In this world of rolling 24 hour news, social media shares and hashtagged campaigns, which news stories this year were the most read here on our pages? And do you remember them? Once we started going through the stats and putting this list together, it started to feel like quite a long old year. Here’s a reminder of what happened…
1. The death of Rab Wardell
The most read news story of 2022 is a sad one. The sudden death of Rab Wardell shocked the bike world, and the many friends and fans within it. We’d definitely rather not have news like this in our list.
2. The closure of Revolution Bike Park
Another sad story, but of a completely different sort. The Revolution Bike Park folks are still hoping to reopen on the same land, but that’s a long way off now. Since they own the land, they’re hoping they’ll be able to plan new tracks and then replant around that – rather than the usual way of building through the trees. But first, felling needs to take place and the Revs folks need to regroup and figure out the future.
3. Carbon offset by bike
This story is likely helped into the Top Ten by the power of search engines. This is the kind of question people ask the internet, and we answered it.
4. Stanton Bikes goes into administration
Another sad news story. There might be the prospect of new investors or owners in the new year, once the administrators have processed any bids for interest in the company. Fingers crossed for some positive news – it’s clear from the story’s reception that many are hoping it’s not the end of the road for Stanton.
5. Places to ride
Ahh… inspiration. Again, a story likely helped into this list by people searching for things like ‘I’m bored, where shall I go and ride my bike?’ or ‘Where is new and interesting to ride my bike because I have already been everywhere?’. Or something like that. Anyway, nice to have something nice in this list.
6. Machete gang drama
Back to the rolling news clicky stuff. There’s something about machetes that sets the internet alight. So far as we’re aware, no one was caught or arrested. What is it that they used to say on Crimewatch… ‘don’t have nightmares, do sleep well’?
7. Stolen Giant eBikes
We’re not sure whether this was popular in a clicky news story sort of way, or if perhaps it’s a bit of a slow burn as people buying second hand bikes wonder if the one they’re eying up is legit? Anyone who’s tried to lift a single ebike into a car may wonder how on earth you make off with 127 of the things all at once.
8. Watching the Commonwealth Games
Yes, that was this year. It seems like it must have been longer ago than that, doesn’t it? Apparently, quite a lot of you wanted to watch it, and took to the internet to find out how. Evie Richards and Sam Gaze won, by the way.
9. Gee Atherton’s crash
Now, this was not this year, but with his recovery video and return to racing at Red Bull Hardline, there was perhaps a revisiting of this story wondering what happened. It’s not footage we all feel the need to view, some of us like our food in our stomachs. Eww.
10. Finger wagging the finger waggers
Not really news, more of a column or feature thing really. Things come in and out of fashion, but what matters is riding your bike and enjoying it. Ignore the finger waggers.
Does that Top 10 reflect what you’d have imagined would be most popular? Remember, this is based on numbers which include ‘passing’ users as well as the people who are hanging out here and reading stories day in day out. That does slightly skew things towards breaking news stories of doom, Sensational Headlines That Catch The Eye, and some savvy web search discoverability type stuff. We’d love it if you’d give us your more personal take on what you would like to be reading about. It’s great to have a story go viral, but it’s even better to have a reader be loyal. Head to the comments and let us know if there’s an article you’ve especially enjoyed, or something you’d like to see more of.
