Steve,
Thanks for the update and everything you have done! This is definitely a joint venture that is MUCH bigger than any individual rider. I know there are many guys that would be glad to follow in your foot steps, myself included. So, a few questions that we can ponder to come up with some ideas.
Did you and Richard have any format, etc set up for this? What did you do to obtain the pictures you used. Please guide us through your process and any requirements that MC set forth.
Guys,
I'm thinking that our Regional Coordinators should seek out a volunteer from their respective regions to do this blog. The coordinators could do this also. I feel that Steve did such a great job that we should continue in his format but of course insert our individual personalities into this. We should accomplish this in regional order. That would put Don R or a member of his tribe up to bat next followed by Bobby R's Team Mid Altlantic, Andy750's Team New England, OldSchool_IsCool's Team Eastern Canada and Team Michigan with OldScrambler put on alert. How does this sound? Input GLADLY accepted 
Jerry
Jerry, there was no particular "format" for the blog. It was up to me to submit the update simply based on what had happened since the previous update. My method was just reading the posts about the most recent leg, look for the more interesting parts of it, write about that and mention who all was part of the leg. At the same time, I followed the posts about the upcoming leg or legs just to get familiar with who was riding, what the itinerary was, etc.
All that said, there could and are other interesting thing to write about in addition to the who rode where and what happened along the way. There are a number of threads having to do with the ride that would make an interesting blog entries-- like who are the riders in the various long distance ride categories, how many riders were on cafe bikes, how many rode what size bike, who rode the smallest bike the farthest, etc. I even thought about a blog that somehow compared how many hours were spent on the forum reading and writing messages about the ride vs. the actual time spent riding in the relay. There are some key personalities who keep this thing going-- like Jerry, of course. And there's Bruce who keeps track of the distances and state map. He's put in a tremendous effort.
As to how I sent material to Richard, I would write the blog as a Microsoft Word document. In the Word.doc, I would note where a picture should be placed and named it Photo 1, Photo 2, etc. Then I'd write the caption for the photo right there. I'd change the color of those parts so they'd stand out easily and the MC Classics folks would see them. So, it would be like this (Insert Photo 1 here. Caption: Godzilla had to crash the party at XX and even JerryRXmanGriffen couldn't get him under control so the cops came and cuffed him to a tree.)
So the email I sent to Richard Backus was just a note saying here it is and I attached the Word.doc and the photos or other stuff, like the map or distance chart, that kind of thing. Of course, the Photos were named Photo 1, Photo 2 so they could be matched to where they were placed in the Word.doc. I found Richard to be extremely busy and sometimes overlooked the blog update email. If I didn't see it posted after a couple days I'd send a follow-up email as a reminder.
As for the actual photos, I would just scrape the ones I wanted off the rider posts from the forum. You can usually click on the image and drag it to your desktop and you'll have a .jpg file. The file size was usually OK since it had been sized for web use. Photos should be between 50 and no more than 150kb in size or no wider the say about 400 pixels.
Generally, I tried to make what I sent to Richard as easy as possible for him or his staff to load into the blog page. And I didn't bug him with a bunch of questions or ask him to do this or that. Like I said, he's real busy. But he is very interested in the ride as a subject and is very supportive of what going on. Did you notice the brief article about it in a recent issue of the magazine?
In the blog you write it's also good to mention the forum and provide a link. And it's good to encourage blog readers to join in the ride when it comes through their part of the country. I know we picked up a number of participants this way.
If anyone planning a blog wants to contact me I will forward the elements of what my "package" making up a blog entry was as that might be helpful. Just PM me. I'm happy to help.
