Benefits of Blogging on Bicycle Joy
Create a permanent, written record of your bicycle touring adventures by writing a blog. Years later, you will enjoy revisiting your bicycle tour. A blog is a convenient way to publish your story. Having an audience will motivate you to write an interesting and well written blog! Best of all, an engaging blog will help inspire readers to take up the glorious sport of bicycle touring!
Blogging is a form of journaling. Journaling is a touchstone for the self-care movement, right up there with meditation. Keeping a journal helps us organize events in our mind and make sense of the world. Scientific studies have documented many benefits from journaling including a boost in memory, better sleep, and improved communication skills. Virginia Woolf, referring to “The Diary of a Country Parson,” said, “It is neither writing nor reading, but almost indistinguishable from living.”
The secret to writing an engaging blog is to let your personality shine through. You can write to inform, to entertain, or to reveal your thoughts about life. Share both the good times and the hardships that you endure. Share camping tips and identify your favorite gear. Document any new bicycle routes you discover. When you meet a particularly interesting person, consider writing a profile describing that person and explaining what makes them so interesting. If you enjoy visiting a particular town or city, be sure to record your favorite restaurants, coffee shops, and sight seeing venues.
Your readers will occasionally post comments for you to read. You may be surprised by how much your readers enjoy reading your blog! Blogging is fun, rewarding, and will definitely hone your writing skills! Most bloggers work on their devices using the app of their choice and then simply copy and paste their text and post their photos to their blog space. For example, the author of “Chasing Spring” used the email app that came installed on his Kindle Fire tablet to write his blog, “The Loneliest Road in America.” If you prefer, you can work directly in your blog space.
Cash Awards for the Most Engaging Blogs
The most engaging blogs submitted to Bicycle Joy each calendar year will receive cash awards as follows:
1st Place $400 Most Heartwarming
2nd Place $300 Most Entertaining
3rd Place $200 Most Beautiful Photos
The first awards will be announced in January 2026. Blogs submitted during the startup phase of the Bicycle Joy organization (January 1, 2023 through December 31, 2025) will be eligible for the January 2026 awards. Thereafter, awards will be announced each January for blogs submitted the preceding calendar year.
Winners are selected by the staff of Bicycle Joy. Bicycle Joy staff are encouraged to post blogs but are not eligible for awards. Winners are notified by email and must be registered with PayPal in order to receive their award payment. Awards are paid only via PayPal and are paid only to the email address used to register your blog.
Award winning blogs are highlighted on the Bicycle Joy homepage! By accepting a Bicycle Joy cash award, you agree to allow Bicycle Joy to post your award-winning blog and accompanying photographs on the Bicycle Joy website for one year following the date of your award. After the year is up, we encourage you to keep your blog posted so as many people as possible can enjoy reading it!
Terms and Conditions for Bloggers
Bloggers retain ownership of their blog and photograph copyrights and are solely responsible for the content of their blogs. We respectfully request that bloggers help us keep our website friendly and appropriate for even our youngest readers. Bicycle Joy, as the owner of this website, reserves the right to remove blogs, without notice and at its sole discretion, which violate these terms and conditions or which are registered with invalid or unresponsive email addresses.