update: this post is reposted as originally posted.  it was removed by me in a post hoc piece of bad judgement.  i am reposting the post post-conflict and post haste.  -shg

from this message:

>>>-----Original Message-----

>>>From: Robb Hampton

>>>Sent: Thursday, June 08, 2006 12:17 PM

>>>To: uscf-district20@topica.com

>>> It's Georgetown U., they have more money than DC Velo!

tsk tsk.  this type of class warfare doesn't do anyone any good.  it inevitably leads to social unrest and that cannot help.  calling people out as bourgeois is just a simplistic, petulant response to a complex situation.   it's totally unconstructive.  let's elevate the debate.  imagine harleys and volvos, parked side by side. 

frankly, i find both modes of conveyance pretty bourgeois, but that's just me.

on a separate note, i found what i think is a much more favorable route for riding from dc to greenbelt.  I'll put up something next week.  if people are interested in riding out, drop a line.  I'll probably leave my office between 5:00 and 5:15.

- - - posted by scott

Several months ago (during the earliest stages of the great cycling revolution in which our beloved Racing Union was born in the bowels of the command bunker deep below the Plaza de la Revolucion), it was decided that comrades toiling and sacrificing for our cause should be properly outfitted for the forthcoming battle.  Under the guidance of the Racing Union’s Minister of Technical Apparel Design, a citizens committee worked day and night to create a uniform worthy of our epic struggle for right.  A design was chosen, and a sympathetic apparel producer in South Carolina was enlisted to help our new kits come to fruition. 

Through our agents in South Carolina, a Colombian spandex concern was contracted to produce the new uniforms.

Delivery of the uniforms commences, fittingly on two wheels.  Unfortunately, due to challenging road conditions similar to those found on the gravel stretch of the Poolesville Road Race, our couriers experience a few mechanicals.  Soon, however, our brave comrades resume delivery.

Despite the best efforts of the couriers, authorities unsympathetic to the revolution (and resistant to the change it represents) attempt to stall the delivery at Customs, further delaying the delivery of the uniforms:

As delays continue, a restless citizenry protests:

Interim measures for uniforms are considered by the Supreme Council for Wardrobe and Technical Apparel…

Rococo:

Teutonic:

Uhhhhh...?

And, in the truest spirit of the principles of the Racing Union, D.I.Y.:

While they all have their merits, as well as a certain sartorial splendor, none fulfill the Union’s exacting requirements for technical cycling apparel.  Patiently, the revolution waits for the arrival of the new Racing Union uniforms.

Meanwhile, despite the mounting delays, comrades throughout the heartland spruce up the public realm in preparation for the arrival of the new kits:

Finally, the uniforms arrive via special courier:

Citizens rejoice!

Now, a sneak preview of the new uniform, before final inspection by a representative from the Ministry of Quality Control for Technical Apparel:

Quality Control arrives on the scene and begins a thorough inspection, starting with a close examination of design elements and graphic image quality. 

Next, our inspector checks the antimicrobial integrity of the garment’s underarm section…

Despite the risk of further delays in delivery, the inspector takes a moment to get lost in the overall comfort of the new Racing Union jersey.  While this may not seem like an important part of the inspection process, the comfort of our comrades should not be overlooked.  In bringing on the revolution, we cannot risk potential distraction due to the scratchiness of inferior fabrics against comrades’ skin.  The Union requires nothing less than the most technically advanced space-age wonder fabrics.

In addition to the aforementioned attributes, the inspector rigorously tests the new garments for structural integrity, compliance, and zipper functionality:

After a lengthy and grueling inspection, Quality Control delivers its final approval.

Da, Union!  Da!

