Last season THE COBBLER made it's debut. Looking back I am pleased with the material published. It provided some in-depth analysis and some previews and predictions. Some were even accurate.
I think I went too overboard on the "color" stories. They were fun for me to write, but I am not sure if they were worth the time and effort. I had hoped that the non-race stories would keep a focus on the Cobbler even as the number of cobbled races faded into Summer. They did not. Readership faded quickly as the Cobble races ended.
So what will 2014 bring?
THE COBBLER will be back, but we will place all of our focus on the riders, the races and the tours. No more stories about Pomme Frittes, and Belgium Beer, Ask Bobke will survive as he will ask the question about the elephants in the room nobody else wants to admit seeing.
As an example: Now that Dave has mastermined Wikipedia all the way to the PT Championship, and as a result many of his riders will want pay increases, can he afford to re-sign Tom Danielson?
THE COBBLER will publish just 4 issues in 2014.
A Transfer Season edition that will come out about a week after the new ManGame DB is released. By then we will know the teams on each tour and we can see the new riders.
Next will be a Cobble Season intro edition. It will probably publish about the same time as the start of the Cobble season.
Finally we will have a Mid-Season report that we focus on the first half of the seasons, stats and results.
The final edition of 2014 will be after the last of the Major Cobble races have been completed.
I am also in negotiations with the editor of The Sound to author 2-3 feature articles. We have agreed in principle, but we still have some things to work out on the compensation side of the agreement. He seems to be a bit reluctant to agree to First Class Air Travel and to my needs for a substantial food and beverage allowance.
I am sure we can find middle ground.
Looking forward to the 2014 Northern Classics Season.
========================================= Team Manager of AMEX - Navigon
Editor of the Cobbler
I was actually just reading through a few of last years editions today, and i have to say congrats on the great work. Especially the rankings thing in the first edition was very insightful. So looking forward to reading the new editions too.
