My sister used to send me a cycling calendar every Christmas. I don’t think she had any trouble finding one each year as they always arrived on time in mid-December. But it’s been up to me for a few years now to make the annual purchase. I’m still having difficulty finding calendars I like and haven’t used the same vendor twice.
I like old-fashioned wall calendars especially ones with illustrations that are colorful, whimsical, and inspiring. After all, each page is going to be in view for a month. To me, a perfect wall calendar would have enough space to note appointments and events, and a carefully curated selection of bike photos or bike art.
You might be wondering what’s so hard about finding a good one when there are plenty of choices from vendors like calendars.com and others. For one thing I am not a mountain biker so mountain-biking calendars are out. So too are most calendars showing road bikers. The people in the photos look like actors (or models), and most of the photos, taken in impossibly perfect weather and scenic locations, make cycling seem effortless. That’s not what cycling is to me or what I want to see on my wall. I like gritty photos showing well-used bikes, often taken in crowded urban settings.
My sister used to buy the “Bike Art” calendar each year from Amber Lotus. But production of those wonderful calendars, which had the tagline “In Celebration of the Bicycle” on the cover, stopped in 2023. There was no warning to loyal Bike Art calendar customers or a suggested replacement.
Since then I have purchased cycling calendars from three vendors. Each took a bit of Internet searching to find. While I am happy with the art and photos included in all three, the 2024 calendar, titled “A World of Bicycles” and designed by Andre Baldet, was printed in the U.K. and has Monday as the first day of the calendar week. It took a few months of writing down appointments on the wrong day before I got used to the switch. One other thing to be careful of should you buy a European calendar: They are often multi-language but might not include English.
I don’t remember who published the cycling calendar I’m using this year (“Bike as Art”). There’s no clue on the front or back cover. Great photos though.
For 2026 I’m going with a cycling calendar from Zazzle.com (see screen capture). Yes, it says 2014 on the cover, but inside the year is correct. I think of Zazzle as a web site where you can design simple coffee mugs and T-shirts and have them made although clearly a talented graphics artist can do more than that there. Luckily some clever person saw the need to create and market a cycling calendar through Zazzle to people looking for something a bit different.
With 2026 taken care of, I have a year to figure out where to order a 2027 cycling calendar.
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