Something of an introduction

I know not everyone thinks the name of the blog is as cool as I do, and when I mentioned the idea of a blog on this topic to Ginet she was polite enough to refrain from vomiting, but couldn't help at snickering. According to dictionary.com a privateer is, "an armed ship that is privately owned and manned, commissioned by a government to fight or harass enemy ships." In recent years motocross racers and mountain bikers who couldn't secure a factory sponsorship were also known as privateers. They might have had a handful of sponsors, but shelled out a lot of their own money and turned their own wrenches. "Racing" is self explanatory (but not limited to a particular variety) and "syndicate" sounds much cooler (to me) than team. So there you have it.

Anyway, here's what I was thinking. I've lost a lot of productive time reading the Freakonomics blog at the New York Times web site. One of the topics they've discussed there is commitment devices. They talk about how making public commitments can help people to follow through on goals they've set, from quitting smoking, to running a marathon. I thought perhaps this blog could serve as a commitment device, for folks waffling on whether or not to enter an event, or just needing some encouragement to slog through training.

I also thought it could serve as a place to share training/racing/eating/etc lessons learned. I don't have many to share, but I know some folks who probably do. Likewise, if folks are braving a new frontier i.e. first triathlon, marathon, 5k, body-building contest, beauty pagent, etc. they could ask for advice, tricks, or tips.

I don't really want it to be a "blag" where folks post about how they beat all the pregnant women and midgets. But if you know someone has been training for a race and you googled the race and saw they finished, then give 'em a holla. For example, Ginet's brother Brent just wreaked havoc on the town of Burley, Idaho (no, you da ho!) in the Spudman Triathlon, and back in May my third cousin three times removed (according to the table of consanguinity) Derek Kirkham served notice to Coeure d'Alene that he was indeed an Ironman. Well done gents!

Membership in the syndicate is pretty easy. If you've completed an event where you had to pay an entry fee in the last year you can be a member. Anyone who's a member can post on the blog. I'll need to make sure I know how to invite people.

Here's the shameless plea. I need other people to post. No one, and I mean NO ONE, wants to hear only from me. Ginet reminded me of that as I was writing this. I realize this won't be an overnight sensation so I'm willing to give it some time, but if after a couple of months it's going no where, I'll pull the plug. (An event that will likely be filled with such collective relief that it may be commemorated as a national holiday.)

Welcome to the syndicate...