--- posted by josh

you go away for a few days, and look what happens.  i come back from the beach where we been drinking beer and building sandcastles as big as volkswagon bugs, and the %$#@ hits the fan.  my mailbox is full of comments, the d20 list runneth over with drivel about this and that.  there's enough material there for a post every day for three weeks.  and we could do that but where's the challenge?  the posts write themselves.  i would single out bill luecke's post and pete lindeman's post as being interesting departure points and worthy of more consideraiton than they probably got in the roiling sea of ascii text that was that thread.

i got two additional messages that need some attention.  names have been withheld to protect the guilty, but i can assure all of our readers that their rations have been cut pre-emptively and a corrective work plan of hard labor has been proscribed until we determine their true motivation.

message 1: I heard your team clothing has come in. So why isn't there a photo-essay of the debut on the website yet? I see pictures of the masses following the heed of the much-awaited revolution, you bringing the manifesto to the very doorstep of the people most in need of it, but no snapshots of the puke-green team kit. I need my ride pimped. I need to know that the impending tsunami of revolution is more than just the vacuous words of bald, Russian dead guys.

where to begin?  the author of this message walks a fine line between flattery and sedition.  impending tsunami of revolution indeed!  however, future correspondence should be considerably more deferential to the vacuous words valuable wisdom of bald, russian dead guys of the glorious leaders of our glorious cause.  and all capitalization must stop, the sure sign of mind pre-disposed to classist distinctions and bourgeois proclivities.  the kits have arrived.  you were teased with glimpses of the green and black at CSC and on local roads.  this is a kit any hard working citizen would be proud to don.  while we eschew photo ops and the trappings of capitalist marketing, we will make images of the (exceedingly tight) new kit available to all shortly.

message 2: Scott - Thought you'd find this interesting ...

the manifesto goes international?

http://www.treehugger.com/files/2006/05/a_manifesto_for.php

http://www.thestar.com/static/PDF/060529_manifesto.pdf

indeed a good catch.  this vigilant reader has performed a valuable service and has received a commendation as a hero of the cause. 

 

 

many play at revolution but they are in over their heads.  the poseurs and pretenders are nothing to us: their materials not worth a second glance.  they can't bring it with style.  they can't bring it with ferocity.  they can't bring it.  period.  we've distributed a number of the authentic manifestos so people will have a chance to share the wisdom with friends, neighbors and family.  we've even put together a small graphic manifesto which has been distributed on group rides and at races. 

 

but to establish total dominance in the informaiton marketplace, and in order to maximize the exposure of all citizens to the wisdom of the racing union, we present a do-it-yourself manifesto.  regrettably, we can only produce these on proprietary software platforms at the current time, but alternative formats are in the works. 

 

medium pub page 2.doc (520 KB)

you are now, in the most socially democratic way possible, empowered to create one yourself.  download the materials.  print the first page.  flip that page over, feed it, and print again; front/back.  cut it out.  staple it in the middle and you are good to go.  this "kit" will produce one (1) graphic manifesto (7.5cm x 5.5cm) and hours of enjoyment.  throw a few in the car for the kids on long rides.  leave a few in the stacks at your local library.  the revolution proceeds apace. 

while some people were doing group rides, or hill repeats, or trying to down their last few cheese fries for lunch, the racing union remained vigilant: advancing it's principles, bringing the words of liberation to the streets.  the social order isn't going to invert itself after all.  it's hard work, but someone's got to do it. 

i had planned to meet brother michael at an undisclosed location.  he appears to be engrossed in reaping the wisdom of our new graphic manifesto, but he's really scoping out the bourgeois, gaining valuable intelligence on them in their natural habitat.  we're both off the bikes for a bit and decided to keep our tactical senses frosty with a game of chess.

after that, we took it to the streets, spreading the word, building the movement. 

many people showed initial reluctance to take time out on a very hot day for a detailed discussion of the tenets of the revolution and the nature of the glorious cause.  the few who did, however, came to see the wisdom in the principles that the racing union advocates.

eventually the heat even got to your humble correspondents.  we deposited a considerable number of graphic manifestos into special racing union propaganda dispensers.  these have been deployed strategically throughout urbanized areas of the dc metro area.  as you can see, they were very popular and sold out almost immediately.

a closer look...

in fact, on a different corner, the demand was so intense, the need to attain wisdom from these basic principles was so vigorous, that they literally ripped the door off the hinges to get at the bounty that was inside.  bon appetit, citizens and cyclists.

the unprecendented demand for these publications has staggered us.  the central minstry for message has upped production quotas to the maximum achievable level.  all citizens in the print, pulp and paper industries have volunteered to be mobilized for additional duty.  look for these publications in the very near future.

