Photographer Kristof Ramon rode along in the Lotto-Belisol team car while they prerode the course of this weekend's Omloop Het Nieuwsblad. He put up this lovely slideshow of photos from the course. So sit back in your comfy chair, watch the slideshow, and get that cobbled feeling. You can grab a beer too, if you want. Because you wouldn't want to cobble without the appropriate beverages. It could be dangerous.

The late nineteenth and early twentieth century was a glorious time for cycling, not just in Europe but also in the USA.

As well as the road races - which we know so much about - track cycling was immensely popular. From short-distance sprints up to mammoth Six Day races, cycling pulled in the punters in Europe, in Australia and in America.

One of the forgotten aspects of cycling in that era was the use of pacers. Real serious speed machines, not the puny little Dernys we're today used to seeing at track-meets. And one of the kings of motor-paced cycling was Bobby Walthour.

Andrew Homan's biography of Walthour, Life in the Slipstream, has already been reviewed on the Café Bookshelf. Now Homan pops in to answer a few questions about the book, the man and the era.

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So. Many. Races. And it's only February! I tried to make sense of them in my head, but it's tough, ya know? But, I tried to help you make sense of it.

Welcome to the inaugural edition of Winners and Losers. We've had a lot of fun with these things before, so we thought - why not bring them back? So, on Tuesdays, I'll do this little chit chat thingie and you can read, laugh (hopefully), tell all of us who you thought winners and losers were, and more. Really, this could be a lot of fun!

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....when you see team busses on your daily commute.

(Pictures by me - feel free to use them)

Quatar, Oman, Laigueglia, Tour Méditerrannéen, Algarve or Ruta del Sol... It's all fine, I'll watch the races (if they're televised), I'll look at the results,... It's all good, but it doensn't really get me excited.

But riding past the hotel where the Garracuda guys stay, well, that really, really got me excited. I don't need a swallow to know it's spring. When the pro teams arrive in town, that's the real start of spring!

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Title: The Six Day Bike Races - America's Jazz-Age Sport
Author: Peter Nye, with Jeff Groman & Mark Tyson
Publisher: Van der Plas Publications / Cycle Publishing
Year: 2006
Pages: 224
Order: Cycle Publishing
What it is: A brief history of the world of American Six Day races
Strengths: A good solid overview of the American history of Sixes, establishing the stars of the day and showing just how popular cycling was in America at the time. Richly illustrated it shows as much as it tells just how spectacular Six Day cycling was in the US back then.
Weaknesses: It is what it is: an introduction to the world of America's Six Day racing scene. This really is an aspect of cycling history crying out for a more in-depth telling.

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The location was Oostmalle, a small town of less than 7,000 residents in north eastern Belgium. The crowds gathered around the circuitous course had bittersweet expressions on their faces, excitement for the spectacle to come intertwined with sadness. Even the weather seemed sad, weeping rain as the day came to an end. Miraculously, the riders legs - which were visibly heavy with fatigue a mere 24 hours ago - thrashed at the pedals of their muddied steeds as they sought to empty every last drop of energy from their bodies.

The bell clanged loudly as the announcers clamored "Laatste ronde!" We craned our necks to see Albert's white kit, encircled with a mud-encrusted rainbow, round the last bend. His traverse down the finishing straight seemed to last forever, and as quickly as the world champion crossed the finish line, the race - the very last of the season - was over.

Yes, the cross season is over. We could lament that - or we could celebrate what it was. Come and remember the season with me - both its high points and the riders we won't see again.

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[Update] And we're done. Deadline is passed. I hand-submitted a few complete teams but basically everyone except Jimbo seems to have figured it out on their own. Final tally is 242 teams. Nice job all!

Just a friendly reminder, the submission deadline is tomorrow TONIGHT at 9pm Pacific for submitting your women's team. That's in four hours. [It's Friday for your men's team.] The urgency is the Women's Tour of New Zealand, the first event of the FSA DS Calendar, which starts on Wednesday, but because of the time difference that nobody understands, it means we have to have our teams in Tuesday night.

Just when you were thinking you couldn't stand another single crossrace ever again, conveniently the real racing season is just around the corner. While the men have been riding a big bunch of warmup races the only major race for the women so far has been the Tour of Qatar where the new GreenEdge team got off to a flying start, winning the race with Judith Arndt. Now the season is about to kick off for real and so is the FSA DS competition, our Podiumcafe fantasy league.

Two races are on the menu this week. In New Zealand the stageracers get their feet wet and on Saturday a deep talented startfield start out from Gent to take on the Nokereberg, Kluisberg, Còte de Trieu, Paterberg, Edelareberg, Wolvenberg and the Molenberg before returning to Gent. In short, it's time for the Omloop Het Nieuwsblad and with that the season is well and truly under way.

Follow me for a quick look at the first races and get a few pointers on how to get a head start in FSA DS competition. You have one more day to get a team in and why not, it takes about five minutes and it's tons of fun. Go here to sign up.

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