To add some earlier background to what's already been posted. I gave up smoking in Oct 2004 (
a year after my daughter was born, and as a result of a friend getting cancer) and with the money I'd saved in the first month I bought a mountain bike and started cycling again to get fit. It was hard going, and after looking at a few of the other types of bikes in the shop I did some Google searches and stumbled across the Cycling Plus forum. Lots of lovely people and great info, so I joined, asked for some advice, and soon swapped my knobbly tyres for slicks and felt the ooohhhness of the extra speed and hushness of the quiet ... and was hooked (again).
At the time I worked for myself two days per week designing websites and had a web server I used for my own sites and those of my clients. In December 2005 (
lunchtime Monday 12th Dec 2005 to be exact) after a year of enjoying C+ I bought cyclechat.co.uk and set-up the forum using
phpbb, a free forum software, to experiment with how you configure one and to give me something to do between design jobs.
A few people joined and it ticked along with a handful of members over the next couple of years, then in June 2007
Future Publishing (who owned
Cycling Plus and a number of other cycling magazines and websites) decided to merge all of their cycling websites and forums into one. It didn't work out as well as they'd hoped and a lot of people began looking for another forum to post on. I'd linked to CycleChat in one of my posts on C+ and a few people noticed and came over and registered. A few more did the same and told their C+ friends, who came over too. Before long the trickle turned into a tide, then a flood and so we began to get organised, upgrade the software to vBulletin (more features, more options) and I recruited a few people to help me moderate ... and off we set.
Fast forward 10 years and we've been through some good times, and a few difficult times; I've made some good decisions here and there, and some pretty bad ones too; we've had all sorts of changes that have been both well received and hated in equal measure, but we've stuck together and muddled through and we're still going from strength to strength.
I've been lucky to have such a supportive membership and moderator team over the years, without whose help I couldn't have kept CycleChat running or built it into the great community that it is today, and you only have to spend an hour or so reading through the beginners and technical advice threads to appreciate just how much knowledge and experience people are willing to give away for free, and how helpful and positive and encouraging the CycleChat membership can be. It's what makes CC such a good place to visit and such a good community to be a part of; and that help and support doesn't just cover cycling, it extends to all manner of things including emotional support and offers of personal and professional help from people hundreds of miles away.
Many of those who joined us in 2007 are still here, still visiting daily, still helping other people out and joining in the fun, and long may it continue.
Cheers,
Shaun
(Founder)
.........but the're smilies are no where near as good as yours 
