So, 2011 is almost over. It’s time to coast across the finish line with a look back at those times when I wasn’t feeling quite as lazy as I am today, after three days off.
To determine the top ten posts of 2011, I took a look at how many times each post was viewed in it’s first month out of the blogging womb. That’s it. No, “verdict of history” nonsense. None of that, “In retrospect, this blog post was quite prescient” crap.
Nope. If the post didn’t give us the instant gratification of heaps of ego-satisfying traffic, it didn’t make this list.
Unless otherwise indicated, I was the author of the post.
#10 My First Bike Commuting Crash
by Melanie Meyers Colavito
The best approach is to pick yourself up, get back on the pony, and remember to pay as much attention as possible to whats going on around you and respect your fellow commuters (of all modes).
Mayhem, pain, and destruction! Always popular. (Bike Shop Girl’s account of her bike accident made #9 on our 2010 top-10 list.) Melanie not only survived the crash, she took the time to exemplify responsible helmet disposal. A few months later, Melanie busted her elbow while mountain biking.
#9 Blinkiology: The Study of Rear Blinkies
by Stacey Moses
Stacey reminded us that there are two ways to interpret the advice, “You can’t wear too many blinky lights.”
There is a fine line between protecting yourself and becoming a public nuisance on the road or on the bike path.
#8 Wishing Gabrielle Giffords Many More Commutes by Bike
Three days after Giffords was attacked, I wrote:
Giffords represents us, as Americans, Arizonans, and as cyclists. We wish her a full and speedy recovery, and many more bike commutes.
But I can admit to you now that I didn’t really hold much hope that she’d survive — much less walk and talk again, return to Congress to represent my home state, and cyclists everywhere. I haven’t seen her on a bike again, but now even that hardly seems far fetched.
#7 People Who Should Know Better
by Karen Voyer-Caravona
The potential of cycling is thwarted by nincompoops, from social workers to US Senators.
Karen ranted:
Do they realize that with 14 million people out of work and 46 million living in poverty, a lot of folks cant afford to own and operate a car? Are they ignorant or do they just lack empathy? Im starting to suspect the later because both should certainly know better.
#6 Cycling Over 50: The benefits just dont outweigh thepotentialconsequences
Speaking of nincompoops,Michael Yaremchuk, M.D., Chief of Craniofacial Surgery, Massachusetts General Hospital, demonstrated that for all his expertise, he failed to recognize his own urgent need for a rectal-cranial extraction:
Every now and then I must relearn the lesson that doctors arent necessarily scientists.
#5 Four Things I Forgot about WinterBikeCommuting (InEightShortMonths)
Speaking again of nincompoops, I discovered that readers tend to enjoy it when I profess to be a moron:
It gets dark early, stupid: For all my talk of lighty-light-light, Bike Tech Shop, and so on, I didnt think to transfer any lights to my bike in the morning.
#4 Sucking It Up In Winter
by Vanessa Marie Robinson
Vanessa has her own rather popular blog, ForTheLoveOfBikes, but she kindly dropped in with her tips on winter commuting:
The trick is to wear just the right amount of clothing without bulking up so you get uncomfortable and overheat and start sweat a ton getting drenched and not being able to dry off in the cold simply sucks.
#3 Calculating the Leap to Driving Less
Steve Morgan developed an online Cycle to Work Calculator, yet I wanted even more vindication that commuting by bike is a good idea:
Id like to see an advanced mode where you can put in whether you own a car, its purchase price, age, insurance cost, etc. so you could really see what a financial liability that beast is.
#2 A Little Respect for KristentheBikeThiefThwarter
Wherein a smallish woman takes down a burley bike thief in the act:
And I get all Language Police on the dude who told me about it — a co-worker of the “girl” in the video:
Sheesh! What decade is this? But thanks, George, for the tip.
Remember that heroes walk among us. They work among us. One sits in a cube not far from you.
#1 Stop pedaling start driving
Number One for The Year — and I wrote it! Woohoo!
I’d like to thank General Motors, for without their stupidity, this would not have been possible:
But the reality that sucks is the reality that we still live in a society where vehicle ownership is considered by many people to be obligatory. In this milieu, not owning an internal-combustion vehicle is a social liability. GM is merely leveraging this social reality. As much as anyone, Im hoping this marketing ploy will backfire.