Saying Goodbye…

Fotoreporter Sirotti

 

The trick in attending a great party is knowing when to leave…

I started Pavé on a whim about three years ago. I wanted to assign my students a project that would ask them to use technology to show what they’ve learned and thought blogging might be an interesting strategy to try. Inspired by some of the blogs I had been reading at the time I decided to test the software first, relying on my experiences and insights into the sport of cycling as content.

Now it’s time to say goodbye.

At the time, I had no idea that Pavé would grow to what it is today. I remember the day when I first reached 100 hits, then 1,000, etc. Writing was fun then. I wrote whenever ideas came to me, relying mostly on the racing calendar to provide the content.

But somewhere along the way (perhaps inevitably) Pavé grew to be too much for me to handle by myself. And as the demand for content—and the lure of advertisers and perhaps even a little bit of income—became too much to ignore, I lost sight of what inspired me to start the blog in the first place: a passion for cycling and a desire to connect with like-minded souls.

Add to the fact that my life outside of Pavé has changed considerably since the site’s earliest days (things like weddings, homes, and family have a funny way of putting things in a new perspective) and it’s clear to me—and perhaps to you as well—that a change is in order.

So rather than just fade off into the sunset or become yet another site that makes people wonder whatever happened to? I’ve decided to wind things down here at Pavé.

What does the future hold? For me, some new opportunities have made this decision much easier to make. First of all, I’ve been offered an expanded role at Bicycling Magazine and Bicycling.com. It remains to be seen just what that new role will look like, but I’m excited for its evolution and development (if you’re reading this Peter and Bill, there’s no school in July). Jeremy and I have also been asked to join the team at Red Kite Prayer, an invitation that will give us both opportunities to continue generating the kind of content you’ve come to appreciate at Pavé, while exploring new areas and topics free of the burdens of managing the day-to-day operations of the site.

I want to thank everyone who supported the site and my attempts at maintaining it: Jeremy, James, Slate, Ryan, Michael, Joe, Bill, Dave, Mark, Steve, Steve, Steve, Matt, Andy, Brian, Patrick, Brendan, Brian, Matty, Brad, Peter, David, Donn, Matt, Brian, Freddy, Ethan, Gary, Carson, Greg, Stephan,—the list could go on forever. Thank you for believing in Pavé. Your support and encouragement has been greatly appreciated.

I also want to thank the blogs and websites that inspired and motivated me: Belgium Knee Warmers, Red Kite Prayer, Embrocation Cycling Journal, The Boulder Report, The Selection, What’s New, TheWashingMachinePost, The Inner Ring, Rapha, El Cyclista, Cycling Inquisition, Cycling Tips, Cyclismas, The Service Course, Podium Insight, Cyclocosm, Fermaguiana, Here Come the Belgians, La Gazzetta della Bici, Prolly is Not Probably, A Twisted Spoke, Rouleur, Tenspeed Hero—just to name a handful.

To my contributors: Julius, Jeff, Erik, Rich, Ciaran, Jered, Stefano, Balint, Luc, Valentin, John, and Peter. Your time, effort, and talents were indispensable to Pavé and are directly responsible for its growth and credibility. It was truly an honor to work with you all; I hope we’ll have an opportunity to work together again in the future.

Mattio and Jeremy: without you, this site would have died a slow death months ago. I’m not sure what I did to be so lucky to find such dedicated and talented individuals, but I will feel forever fortunate to have stumbled upon the two of you. Jeremy, you in particular deserve much of the credit for making Pavé what it is today.

Of course, my wife Jennie deserves a special mention for her love and support throughout the past few years. Pavé began during our engagement, and I think it’s safe to say she had no idea it would grow to be something that would require so much of my time and effort. Moving back Easter lunches in favor of Flemish live feeds is not something many wives can handle—mine took it in stride. Thank you, Jennie.

Moving forward, you can follow me directly on Twitter at @whityost and @BackseatDS. Jeremy can be found at @jeremyrauch, Mattio at @_mattio, Erik at @erikdmitchell, Cog at @ogradyc, Jeff at @jeffreybramhall, and Rich at @sprinting4signs. And of course, I hope to see you all at Bicycling.com and Red Kite Prayer. Just to help you make the switch, we’ll post links here for the first few weeks to allow you time to update RSS readers and bookmarks.

Last but not least, a final thank you goes out to all of you. Thanks for reading, commenting, and just generally being a friendly and supportive group of people. If you read the comment threads at various other sites, you’ll quickly see that you’re truly a class apart.

Yours in cycling,

Whit Yost