When I started CyclingAbout in 2011, I had no idea what it would become. The site consumes more and more of my time every year, yet my love and passion for writing here is only getting stronger.

This year I’ve diversified my bike travel experiences from the usual bike touring stuff. I’ve completed bikepacking trips through the most mountainous region of Vietnam, and along the one of the longest and most remote trails in Australia. I went on an organised trip through the Australian desert to film a 15-min documentary. And more recently, I went on a mountain biking holiday in New Zealand where I got to ride on trails all day, every day!

This year I also released a new book all about touring bikes. It was inspired by readers who often ask questions about the differences between this and that. I spent a lot of time working out how to create tools in the book for comparing things like bike sizing between brands, value for money, gear ratios and steering speed – and I think it paid off.

Let’s take a look at the current trends on CyclingAbout; the top reads 2016.

The Top-10 Reads in 2016

The most popular information on the website always interests me.This year, there was a huge amount of interest for touring and gravel bike content on CyclingAbout, as well as detailed information on the new 2017 bikes.

1. 8 of the Best Touring Bikes: Tour Them Straight Out of the Bicycle Shop
2. Complete List of All-Road, Gravel Grinder & Adventure Road Bikes Including Pricing
3. The New 2017 Specialized Sequoia Light Touring Bike
4. 13 Convertible Backpack Panniers That Can Be Strapped to Your Back or Bike
5. The 2017 Touring Bicycle Buyer’s Guide Will Help You Buy The Best Touring Bike
6. The New 2017 Specialized Diverge Light Touring Bikes
7. The 40 Best Roads In The World To Ride Your Bike
8. What’s the Speed Difference Between Front/Rear Panniers and BikePacking Bags?
9. Where to Best Carry A Load When Bicycle Touring: Front or Rear Panniers?
10. Eurobike 2016 Coverage: Bicycle Touring, Bikepacking and Adventure Gallery

The Top-10 Reads From Previous Years

Although a few resources from 2016 are now some of the most popular on CyclingAbout, here are pages from previous years that are ‘evergreen’ – still attracting lots of attention every single day.

1. The Best Bike Smartphone Cases & Mounts for Cycling – March 2015
2. Saddle Comfort for Cyclists: The Best Bicycle Touring Seats – September 2015
3. A Complete List of BikePacking Bag and Frame Bag Manufacturers with Prices – November 2015
4. Understanding Bicycle Frame Geometry – October 2013
5. How To Put 100% Free GPS Maps On Your Garmin – June 2015
6. A Complete List of Touring Bicycle Manufacturers with Pricing – October 2013
7. A Complete List of The Best Panniers for Bicycle Touring – November 2015
8. Seatposts: Overlooked Yet Critical For Your Comfort – July 2015
9. Complete List of Off-Road Adventure Touring Bikes with Pricing – July 2015
10. Gear Ratios: How To Select Touring Bike Gearing – January 2015

My Proudest Resources from 2016

Sometimes page views aren’t indicative of the quality of content that I try to create for CyclingAbout. Here are some resources that I created this year which are unique, highly detailed and took a long time to piece together. 

How Much Does Bike and Gear Weight Actually Slow You Down?
Where to Best Carry A Load When Bicycle Touring: Front or Rear Panniers?
What’s the Speed Difference Between Front/Rear Panniers and BikePacking Bags?
Story Blog: A Bike Ride Along The 900km Offroad Mawson Trail in Australia
The Lost Art of The Ornamental Bicycle Head Badge
The 11 Best Bike Touring Destinations In The World (According To Long-Distance Travellers)
The 15 Best Bicycle Touring Instagram Accounts You Need To Follow
10 Awesome New Tech Innovations for Bikepacking Bags
How To Reduce Waste AND Design Bikes That Last Forever: The Circular Economy
A Guide To Bicycle Touring And Vegan Travel: Yep, It’s Too Easy!
All About Front Racks For Bicycle Touring
Touring Bike Knowledge From 327 People Who’ve Done 8.1 Million Kilometres

My Favourite Short Film From 2016

Bikepacking Vietnam gives you insight into what it’s like to travel on a road bike with 5kg of gear on some of the nicest mountain roads in Asia. You can view it HERE.

A Big Thank You to You, the Readers!

Thanks for reading, contributing, getting in touch and generally supporting this website. I can’t wait to show you lots of new products, tell you about my travel experiences and share my knowledge and passion for travelling with bikes. My next stop is Sri Lanka and I’ll be taking with me a Brompton folding bike.

To stay in touch, you can subscribe to the monthly recap emails, follow CyclingAbout on Instagram, like CyclingAbout on Facebook and leave comments where you can.

Wishing you the happiest of adventures for 2017.
-Alee