Troisieme Anniversaire!

Or We've Come A Long Way Baby!
Boy, time just flies when you're an internet slave!
I mean having fun.
Sort of.
It's that time of the year, time to mark three years of inanity, with or without the "s."
I was just talking with some folk recently about Bloggerland and my time in it.  In some ways three years have gone by in the blink of an eyeball, in other ways, it's been a long journey of discovery.
Way back In The Beginning(ITB), I only posted oh once every few weeks.
What is this Bloggerland all about, I asked myself, and how does one get citizenship?
The sporadic posting lasted a while, my digital words going off into digital land mostly unnoticed.  One of my goals was to see how long exactly it would take for me to gather one follower, one reader who was interested in my ramblings.

the first header image

I got my first comment five months later.
The first follower soon followed, from there it was all downhill.
Downhill in the sense that soon I was writing daily and all hell broke loose!
In two months, I was getting almost daily feedback and you know what they say about feedback.
Everybody's a critic.
I gotta say, once I knew folks were actually reading this stuff, it became an interaction.  An interaction between myself and some unknown folks out there who were mostly silent.
Okay, the interaction was one way at first, but soon I was getting comments almost daily, comments from folks I didn't know but would soon become honorary citizens of Flat Tire Land.
The first EXTRA! post showed up around that time, and while it has been a rare occurrence lately, it has not been forgotten.
le Connaisseur de la Musique also appeared and since he has been on extended hiatus.
The first Sunday Final appeared ten months later, but was not a regular feature until I was surprised to learn, recently, as it seems like I've been writing them forever!

The Flat Tire wasn't intended to be all about bicycling, though it sort of evolved that way.  It was mainly a way for me to keep writing, something I sort of enjoy.
Early posts were about all sorts of goofyness that came to mind, it's just that bicycling seemed to be mostly well, on my mind.
All told, we've been though ten bicycles together, four of which still grace the Flat Tire offices.

the Rockhopper that started it all


I went from huffing and a puffing for five or six miles to huffing and a puffing for some Epic Journeys.
Not that there's a whole lot of undiscovered country around these parts, but they were newly discovered while on two wheels.
I discovered that places looked different while you were attached to the ground, getting there on your own leg exploding power.  You see things you normally take for granted while on four wheels.
Two wheels is a much more intimate way to explore the world.
Boy I felt like Forrest Gump when he lost his leg braces!
Interestingly enough, I wore the same kind of leg braces as a kid.
Although it seems like I've come a long way from that blue Rockhopper, which my brother still rides, it's not as far as one might think.
Oh there's the spandex and lycra, the carbon and steel and Crazy for Campagnolo.
Yet each time I get on my bicycle, I still get the same feeling of wonder and adventure as I head on down the  road.

Even though I just go around in circles.
What will I find?  What will I see?  Where will I go(even if it's just around in circles)?
Still the same 967 posts later.
I was trying to hit 1000, but I'm still lazy.
That hasn't changed either.
Boy, 967 posts.
Mostly about something but some were about nothing.
Still, how the hell did I do that?
I gotta admit, it's amazing how many posts I manage to punch out considering how inane(+/- the s) my life is.
Keeping things fresh and new and different is a goal I don't always reach, but for some reason or another I always seem to have something to say.
I'm not sure where it all comes from, but I'll be pretty sad the day it stops.
So anyways, there you go, it's been three years to the day that I sent out issue #1.
Back issues by the way, are available for a small fee.
From the editorial offices of The Flat Tire, thanks to all for getting on the bus.
There will be cream soda and cheese rolls at the reception that follows.
Okay, not really.