Spring is in the air

Outside my window the grass is still covered in two feet of snow, a solid layer of ice, and then perhaps another foot of snow under that. It's the work of a vicious winter that blew in sometime in late November dropping temperatures well below zero, forcing me to burn as many calories shoveling snow as on the turbo, and it hasn't let up since. But despite the lack of green, despite the continued cold temperatures, and despite the threats that we could yet get more snow in the next week, there is that feeling that spring isn't too far away. That it's closer for some than others, and that eventually it'll find its way up here also.

Down in Florida the 15 American League teams of Major League Baseball have reported for Spring training, and pre-season games are underway. When you tune in to watch you cannot help but notice the pristine green grass, the blue skies, the sunshine, the fans sitting on the grass banking that rings the outfield of many of the teams's spring training stadiums, sipping cold beer and wearing shorts. It almost looks like summer, yet you know it's spring and you hope that little bit of spring will come back north again with the players for the start of the new season in April.

Then there is Belgium and an altogether different sign that spring is nearing with altogether different weather.



This past weekend the Belgian spring classics season kicked off with the Omloop Het Nieuwsblad on Saturday (won by Ian Stannard) and the Kuurne-Bruxelles-Kuurne on Sunday (won by Tom Boonen). It was raining for the Omloop on the Saturday and the riders were still wearing tights but that's the part of spring that cycling fans have come to love. To those of us still stuck on our turbo's while the snow falls, we see those conditions and know that with the European cycling season getting underway it's almost time for us to dust down our helmets and climb upon our bikes for real.

As spring goes on and the Belgian races continue we'll see some tough racing in tough weather and it'll only encourage us to get out there on our bikes and do the same. Then, by the time the last man crosses the line at Liège–Bastogne–Liège on 27 April bringing to an end those Belgian spring classics, we'll be eyeing up the idea of summer.

Until then we have some superb races ahead. No offence to the Tour Down Under or the Tour of Dubai -- both solid races in their own right, but they feel somewhat 'pre-season' to me ... especially when there's no end to winter in sight from where I'm watching. The spring classics are the real cycling season openers and on 1 March when the riders rolled out of beautiful Gent and into the Belgian countryside for the Omloop, I knew that despite what the calendar said about the Vernal Equinox not being for another 20 days and despite the snow on the ground outside ... spring was close and I was beginning to sense it even if I couldn't yet feel it.