How much off-season is enough?

Ahhhh, the off-season. Time to gain a few pounds, lose some fitness, and recharge the batteries. That's not all that different from the rest of the year for me but I expect more from the rest of you.

Myerson is drinking beer at a pace that I consider about normal year round (http://cycle-smart.com/blog/2008/12/22/beer-log-3/). Solobreak is so bored that he has resorted to posting pictures of me (http://solobreak.blogspot.com/). On the bright side, two of the five Keough kids are making plans for Cyclocross Worlds (http://www.wkhoogerheide2009.nl/EN/home.aspx) and Manny Goguen is in Euro cross camp (http://eurocrosscamp.com/) with Gavin Mannion and many of the best American 'crossers.

And speaking of 'cross worlds, check out this text on the worlds' web site from the obviously proud orange people of the Netherlands: Lars Boom is 192 centimetres of Dutch pride with his blond hair and strong body. The rainbow jersey of the Cyclo-Cross World Championships in Treviso does not cover a slender climber's chest, but clings to a muscular torso. The cycling shorts tightly cling to his thighs the size of beeches. Lars Boom, 22 years old, is the Dutch world champion embodied, .... Oh my, is it getting hot in here? Who writes this stuff? This reads like a Harlequin romance not a bike race preview.

Santa was good to me this Christmas, as always, and got me a very cool gift that I think I can use to make this web site blog thingy even better if that is possible (you know sarcasm when you read it don't you?). She got me a small video camera that can mount to bike helmets, handlebars, or whatever you've got. I am thinking that I can set this thing up on someone's bike during races and record the races on video while I am doing the announcing. If I record the announcing part too, I should be able to sync then together, right? Throw in some tunes for the background and this could become quite a production. Youtube will never be the same. And watch your back Stats Boy (http://www.untilthesnowends.blogspot.com/), you're gonna have some competition in the all important 18-34 demographic next fall.

Anyway, here is a handlebar video taken during my ride today along the Cape Cod Canal. It's actually the second try. The first was longer and took forever to load, I had to bail on it. I'm going to have to figure that little issue out before the season starts. This is only here as a test of the system. A session on the rollers or trainer would be just as interesting. So, either get on your bike and ride or get a beer, depending on the time of day, and your time will be better spent.

Time Keeps on Slippin, Slippin, Slippin

Not for nothing, but I am pretty sure that the Keough Brothers could kick the butt of the Jonas Brothers, on or off the bikes. Although I abhor violence of any kind, a cage match would be interesting. If you don't know, the Keoughs are well on their way to becoming New England's next family cycling dynasty and the Jonas Brothers are annoying pop music stars that appeal to 12 year old girls who haven't discovered horses yet. I shouldn't blog while watching Idol, my mind goes to strange places.

On to today's topic: Bush's energy policy. That's right, I said energy policy. I love it. Not for it's complete failure to reduce "America's addiction to foreign oil" (his own words as you may recall). I love it because it changed the start of daylight savings time about a month earlier than it used to. The change in time is now one of the harbingers of spring. It's like Red Sox Truck Day and the first robin on the front lawn rolled into one. Hmm, robins seem to be around all year now (all that foreign oil at work?). DST starts this weekend and there will finally be enough daylight after work to do some riding on week days. So, set your cyclocomputers and heart rate monitors ahead one hour Saturday night and enjoy the extra daylight. I wonder if I can get enough training in to be ready for the first Charge Pond training race March 15th? See you there.

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,