this is the modern world

When I started racing during the Greg LeMond era, there was no such thing as bikereg.com. In fact, the entire internet was just a gleam in Al Gores's eye. Bike racers bought or borrowed the latest issue of Velonews (black and white print on newsprint) or The Ride (now Bike Culture) at the local bike shop and checked the list of upcoming races at the back of every issue. A mailing address was included for each race so if you wanted to pre-register you could mail a standard USCF entry form and a check. Preregistration closed well in advance of the race to allow time for mailing and hand entry of the data. Seems like the dark ages now.

Although I tend to be a traditionalist and generally remember the "good old days" fondly, I have to admit that the current method is a big improvement (thanks Al!). But I do have a suggestion to advance the state of bike racing even further into the modern age:

With the increasingly widespread availability of GPS systems in cars, I suggest that all bike race announcements should include a destination address that can be punched into a GPS system. Its even easier than Mapquesting the directions and it takes all the guess work out of navigating.

My very thoughtful mom got me a GPS unit for the car this Christmas and I immediately saw the potential value of this new-fangled peice of electronic equipment. It gets stressful sometimes driving to a race and wondering if I have allowed enough time to get there and set up all the sound equipment before the Cat 5 race starts. I am always looking for a quicker route to make up for those precious minutes I lost between the 4th and 5th snooze alarms. I haven't been late for a race yet but last year I was sure I was going to miss the start of the Naugatuck Criterium when I saw the red tail lights of stopped traffic in front of me on Route 95. I made it and barely got the PA system ready in record time, and I was on the mic with a couple of minutes to spare.

It remains to be seen if these new GPS units will be the next cell phone (indespensible) or the next CB Radio (do even truckers still use those?), but providing an address close t0 the parking lot in each race announcement would be a big help to anyone that has one.

Gasoline cost less than $1 per gallon in 1987. With gas prices likely to remain well over $3.00 per gallon in 2008, that means it costs about 3 times more to drive to races now than it did 20 years ago (not even considering all of the other costs). Maybe the GPS will save me a couple of gallons until they make a hybrid with enough room for my sound equipment.

First post - Raison d'etre

Hey Bike Race Fans,
Welcome to the new StartFinishBikeNews blog. It's still the offseason and will be for a while yet, but this will be the place to go for the latest in New England bicycle racing news and other bike related stuff.

I am usually behind the microphone at the start/finish line at races throughout New England, hence the name of the blog and website (expected to be www.startfinish.com when I get it set up). I announce about 15 races per year. My goal is to write a summary of every race that I announce for and a few more. I'll focus on the feature men's and woman's races but I'll also try to cover as many of the categories and age groups as possible. I'll do some interviews at the races and get behind the scenes with the racers, promoters, officials, and others who have something to say about the sport. I hope to get some video clips as well. But I can't be everywhere so your contributions will be a big part of the fun.

The race reports will hopefully be entertaining and help promote the sport. There will also be some periodic features on other aspects of bike racing sport and culture. I hope that the race reports will be used by local newspapers to supplement their reporting on our sport. We will see how that part works out, my education and experience is in engineering, not journalism.

When I am not announcing, I also plan to do a few training races then wage a limited cyclocross campaign later in the season. After getting back on the cross bike this past year after about 12 years off, there is no where to go but up.

And speaking off cross, check out www.crossresults.com/ for rankings of everyone who raced cross this season. I can't believe someone went to all that work for every single racer entered in every category at every race. They even ranked me (damn near the bottom of the Cat 4s). Can they do it for road races as well?

Spring training races start in March but I'll try to find a few things to post about in the meantime.

Stay warm on those long winter rides and keep the circulation flowing to all parts while on the rollers,