That is it. I have no idea when SBNation plans to show the positioning off (read-only mode), however I assume it’s by January 1.

First issues first, as I’ve signaled earlier than, the FSA Directeur Sportif is cued up for an additional go-round. Undecided about 2026, however 2025 is on. I can’t deprive myself of the possibility to cost Tadej Pogačar after his megamonster 12 months. Or deprive all of you of the dilemma that worth will pose. I might by no means look Ursula within the eye once more if I missed this opportunity. The directions for taking part in are easy: simply go to the FSA DS web site and login. By February 1, 2025, you must discover all the pieces you want there. Although not sooner (keep tuned).

Different stuff…

I’m busily organising a WordPress weblog for if (okay, when) I do get the itch to jot down. And please be at liberty to proceed chatting at our Reddit.

I will be adopted on Twitter, or Threads (chrsfnt), or Bluesky (chrispodiumcafe). As is true for a lot of of you. Please do observe me there so I can observe you again. Please put up in feedback some other hyperlinks you desire to individuals to find out about.

I like to recommend following Michael Baumann’s Wheelysports e-newsletter, which I discover to be similar to our method right here. Michael is knowledgeable author, principally about baseball, for a few of my favourite pubs, nevertheless it’s solely a matter of time earlier than he publicly admits that his true sports activities love is the Tour of Flanders. [That’s my guess. I don’t know him well, just corresponded a bit, but I have a keen sense of who might be a cobbles addict.]

*****

I received’t miss the biking, as a result of the present, as at all times, goes on. I received’t miss Belgium or Italy as a result of I intend to go there once more, with a motorbike or two. I received’t miss driving as a result of I plan to begin all of that up once more within the spring. I received’t miss the good tales of the previous twenty years as a result of I can revisit them. I confess, I do like simply writing, I’m useless that method, however no matter I wanted to say, I completed up saying it already. That’s a life lesson. Not all journeys are countless. [Except, of course, Journey’s. That’s another life lesson, about what vanity really looks like. I digress…]

However I’ll miss the neighborhood. It was at all times concerning the neighborhood. I keep in mind within the earliest days you can name up a world map which might present the place individuals had logged in from. San Francisco! Minneapolis! Brussels!! Riga! The place is Riga? It was fascinating, and although anecdotal at first, it did turn out to be an precise neighborhood, not simply wired collectively however related, in that thrilling method that sports activities brings individuals collectively.

I had the privilege of being a central determine right here, however that’s not what I’ll keep in mind most. What I’ll take with me is an accident of geography, being nearly farthest from the motion (time-zone-wise) such that by the point I’d present as much as the reside chat, everybody was already there. The Cafe that I walked into so many mornings, latte in hand, was a constructing filled with outdated pals, buzzing with exercise and chatter, jokes and race-talk, with an enormous display bringing the motion to all of us. Figuring out there was at all times a spot to sit down, a race to look at, and good pals to look at it with… that’s what it was at all times about. Thanks.