It's been fast and furious around here with the relaunch of BikeClicks.com. We're thrilled to have KyMBA provide us the kick in the butt we needed to get things moving.
Suzanne (WebGirl) and I started BikeClicks last summer when we build the site for the USGP of Cyclocross. At first we really didn't know what we were going to do with BikeClicks. Actually, at first there wasn't even a "BikeClicks" until the USGP offered us a sponsorship position so we had to come up with somethign quickly. I have to admit, it was pretty cool to see our logo on the start finish banners and podium at the USGP. We thought we'd have a nice time at the USGP, drink some free beer in the hospitality tent, meet some pros and that would be that.
What we didn't realize is that a lot of bicycle related clubs, teams, groups, events, etc needed web sites; real websites. It seemed like USGP got the word out and we started building sites for more and more groups. Which was great. We also realized that a lot of the clubs used a combination of freeware and yahoo eGroups and taped together solutions for their members. The two of us were members of the Louisville Bicycle Club, OVCX, KyRides, Purple Rides and I rode for Team Louisville. Between all of these list serves we were getting as many as 100 emails a day in our inboxes and 95 of them held information that meant nothing to us personally.
Since our background is in web development and online applications we knew there was a better to to connect people through the web. Since most of the clubs and groups we worked with needed community features like forums and blogs but might not have the specific knowledge (or time) to manage these advanced features themselves we knew we could offer something that connected cyclists with each other no matter what their specific interests might be when they find our site.
So that's how BikeClicks was born. We still have a long way to go and lot of new ideas to work on but we're off and running and look forward to making this a great online community for cyclists.