- - - posted by scott

The action in the C race started out very squirrelly, lots of unnecessary braking and swerving. I started at the back this time and did a little fighting for position in the first couple of laps. There was a prime at 4 laps to go, and I jumped on the front for that lap in order to pick up the pace. Probably a mistake, but I was feeling pretty strong. I had two guys slip past me for the prime, and then a break-away formed around myself and three other riders, one of whom had been off the front earlier. A more-experienced rider from snow valley was in the group and pulled us together; he coached our rotation which put us into the last lap with at least ten seconds on the main body and probably significantly more. We fought each other only at the very end, where my lack of sprinting skills caused me to end the race in third. The break was the cleanest thing I've seen in the Greenbelt C race to date.

-Joe

this is an outake from extemporaneous remarks delivered during an event celebrating an upward revision in planning targets for agricultural production.  the full speech had a duration of 3 hours, 27 minutes and was delivered from the people's podium on the plaza de la revolucion. 

- - - begin exerpt

progressive cyclists the world over are wiser than the complacent and corrupt bourgeoisie, they understand the laws governing the existence and development of things, they understand dialectics and they can see farther. the bourgeoisie does not welcome this basic truth because it does not want to be overthrown.  as everyone knows, the racing union has passed through this first tumultuous year not in peace but amid hardships, for we had to fight enemies, both foreign and domestic, both inside and outside the glorious cause. we acknowledge our predecessors in social thought and cycling, for giving us a weapon. this weapon is not a machine gun but the glorious knowledge that the revolution is cycling and social order will put us on the shining path to a bright new future.

the russians made the october revolution and created the world's first socialist state. under the leadership of lenin, the revolutionary energy of the great proletariat and labouring people of russia, hitherto latent and unseen by foreigners, suddenly erupted like a volcano, and the chinese and all mankind began to see the russians in a new light. then, and only then, did the chinese enter an entirely new era in their thinking and their life. they found marxism leninism, the universally applicable truth, and the face of china began to change as well.

there are bourgeois republics in foreign lands, but mabra cannot have a bourgeois republic because she is an entity suffering under imperialist oppression. the only way is through a collective and cooperative, not-for-profit structure led by the working class cyclists themselves.  several years have passed since mabra’s creation, and the glorious revolution, led by the racing union, has made tremendous advances both in theory and practice and has radically changed the face of riding and racing in the mid-atlantic. up to now the principal and fundamental experience the cyclists have gained is twofold:

internally, we arouse the masses of the people. that is, unite the working class, the peasantry, the urban petty bourgeoisie and the national bourgeoisie, form a domestic united front under the leadership of the working class, and advance from this to the establishment of a state which is a people's democratic dictatorship under the leadership of the working class and based on the alliance of workers and peasants.

externally, we work to unite in a common struggle with those cycling and social entities of the world which treat us as equals and unite the peoples of all countries in our common cause.  that is, ally ourselves with the people's democracies and with the proletariat and the broad masses of the people in all other countries, and form an international united front.

some cyclists complain that our methods and actions are too irritating.  we are talking about how to deal with domestic and foreign bourgeois reactionaries, the imperialists and their running dogs, not about how to deal with anyone else. with regard to such reactionaries, the question of irritating them or not does not arise. irritated or not irritated, they will remain the same because they are reactionaries. only if we draw a clear line between reactionaries and revolutionaries, expose the intrigues and plots of the reactionaries, arouse the vigilance and attention of the revolutionary ranks, heighten our will to fight and crush the enemy's arrogance can we isolate the reactionaries, vanquish them or supersede them. we must not show the slightest timidity before this wild beast.

still others object that "we need financial help from sponsors and usa cycling." this, too, is a naive idea in these times. would the present overlords of cycling administration, who are imperialists, help a revolutionary people's state? why do these business interests and sanctioning bodies engage in commerce with us?  because their capitalists want to make money and their bankers want to earn interest to extricate themselves from their own crisis-it is not a matter of helping the cyclists and citizens of the mid-atlantic region.

