From Bike Racks to Mt. View to More Biking - Why Blogging is so Hot and so Cool

I discovered Clark's Mt. View Forum tonight because he left a comment on my bike rack post. From what I've read on his site, I'd describe it as a local activist site that is keeping track of what's happening in Mt. View. He's got posts on the Heritage Land Bank's plans for the old Native Hospital grounds, debates over the lighting at the Bragaw and Glenn Highway intersection, pictures of the new Clark Middle School construction. This is a real service to the folks in Mt. View and perhaps a great model for other community bloggers to emulate. Great blog Clark!

His blog also sent me to a couple of commuter biking blogs that have thought about this sort of stuff much more thoroughly than I have.

You Just Don't Want To has some tips for experienced commuter bikers when giving advice to the new $4 a gallon bikers:

I suspect that most people wanting to give this bike commuting thing a try will more or less load up the old bike in the garage and head out instead of researching things a little. They probably don't read blogs like this until they get hooked. So I say to you, the knowledgeable, don't let your neighbor go forth to wreak havoc in the public arena alone with his inexperience. Engage him. Offer him your experience and wisdom. Avoid telling how much he needs to buy because his stuff is junk. Avoid pressuring him to ride every day, and under no circumstances make light of his fear of riding in traffic. Make sure he has the tools and knowledge to repair a flat tire. Failing that, make sure he knows where the buses go and how to use the front bicycle rack.

There's some wisdom here, but I also sense a bit of bike snobbism and no consideration at all that my neighbor might be a she. I seem to be doing ok on my ten or 15 year old piece of junk, but then I don't have too far to ride to get downtown or most places I want to go. But the patch kit advice is good, but I was able to get a bus with a bike rack home.

Discovering new (to me) Alaskan blogs raises a dilemma. I only have a few Alaska blogs listed in my links. The whole idea of exchanging links to increase your various blog ratings makes sense at one level, but then you get such a long list of blogs that it really doesn't mean anything. Maybe I could have a section that says "Blogs I check regularly" and one that says "Blog Link Exchange List". There are some Alaska blogs that are listed in almost every Alaska blog I go to. I started out by linking to blogs I read regularly and/or thought were unique and that (at least at the time) didn't get much attention. We're learning the 'rules' as we go, which is perfectly fine with me.

As a kid I despaired that I would never be able to read all the books in the library. But we accept the fact that we can't be friends with everyone in the world, or even all the people we really could spiritually connect with in the world, or even keep up with all the people we have met and do truly connect with. So, it's ok if we can't read all the blogs, or even keep up with the ones we've started reading. There's our own lives to live too. So, hi Clark, it was great to run into you tonight. And Smudgemo in Berkeley too. And Philip who went skinny dipping at Harbin Hot Springs today. Harbin is Anchorage's sister city in China, but Phil was in at a different Harbin - in Northern California.