It’s hard to believe that Seattle Bike Blog is already three years old! The official first post went live July 8, 2010, promising to “report about bike infrastructure, laws, activism, safety, fun events, interesting projects and whatever else Seattle bicyclists might need or want to know.” Also: “With thoughtful research and reporting, discussions will hopefully be able to dig deeper than the typical car vs. bike debate that takes over so many online discussions elsewhere.”

Hey, we’re not doing so bad (though I also promised 4-5 posts per day, which means I owe you all a ton of posts…)

This month also marks my first attempt to make the leap to full-time on this blog. That means more bike news, more bike business highlights, more opinion pieces, deeper analyses of important issues, more new blog features, and much more.

We have established a fantastic roster of business sponsors, and you can see them in the ads that appear on this site. Unlike ads on many websites, these advertisers are local businesses who have specifically chosen to invest in Seattle Bike Blog because they see bicycling as a growing and important part of their business and the region’s economy. So be sure to go out and support them back!

As with just about every journalist out there, I am continually searching for a business model that can sustain and improve reporting as our traditional news outlets continue cutting newsroom staff. After several requests from readers who wanted a way to support the blog, I launched a subscription option. Today, 18 people send a bit of their hard-earned cash to support the site every month. Their willingness to support the site inspired me to believe that this site really is ready to make the jump to full-time (thank you!). User-contributions are now one part of the business model of the site.

That’s where you come in. We are excited to launch the first ever Seattle Bike Blog Subscription Drive. Our goal is to reach 100 subscribers in one month. So that’s 82 more people signed up by August 8.

Sign up here. It only takes a couple minutes. You will need a Paypal account (if you are terribly against Paypal, email [email protected] to set up another arrangement).

So what do you get for signing up?

Glad you asked! We are excited to announce that later this summer, we will host the first ever Seattle Bike Blog Subscribers Bike Ride! All you have to do is sign up to be a subscriber, and we will send you the details when they are ready.

Subscribers will also get some Seattle Bike Blog swag as we make it (currently we only have stickers, but we’re working on some other ideas).

So thanks, everyone, for reading, commenting and supporting the site. See you in the bike lane!

— Tom Fucoloro