour though much of this area in 2019. It rates as one of my top five for scenery and overall WOWness.
Do you have a journal that might be of interest that didn’t get much notice?
here is a link to my Moab-Grand Canyon journal.
8 months ago