Monday, November 18, 2013

Why I Should Start Blogging Again

I admit it.  I gave up on blogging.  With Facebook, Twitter and the like, who actually takes time to read this beside the faithful bloggers of old (and are they really reading anymore)?  All I seem to do on my blog is to update the number of consecutive days that I have ridden my bicycle to work.  And that, gentle readers, is why I am blogging now.

You see, I posted on Facebook -the blog killing invention- about my new streak milestone of 1,750 consecutive days.  The post was:
  
I just hit 1,750 consecutive days of commuting to work by bicycle. Every day that I've come to work since March 5, 2007 has been by bicycle. My blogging has decreased immensely (mostly because of Facebook and the ability to "microblog") but I keep adding to the tally on bikingbrady.com. Sometime next year I should his 2,000 which is pretty hard to believe.

Well, this started off may "likes" (currently 72 likes at the time of this post) and comments.   But one comment definitely made me think about why I blogged in the first place:  To try to encourage people to bike more and drive less.  To be less car-centric. 

Although I knew that Tina Shantz-Hart commuted a great deal by bicycle, I had no idea that I was a contributing factor in that.  Tina posted the following:

Your (b)log inspired me to bike to work and to keep a record of it!! I don't have the superb track record you do but I've logged 800 days and over 7,000mi commuting on my bike since Sept '10 - and it all started thanks to YOU!

 7,000 miles that wasn't driven.  7,000 miles of health benefits.  7,000 miles of seeing many things that you would NEVER see in a car.  7,000 miles of not being able to explain why biking is so much better than driving whenever possible.  7,000 miles of reminders of why I need to keep at this, to be (one) change I want to see in the world. 

Thank you Tina for reminding me why I do this.  Here's hoping I stay motivated to blog.  To motivate others like you to help make positive changes in our society.  Keep pedaling Tina and I'll do my best to keep motivating others to do the same!