You Guys Are Incredible – 1,000,000+ and Counting!

I wanted to take a second to recap what we have accomplished on Mountain Biking by 198. Yes…we…without you guys reading this blog…I am nothing but a crazy guy talking to himself, so we are responsible for the benchmarks that are hit on MTB198. While I was away on vacation for my first wedding anniversary, Mountain Biking by 198 surpassed 1,000,000 pageviews. I don’t know about you…but that seems like a HUGE number to me! And yesterday was the first day above 5,000 subscribers!!

What else we have accomplished:

  • 1,041,887 Total Pageviews as of noon yesterday
  • 466,690 Visitors
  • 5,024 Subscribers
  • 3,597 Newsletter Subscribers
  • 519 Published Articles

5,000+ subscribers and 1,000,000+ pageviews were two stats that I knew were going to be a benchmark. If we could hit those numbers together, I knew the site was going to be there for the long haul. After accomplishing both of those in a very short period of time, we are going to continue to expand and grow Mountain Biking by 198 into a site for cyclists by cyclists (haha…that phase sounds even cornier as I read it…but it is true).

Ramped Riding - Mountain Biking TipsIn the next couple of months, we are going to go through some exciting changes at Mountain Biking by 198. Later this month, we will see the release of the first downloadable eBook on MTB198 titled Ramped Riding that is going to be packed full of riding tips to become a better mountain biker (100+ pages). As my thank you for supporting this site and accomplishing goals that most sites only dream of…I am going to give it away for free to newsletter subscribers (which is also free!).

I am also going to let you in on a little secret that has been brewing behind the scenes at Mountain Biking by 198. For sometime now, I have HATED the domain name. I am sure you have run into the same issue if you try to tell someone about the site.

You say: You go to mtbtrailreview.com.

They say: Hold on…let me write that down.

Well…we all need something more easy to remember and the site needs to expand into my other pedal propulsion obsessions, so mtbtrailreview.com is going to become…drum-roll…bike198.com. It is going to be easier for me to expand the sites offerings with the new domain name and it is going to be a hell of a lot easier to remember. It should be a great move for everyone and we have some fantastic web geeks behind the project so that all of our search engine love is transferred.

This also means that I get to complete some projects that I have had on the table for a long time. This includes t-shirt and jersey ideas among other things as we really swallow up the branding around bike198.com without losing the personal flair that comes with a blog.

So what have we done in 1,041,887 pageviews?

Here are some of my favorites from pageview #1 all the way to pageview #1,041,887.

Are XTR and X.0 components really worth it? – A look into high end/high price mountain bike components.

Epic Mountain Bike Rides – Check out the comments section of this one…great stories of epic rides around the world (add yours if you haven’t already)

Top 10 Tips To Keeping Your Bike Running Smoothly – One of the most trafficked articles on MTB198.

Candy Red Perfection – My wife bought me this bike and it is a true work of art.

How To Clean Up Your Pedal Stroke And Increase Efficiency – This one is HUGE for me. Once I really started concentrating on this aspect of my riding, things really took off…literally.

Becoming A Roadie – The First Century – With the addition of a road bike from Blue Competition Cycles to the stable late last year…this was a big personal milestone in my riding. 100 miles is a long ass ride. I have done several since this one…but I’ll never forget the first.

We have also reviewed some incredible parts from around the industry…here are some of my favorites.

Niner Jet 9 – Even with the current recall…this is one of the fastest mountain bikes I have ever ridden. Great news for Jet 9 owners…Niner is taking care of you guys in a huge way. Props to them for really stepping up.

Trek Session 88 FR – Who doesn’t like a big ass bike to drop off of anything you can find. Expensive…but fun to ride.

Rocky Mountain Slayer – The low center of gravity on that bike made it just rail turns.

RockShox Reba Team – RockShox bettered themselves once again and introduced this 120mm/20mmTA fork that is even better than the last.

Hope Tech M4 Brakes – They perform as good as they look…but they will cost you your house!

Notubes.com Stans ZTR Flow Rims – I have an actual love affair with these rims now with all of my wheelsets sporting their wide stance. Light weight, stiff and can handle just about anything from XC to DH. Not much more to ask for there.

But not all got glowing reviews…

Ellsworth AM Wheelset – The expense still does not quite match up to the quality. Haven’t heard anything from TE yet on reviewing the new set.

Kona Coilair Supreme – Proves that you still can’t build a bike and claim it does everything.

WTB LaserDisc Trail 29er Wheelset – After 1 ride…I blew the rear wheel out of dish. For the new models, they finally moved up to 32 spoke from 28…smart move on WTB’s part.

Ventana El Chucho 69er Mountain Bike – Ventana has an incredible stable of mountain bikes, but the 69er platform just doesn’t do them justice. Having owned several Ventana frames in the past…I can assure you that the rest of their lineup would not be in the “not so glowing reviews” category.

We have been fortunate to have some incredible guest posts too…

Pivot Mach 429 Bike Review by Eric Pringle

Downhill Mountain Biking for the First Time by Andrew Clayton

Girls Guide To Better Mountain Biking by Betty Mountain Girl

This week, I also added a section to the footer that shows some of the larger, long term reviews we have going on at Mountain Biking by 198. Hopefully, that will keep you a little bit more keyed in on what we have going on and what we are riding right now.

Also, the Mountain Biking by 198 Flickr group continues to see some incredible shot from around the world that make it onto the side bar of Mountain Biking by 198. Thanks for all of the submissions and keep them coming!

A huge thank you goes out to all of you, Justin Shattuck and all of the manufacturers and supporters of Mountain Biking by 198. It has been a wild ride so far…and it is just going to continue to go up from here.

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