i have recently shut down several media outlets which claimed that our glorious cause is dictatorial in its methods.  however, i take just a moment to respond to the charges.  the experience that cyclists and citizens have accumulated through several decades teaches us to enforce the people's democratic dictatorship, that is, to deprive the reactionaries of the right to speak and let the people alone have that right.  we will allow the people only to behave themselves and not to be unruly in word or deed. if they speak or act in an unruly way, they will be promptly stopped and punished.  democracy is practised within the ranks of the people, who enjoy the rights of freedom of speech, assembly, association and so on. the right to vote belongs only to the people, not to the reactionaries. the combination of these two aspects, democracy for the people and dictatorship over the reactionaries, is the people's democratic dictatorship.   why must things be done this way?  the reason is quite clear to everybody. if things were not done this way, the revolution would fail, the people would suffer, the cause would be conquered and the vile forces of corruption and moral turpitude would have won.

people ask if we wish to abolish mabra.   yes, we do, but not right now; we cannot do it yet because imperialism still exists, because domestic reaction still exists, because classes still exist among cyclists and citizens. our present task is to strengthen the people's state apparatus-mainly the internal secret security details, the people’s armed forces, the people's police and the people's courts; in order to consolidate and protect the interests of the glorious cause and shining path.

given this condition, mabra can develop steadily, under the leadership of the working class and the racing union.  we can abolish classes and realize the great harmony. the current mabra apparatus, including the bar, sponsorship and the hierarchical racing apparatus, is the instrument by which one class oppresses another.

as for the members of the reactionary classes and individual reactionaries, so long as they do not rebel, sabotage or create trouble after their political power has been overthrown, land and work will be given to them as well in order to allow them to live and remould themselves through labour into new people. if they are not willing to work, the racing union will compel them to work. 

such remoulding of members of the reactionary classes can be accomplished only by a state of the people's democratic dictatorship under the leadership of the racign union.  when it is well done, mabra’s major exploiting classes will be eliminated for good. there remain the national bourgeoisie; at the present stage, we can already do a good deal of suitable educational work with many of them. when the time comes to realize true collectivism, that is, to collectivize all cycling property, we shall carry the work of educating and remoulding them a step further. the racing union has a powerful state apparatus in their hands-there is no need to fear rebellion by the cycling bourgeoisie.

the people's democratic dictatorship needs the leadership of the racing union. for it is only the racing union that is most farsighted, most selfless and most thoroughly revolutionary.  the entire history of revolution proves that only through the leadership of the racing union, can revolution triumph.  this is clearly proved by the fact that the many revolutions led by mabra’s petty bourgeoisie and usac splinter groups have all failed....

to sum up our experience and concentrate it into one point, it is: the people's democratic dictatorship under the leadership of the racing union and based upon the alliance of cycling and citizens.  this dictatorship must unite as one with the international revolutionary forces. this is our formula, our principal experience, our main program.  the situation both at home and abroad is in our favour.  we can rely fully on the weapon of the people's democratic dictatorship, unite the people throughout the country, the reactionaries excepted, and advance steadily to our goals

- - - end exerpt

Comrades Joe, Scott, and myself gathered for a ride on the Memorial Day holiday, meeting at the Vienna Caboose in the (already hot) morning. We rolled out the W&OD Trail for a little while, until exiting for the surface roads which would take us into McLean, Great Falls, and Reston. Scott showed us his latest road rash from Bike Jam, and described the non-stop carnage in his race. For those of you keeping score, that’s three crashes in Scotty’s last three races (through no real fault of his own... recent intelligence by Racing Union operatives within District 20 points to a possible sinister conspiracy, using aggresively poor bike handling against Comrade Scott, to quell the inevitable revolution which the Union proudly and boldly represents -venceremos, Scott, venceremos!). As a result of Scott’s newest wounds (on top of other wounds!), and because of the heat, it was agreed that the revolution would ride at a slower pace on this holiday.

