What’s the best kind of girlfriend for a cyclist to have? That kind who’s so busy with law school that she wants you out of the house for entire weekends at a time. And so it is that I’ll be heading to Fayetteville, Ark., in a few weeks for the legendary Joe Martin Stage Race.

Who else is going? I think I’m set, but feel free to use this post to offer or solicit rides and hotel space.

Much of our sport depends on the goodwill of sponsors, and CBR is no different.

ABD has been a longtime sponsor here. I don’t know if if anyone produces as many events in the Chicago area. Its next event is Sunday’s John Fraser Memorial Time Trial, the finale to its annual time trial series, where I see an astounding 280 names on its start list. ABD has also released the flier for a Memorial Day weekend series of masters races. More than $13,000 in cash and prizes will be on the line over three days, and Cat 5 masters can race for as little as $10.

Sharing sponsorship starting this week is CycleAnalyze, a new coaching system from Patrick McNally (MetCycling) that promises to put an emphasis on communication and feedback. We’re also joined by the Glencoe Grand Prix, which after a successful 2007 debut returns this year on Sunday, Aug. 10.

I couldn’t be happier to have this support, and I thank everyone who’s helped CBR over the past year.

I’m leaving tomorrow morning for my team’s winter camp in California, so posting will be light this week.

I’ll be missing the season-opening criteriums in Kenosha, but I’ll post wrap-ups as best I can. Feel free to help out by e-mailing me links to your reports or other observations.

Last week’s system upgrade prompted me to do a complete overhaul of the CBR look and feel. I hope you like it.

A few notes:

• » Members can now submit avatars that will show up alongside their comments.

• » The top logo features two new sprinters. Same contest as last time: A Clif Bar to the person who can correctly name both riders.

• » A wider canvas means photos will run even bigger this year.

• » IE 6 has a few issues with the site, but I don’t have a very good way to debug. If what you see is hinky, feel free to send me a screen shot -- along with a 200-word essay explaining why you continue to use the Huffy of browsers.

• » Coming within a few weeks: An upgrade of the race calendar, including search and sort features.

Again, feel free to contact me with any bugs or errors you find.

First, a thank you. Readership at Chicago Bike Racing is at an all-time high, and we’re still two three weeks away from our first outdoor race. It helps me keep doing what I do knowing there are so many of you following along.

Second, some news: I spent the weekend changing content management systems here at CBR world headquarters. Good-bye, Movable Type. Hello, Expression Engine.

Here is a new RSS feed, and here is an RSS feed of the comments.

Most changes will be invisible, but you will notice this: You must now register in order to post comments.

Why? I got tired of having to monitor comment spam. Also, a recent spate of anonymous posting made me sad. I don’t mind people being anonymous. I don’t mind people who are jerks. What I can’t abide are people who are both. You can still remain anonymous, but you must have a valid e-mail address on file in order to post.

The upside is that comments will now appear instantaneously. You can also edit your personal information so that your team appears with each comment, and you can select a Web site to include instead of your e-mail.

You may already have an account! If you commented at any time over the past year and included your e-mail address, the system has automatically created an account for you. Submit your e-mail address at this page and your password will be mailed to you.

To create a new account, go to this registration page. Accounts are automatically approved. This should not take more than a few seconds.

I have a few kinks to work out (categories did not transfer well) but please feel to report any bugs. This switch should make my job easier, and it should help introduce new features in the future. Expect a major overhaul sometime in the next few months, depending on how much training I want to cut into.