Thursday Anticipation

1) Grass Track Fridays

Gianni has been found! It turns out he was holed up in the dingy basement office in the Exchange District that serves as the Grass Track Fridays HQ, among other less honorable things. The poosher discovered him one day while he was out searching for the editor. The editor, I'm sorry to say, is still at large. But we can all breathe a huge sigh of relief that our good friend Gianni is back. Apparently he was looking rather disshevelled, and he was in need of a shave and a shower. He had been working on the final details of the series. He got bogged down trying to decide which of the many different events would work best on each of the four nights that will make up the series. He's so dedicated, that guy. Needless to say, we are all in his debt. Thank-you Gianni.

With Gianni's reappearance, Grass Track Fridays is now so much more than just a good idea and a lexicon. It is now a real race series with actual dates and details. All of the dates have been added to the FGBC Calendar, which I trust you are all consulting regularly by now.


Also, there will be a special FGBC prevue night/dress rehearsal on May 15 to test things out and work out the bugs . . . . Non FGBC'ers are welcome too, of course.

Each meet will start with a time trial event of some sort to determine handicaps/heats/categories. And they will conclude with a post-race gathering at the Belgian Club.

This is going to be so sweet!


2) WhitesHELL Endurance Fest

Gianni is not the only worker bee who is slaving away to ensure that your bike racing experience this summer will be a good one. Bill A has been toiling quietly behind the scenes on some of the details regarding the WhitesHELL Endurance Fest. We have settled on the following: The race will start and finish at the West Hawk Lake Campground--i.e., the inaugural Spring Ride site. It will also pass through there at about the midpoint of the race, at which point it will serve as a feedzone.

Bill, Jonny G, and I (along with our respective families) have reserved campsites for Friday and Saturday nights. The event starts early on Sunday. People are strongly encouraged to show up to camp on Saturday for the pre-event good times. Show up Friday too, for that matter. I'm sure your help in getting everything set up on Saturday would be much appreciated. But you are on your own as far as reserving a campsite goes. Make a reservation in the West Hawk Lake Spring Ride area. If this important reference does not mean anything to you, it refers to sites 4-11 in section F on this map. I believe you can start doing that on April 6. Right Bill?



In case you have forgotten, this will be race #3 in Operacion MUERTO. We will have the Back 40 and Reach the Beach in our legs by then. It will be awesome.



3) Nordic Cross

Is it still alive? All the evidence, or rather lack of evidence, suggests that it is not. But perhaps the editor will show up. He had originally scheduled the season finale for April 5. That is a week from Sunday. It seems there is a good chance that there will still be snow.


4) Vicarious bike racing and basketball.

The 2009 FGBC Spring Classics pool continues this weekend with two more races: E3 Prijs Vlaanderen on Saturday and De Brabantse Pijl on Sunday.

And March Madness resumes tonight as well.

This is why March is one of the best months of the year. Even if it feels like winter has overstayed its welcome.


5) And last but not least, let us not forget about the Spring Ride.

It's just over two short months away, boys and girls. Are we getting excited yet?


In case you're wondering: no, I didn't clear it. Not so many trix in this kid, fixie or otherwise.