There is some good riding in those there parts of Fairfax County. Shaded roads with gently rolling hills and not much traffic were a nice change from the crowded and unshaded W&OD. In places, the shade trees give way to spindly trees in sticks on clear-cut lots with new McMansions for the newly-landed gentry. Five car garages, circular driveways, piazzas, fountains, gilded fencing, electronic gates, tennis courts, security cameras, cherubic statuary, and gables -lots of gables- no expense spared. We even passed a replica of the White House. As humble foot soldiers in the cycling revolution, we thought of alternative uses for these behemoth houses... such as for new Racing Union Youth Academies for Bicycle Handling Skills, to replace our recently demolished academy:

Shortly into the ride, though, I started to feel the humidity. So far this spring, glorious weather had accompanied the glorious days of our nascent revolution, but now it finally feels like late May in DC. Although it’s not nearly as hot as it will get, I have not yet acclimated to the humidity. Try as I might to give my all for the revolution, I was having trouble keeping up with my comrades (try as he might, Comrade "Youth Movement" Joe does not know slow... watch for his dominance of D-20 soon), and was feeling semi-dehydrated. Scott kept me going with a Clif bar and a Rice Crispy treat, until he and Joe were able to dispatch me towards home via the W&OD.

Under orders from Comrade Scott, I stopped back at the Vienna Caboose (where a Memorial Day festival was taking place) to get some food. The choices were many: soft serve ice cream, funnel cake, cheese fries, barbeque, gyros/falafel, hot dogs, slushy drinks... I’ve seen a million snack foods, and I’ve rocked them all.

So, after a brief respite with food and drink under a shade tree, I was recharged enough to make my way to the East Falls Church Metro station. Yes, I Metro’d the rest of the way into town in air-conditioned, earth toned, dimly-lit splendor. Awwwww, yeah. I alighted at Farragut West before riding a few blocks more to get home where, after showering, I was quickly enlisted to assemble a tall Scandinavian cd rack.

- - - posted by josh

i really look forward to bikejam each year.  it's getting bigger and bigger and each year i see more people who are not necessarily there for cycling, just to enjoy the festivities.  the people who put that race together should get a lot of thanks, the event is an excellent ambassador for cycling.  all of kids seemed to particularly enjoy the bike trials and the moonbounce.  big fun, and the swag was everywhere.  good stuff. 

the master's race was a bit much.  there were a lot of accidents, and regrettably, i hit the deck again.  every accident that i saw was avoidable.  guys appeared to be overlapping wheels and trying to stay out of the wind on the finish straight.  that was one of the places where many people were trying to move up.  i was lucky in that i did not have much damage to the body but the collateral damage to the ride was substantial.  peep this:

three and a half spokes harvested from what had been a very reliable and bulletproof wheel.  this is one of the older 330's.  i have not seen many around, except on ebay so i don't even know if i can even find a replacement.  the rim is toast.  i "extruded" the aluminum spine which seats and holds the spokes up through the carbon rim.

the accident occured incredibly quickly so i still cannot say for sure what happened.  i know a guy came back and into me very rapidly and my best guess is that his pedal went into my spokes.  in trying to determine the exact nature of the accident, we brought in the racing union science team to do some forensics.  two pieces of evidence were available. 

item #1 are some small flecks of paint caught on the spokes right behind those that were ripped out.  detailed analysis has determined that this is celeste green and the likely source is a bianchi.

item #2: a simply grisly amount of dried blood was found on the (still intact) rear tubular.  this does not appear to be mine as I was separated from my bike during the accident an it's on the opposite side of the wheel from where i went down.

evidence is beign compiled a state-sanctioned report will be filed.  someone mentioned something to me after the event regarding crash replacement through zipp.  i do not have any experience with this so if you know something or someone, please pass it along to me.  these were old but sturdy and i really liked them.  i hate to see them go out like this.

but as with all things, there is always some good with the bad.  i got back from the event to find this in my inbox: rottier has received, from his authentic russian connections, a genuine titantium frame from the people's republic.  lest any of you think that we are not serious about our plans for domination, have a gander at the photo below.

he is ready to bring it.  as are we all.  da, union, da.

