Today the loudbike blog is one year old.
So, I took some time (more time than I thought it would take) to surf
the blog in its entirety for the first time in maybe 6 or 7 months.
The idea was to get a feel for how the blog had evolved over the year
and to try and get a bit of perspective on the damn thing.
There’s more stuff in here than I though there was….
Here’s
a bit of history: In the fall of last year, I finally hit my limit and
bailed out of a 25-year career in the software business. A quarter
century of vapor-ware, questionable ethics and insane stress levels was
completely at odds with my recovery program and I had become less than
happy with who and what I had become in the last 11 years of sobriety.
While in the throes of serious introspection, I also questioned my
relationship with my bikes, racing and track time – wondering if the
passion had become obsession. Did the bike thing and my career
completely define me? If you took VP Business Development and Ducatiout of Steve Munro, what was left?
While I pondered this BIG
QUESTION, I spend an evening pouring through five years of digital
pictures in my “bikes” file and got hung up on the amazing images of
the Original Loud Bike self-destructing as it cartwheeled
off the edge of Mosport’s Turn 2. And then I realized that I needed to
mourn the loss of the bike. The OLB was important ‘cause the bike and
my experiences with it charted my progress from late-stage, chronic
alcoholism to sobriety. The process of building the bike began in my
first year of recovery and pushed me to face enormous challenges as I
moved out into the real world with a new set of rules and a damaged
brain. The bike and I evolved together and my approach to building and
racing the bike began to dictate my approach to relationships and
business. Selling it to Gareth was a necessary part of turning a page,
but I underestimated my attachment to the bike as an icon. I realized
that I needed to write about the bike, and figured a public memorial
was just the ticket. And I had recently discovered blogging.
So
what started out as some sort of primal therapy to deal with the loss
of the Original Loud Bike, became an introspective journey through my
relationship with my bikes and my friends.
What I consider to
be some of the best stuff in the blog is in the Photo Albums; most of
which were created as photo essays before I actually published. I
realized as I was putting them together that I was in fact, very much
defined by the bikes and that the people who I had become closest to
were not necessarily as focussed on the experience as I was, but they
had equal passion. I realized as I poured through hundreds of digital
images, that the track gave me clarity of thought and challenged me as
a developing person more than anything else in my life. And that the
process of building the bikes gave me peace and a great sense of
creative satisfaction. Both areas helped me grow immensely.
Those
first two months of writing helped me realize that the bikes were not
limiting me to a single dimension, but rather pushing me to expand
myself. I also began to understand that I knew an awful lot of stuff.
And so the blog became a mirror - one that gave me the confidence to
try my hand at earning a living with my passion.
In the
beginning I wondered who – if anyone - read the stuff I published, but
by the end of November I was getting mail from F1 owners all over the
world. Until then, I had been writing solely for my own benefit, but
from that point forward I felt an obligation to THE AUDIENCE. As of
today, the numbers aren’t staggering, but I’ve had 24,760 visits to the
blog and as I’ve learned through studying my stats more carefully, a
large percentage of my daily readership hits me though bookmarks or
favorites. I have met so many like-minded enthusiasts this year, that
it simply boggles my mind.
Surprisingly, there are only a few
blogs out there in our space and less new entries than I thought I
would see in a year’s time. Rebelpacket and Twisting Asphalt have been around for a while and approach the Ducati topic from different angles. Both are excellent reads. Chris Kelly’s just published one that chronicles the day to day activity in his shop.
By
necessity, the blog has become my commercial face as well and there are
times that I wish that it wasn’t – ‘cause frankly, it censors my work.
Although it serves as a commercial portal for the business, I’ve tried
to keep it as non-commercial as it can be – resisting the temptation to
drive revenue through paid advertising on the blog (although I’m still
not sure why). Hopefully, you won’t mind it I throw the odd commercial
your way (the Stadium thing was hard to do) as long as I keep it
relevant and entertaining.
Back in November of last year, I defined Loud Bikes,
and that definition in turn, defines you and me. I assume you’re here
‘cause you share my passion and that the stuff I write entertains you
at least half as much as it entertains me. Maybe you learn something
new. I’m still wrestling with how far I should go with this thing…
Right now, I’m chronicling the adventures of a small group of
enthusiasts up here in the Great White North and those who send me
stuff from places beyond my range of activity. Should I be sharing the
highs and lows of starting and running a small business? Tempting… But
the jury’s still out on that one.
I’ll keep writing ‘cause
it’s fun and it connects me not only with myself – but with new friends
all over the planet. It gives me perspective and keeps me aware of all
the amazing things that happen in that part of my world that is my
bikes.
Thanks for reading.

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Hey Steve,
Thank YOU for putting up Loudbike. Its been quite a pleasure reading your trials and tribulations over the past year. If its any notion of how much of this blog rubs off on impressionable youngsters like myself, the other day while working in the garage, a friend came over and pointed at my MBP 966 pistons and said
"Whats that business all about?"
I replied "Chicks dig that shit".
:) Here's to another year!
Posted by: Alex | November 15, 2005 at 10:33 AM
Hey ya Steve - Congrats on the blog & the biz. Continued luck with both...
All the best,
Posted by: Dylan | November 16, 2005 at 09:20 PM
Passion. It's contagious. Your's is selfevident. 666 Forever.
- David Perry
PS Happy reBirthday
Posted by: David Perry | November 24, 2005 at 07:54 PM