The Cycliste Moderne, October 24, 2005

Well, the ProTour season has reached its end. We are now at the beginning of the cyclocross season in the US and Europe and the racing season is ramping up in Australia. But that does not mean there is not anything to talk about? No. There is a lot.

Why would you steal that?

Police in the Netherlands are on the lookout for a stolen team Rabobank vehicle. Last week sometime somebody stole a Rabobank team station wagon. Now, cycling teams are frequently the victims of theft of equipment. But why you would steal a Rabobank team vehicle defies logic.

It is not like an orange and blue station wagon with Rabobank plastered on the sides is not conspicuous enough. No, it probably also has racks for 20 bikes on top. Clearly somebody had a little too much fun on a Saturday night. What is more amazing is the fact that they evidently have not found the car yet.

So, in the interest of helping our Dutch friends out, we encourage all readers of the Cycliste Moderne to be on the lookout for a car that looks like this.

Doesn't the UN have Better Things To Do?

This week UNESCO, or the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, declared war on doping by introducing the International Convention against Doping in Sport or ICDS in UNSpeak. The ICSD would not displace WADA or the IOC and would only be binding on those countries that actually sign it. Why the UN thinks it needs to interject itself into the doping debate when you have sports federations, national antidoping agencies, WADA, and the IOC all involved in the fight and fighting amongst themselves is beyond me.

If you want significant discussion about the virtues of the United Nations with a slightly John Birch slant together with the liberal appologists for the organization, go read the letters to Velonews.com last week. No, what you are going to get here transcends politics. It goes to the fundamental problem with the United Nations. The United Nations generally and UNESCO specifically are incompetent and utterly incapable of undertaking the actions that they pursue.

The UN has failed miserably and repeatedly in its attempts to lead anything. It has failed to stop genocide in the Balkans, Ruwanda, and Dafur even though it has had a presence in those regions. It failed to adequately monitor Iraqi oil sales due to graft and corruption in the entity. UN member states spend years talking about problems that do not exist while ignoring very real atrocities that the organization was intended to stop.

In light of what we have learned from Congressional hearings regarding governmental response to Hurricane Katrina, it is evident that Louisiana Governor Blanco, New Orleans Mayor Nagin and Former FEMA Director Brown all have careers ahead of them at the UN and its various entities as they all exhibit the strength of character and moral leadership that is typically only reserved for leadership at the United Nations.

For those fearful of black helicopters and world government, I can only tell you that you obviously have not been paying close enough attention to what really goes on in the world. Experience has shown that the United Nations is utterly incapable of organizing anything complex or sophisticated. So, I do not expect the United Nations foray into drugs in sport to have any more effect than the United Nation's attempts to bring peace and justice to the world.

Cool Bikes

Just to direct you to a site from our bike friends at Cycles Gaansari, they have launched a new line of single speed bikes under the Skidstrong brand. Way cool. Check them out.