- - - posted by scott

Like Scott and Michael, I often ride my bike to work. I have a nice commute between Dupont and Old Town Alexandria, which is a little under 10 miles each way. About 6 miles of my commute is on the Mt. Vernon Trail, car free and along the Potomac River. The rest of my commute is through rush hour traffic in Downtown DC, which is actually much easier on a bike than in a car (suckas!). Generally, it’s a pretty nice way to start and end the workday. Along the way, I pass the White House, the Washington Monument, the Tidal Basin (and its cherry trees), the Jefferson Memorial, and National Airport. I see geese on Gravelly Point, right under the flight path for the airport, where planes roar past just a short distance overhead.

I get a lot of miles in this way. Some would call them "junk miles," but sometimes this is most of what I can manage during a busy work week. While it’s true that they’re probably not the best in terms of specific training miles, they are a pretty good base. Biking to work is quicker than Metro (which I sometimes take on rainy days), and far less stressful than driving (yuck). Also, I feel pretty lucky to have bicycle commuting as an option, which is not something that everyone has.

I generally move at a pretty good clip, but I try to remember that I’m on a multi-use path and I need to be courteous to other trail users; so I tend to take things easier when I’m around others. Also, you never know when someone is going to come to a dead stop on the trail, or if they might suddenly turn around, or whatever... People are aware of their surroundings to varying degrees, and sometimes do unpredictable things. This isn’t so much of an issue in the mornings, when there aren’t really a lot of people on the trail; but it can be tricky after work, especially when the weather’s nice and everyone is out.

While I may get a little frustrated by the heavy traffic on the trail, I get most annoyed with the behavior of some other cyclists, particularly those that treat a commute during peak trail use times as some sort of time trial. There’s a time and place for this sort of thing (there are many organized events in this area for doing so), but Tuesday at 5:30 pm on the Mt. Vernon Trail is not it. Now, I totally understand about trying to make something out of those miles and getting in a decent workout, but I see too much sketchy stuff. And why don’t I see you guys when the path is practically deserted in Winter? And stop trying to give me "The Look," you fool.

Oh well, anyway... This week, my bike commute was interrupted by kind of a freak thing. While entering the Mt. Vernon Trail in Alexandria, I broke my bottom bracket. -I wish it was as butch as it sounds, but I hit this dip in the trail and, snap, both of my crank arms were at 6 o’clock.  Sweet.  Luckily, there was a bike shop nearby, so I took my bike over there. They had a look, we had a good laugh, and they had to order a new part so I left the bike with them for a couple of days. Then I duck walked about 10 blocks to the Metro in my cleats and multi-colored spandex, much to the amusement of the local youth (several of whom were not shy about heckling or asking "where’s your bike?"). -Good times... Since then, I’ve been enjoying catching up with my reading on the Metro; but I cannot wait to get my bike back (hopefully today) so that I can resume my normal commute.

- - - posted by josh

two fronts were engaged simultaneously by union forces last night at greenbelt.  josh and joe engaged the opposing forces and locked horns with valor.  victory eluded them but they remain heroes of the cause.  pravda and outreach operations were also initiated with the release of the beta-test version of our new graphic manifesto.  these were warmly, if somewhat curiously, received.  this handy, pocket-sized version is ideal for carrying with you on long rides.  it will allow you to easily share the informative and inspirational wisdom it contains with others.

our current plan is to produce as many of these as we can and saturate the cycling population with these useful publications.  we believe that this goal can be easily attained.  the ministry for central planning has announced that the current soybean and wheat harvests will produce record yields.  this is indeed good news, coming on the heels of lasts years harvest which also exceeded expectations.  it is a tribute to the hard work that our brothers and sisters in the agricultural sector have done aid the glorious cause.

the supreme council for the revolution in cycling and social order has allocated the windfall from this record harvest towards the dissemination of these new materials.  all cyclists should look for these materials at races and rides in the near future.  they are a sure sign that the glorious revolution is proceeding apace.

there's a small group of us biking out to greenbelt this evening for the races.  we'll be leaving from 4th and d nw from 5:10 and around rhode island and north capital at 5:20.  feel free to join us.

