FLCC
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FLCC Web Site

[Note -- since this was written,
Matt has created a truly rebuilt
and improved site at
 http://www.flcycling.org/ ]

Several years ago I offered to create a World Wide Web site for the FLCC. There’s an introduction page and separate areas for our tour, sponsored races, membership form, etc. Several members have contributed photographs, which are on a gallery page. Being primarily a Sunday-tour rider, I find the schedule page the most helpful—it’s easier to reference this web page than to find my FLCC newsletter on Sunday mornings.

 When our newsletter editor asked for an article contribution, I decided to look at the raw log files containing who has been accessing our FLCC web site. The results were fascinating. In the last two weeks, there were between three and twenty daily visits from different sources. At first glance, it is rewarding as a "publisher" to see so many readers.

 The log files list the previous web page viewed before a visitor links to the FLCC web site. Those included other cycling clubs (Rochester, Syracuse, Albany), local web sites (ithaca.ny.us, 14850.com), and search engines (lycos, infoseek, altavista, yahoo). Examining the search parameters used for the last category was fun: "cycling club"; "photos bicycling"; "finger lakes nature bike"; "dryden lake"; "voire des photos"; "greek peak" (this skier was disappointed); "dandelions" (this snagged Phil Davis’s photo caption); and "Rominger" (this got Mike Dolenga’s photo caption). Okay, so maybe some people got to our site by accident—but the logs show that they sometimes poked around afterward!

 The log files also show the type of web browser being used. I recognized Netscape Navigator and Internet Explorer, but what about Scooter, Info-NaviRobot, Sidewinder, Slurp, and Backrub? Those must be the internet worms that travel the entire web and gather keywords and locations for the search engines. Also listed was E-mail Collector, an evil tool that must be responsible for extracting my e-mail address from the web pages and adding it to every junk-mail server in existence.

 There is much more daily activity on the FLCC mailing list. A message posted to the list is read by all subscribers, and the topics discussed are meetings, tours, races, activism, bike sales/swaps, etc. For example, in late March there were plea postings for fellow cyclists to take advantage of the wonderfully warm weather for rides. To subscribe, send an e-mail to <majordomo@cycling.org> with "subscribe flcc" as the message content.

 The web site is located at <http://www.lightlink.com/mclark>. I wish the web location was easier to remember, but registering our own domain name is expensive. I update the site every month or so, usually after each new touring schedule is released. Please visit—and all suggestions are welcome for improving the site.

 —Matt Clark, Member-at-Large

mclark@lightlink.com