-sg

i have been thinking a lot about two things over the last few days. i know what you're thinking; but it's not this or this or this or this.  no, i've been thinking about my flat at poolesville and the fact the people have started calling me a communist.  now both of these things are wrong, but for different reasons. 

the first thing is that my flat at poolesville was just wrong.  i had been riding okay, nothing great, but 50 miles into the race and i'm beginning to think about how it will end for those of us who are still a full four minutes behind the break.  eli caught a flat and i remember telling him he had a good race and patting him on back as i went by.  and you know what i got for that good karma: 100 meters down the road, blammo, my front wheel is shot heading into the deep gravel.  joy.  no wheel van in sight.  no nobody in sight.  my high hopes come settling down along with the dust cloud my fellow riders have left.  a minute later, the wheel van comes ripping by (driven by our old friend pete lindeman) and it's empty and doesn't stop.  it's been reassigned as the follow vehicle for the race. 

the second thing is that i am not a communist.  i have heard people throwing around labels, mostly in jest, and the jests are usually pretty funny as well.  we revolutionaries do have a sense of humor after all.  but it is incorrect to call me a communist.  i could go on and on about the distinctions between various ideologies, in both theory and practice (think manifesto of marx and engels vs. animal farm) but you'd be bored.  the differences between leninism, maoism, troskyism, et. al. are significant, but they often seem to reduce themselves to self-parody.  it puts one in mind of the nice piece of humor from the life of brian on the judean people's front and the people's front of judea.

i would like to clarify that i personally am really more of a collectivist.  and i'm hardly alone in this.  you may have seen recent news articles illustrating these principles on a much larger scale.  and since the revolution is proceeding apace, it might be helpful to let you all know what you can expect in the very near future.  in very simple terms, property will be considerably less private and considerably more public.  the things surrounding you will belong to, and be used for, the benefit of all of us. 

here's an example of a hero of collectivism:

and an anti-hero of collectivism

still not quite sure what this all means?  let's try again by going back to the topic i initially introduced in this post: my flat at poolesville.  i got a flat and was forced to pull out of the race.  why did this happen?  what was the real problem there?  if you said that my team car was derelict in it's duty, you're as far off as you can be.  the revolution will not allow team cars, opting instead to sieze them and turn them over to small farming communes where they can be retrofitted with more-ecologically friendly engines and help the workers in their daily chores.  if you said the wheelvan didn't bring me one, you're still in way too bourgeois of a mind-set.  property will be collective.  when one person flats, another individual will share what they have with them.  so the real problem at poolesville was that the collective of racers (them) did not support their fellow racer (me) by providing another wheel when one was desperately needed. 

i know some of you are still struggling with this so i have added a sample problem which should really help to drive the point home. 

question: we're riding together at hains point.  it's the thursday before a big criterium and we're doing a good sprint workout to polish the skills in positioning and finishing.  i have a tire that's going soft.  what do you do?

answer: if you said "attack!!!", that's wrong.  very, very wrong, and we have work camps re-educational facilities to help disavow you of those notions.  similarly, if you said "sprint away giggling" you're not thinking in a collective mindset.  the correct answer is to tell me to slow down so you, a fellow bike rider and racer, can collectively help me to work towards the greater glory of the cause by providing a wheel for me to finish the workout.  bonus points if you mentioned getting off your bike and changing the wheel for me a fellow racer or gave me a fellow racer a push start to help me a fellow racer catch back up to the group.

still not sure what's going on?  look at the following pictures.  this handy guide can be printed out to assist you in managing your actions such that the collective benefit is realized.

	not yours, but ours to help fulfill the aims of the revolution
	still not yours, which is an outmoded capitalistic concept, but ours which is a welcome, progressive way of viewing property.
	to be used, collectively, for the cause. not yours.
	for the good of all, to be given to me your fellow racer.  now.

- - - posted by scott