comardes brian, r-p and i represented the union at the umd crit in the cat 4 race. While the union figured prominently in the start-line photo shoot, our overall race performance was less than awe-inspiring. in true racing union style we snatched defeat from the jaws of victory. however, this was a great opportunity for the revolution to model its stylin' new kit to wild acclaim.

Hasta La Victoria Siempre!

posted by joe

 i know my description will not do this justice, but i was riding back home from hains point on wednesday night, just after sunset when i saw the strangest sight. there was a nebulous stream of parti-colored lights flowing down constitution avenue past the capital. the stream gradually resolved into about 50 riders on mountain bikes festooned with red and blue police lights. it would appear that the district's latest crop of bicycle cop trainees was out for an evening spin. as a former marine, i particularly appreciated the drill-instructor-like police cadre riding along the outskirts of this herd, yelling encouraging phrases like "keep it tight" and "ride straight". but this is not a stab at the district's finest; after all, how many of us are out training after sunset? mad props to dc metro for training to win.

i will be stepping down, in the near future, from my position as a permit coordinator with mabra.  there is a need for someone to fill that position.  if you are interested in an opportunity to work with the mabra board, cycling promoters and officials to help put on races in this area, drop me a line.  the work is mostly all administrative.  the time committment is not large, but it is a committment and there are some deadlines which must be met,mostly with regards to mailings.  the largest tasks involve coordination via email between usacycling, promoters and officials, and mailings to officials, promoters and colorado springs.  good record keeping is essential, but there is some latitude in how you choose to do it.  the work is split between two people so the task is not really so substantial. 

my hope is to identify someone by late spring and start training them through the summer so they can get a feel for how the tasks are accomplished.  i would be happy to buy coffee and pastries and chat with someone who's seriously interested.  we can discuss what's involved and i can show you the basic materials and describe the rough schedule and workflow. 

- - - posted by scott

begin transmission

after capitalist and imperialist screeds against the glorious revolution in cycling and the social order, the thing that fills the union mailbox most often is queries are to where brother rottier is.  rottier is an enigma, the x factor.  his whereabouts at any given time generally cannot be known. 

knowing this, you can imagine that there was little surprise when we received the following via electronic transmission.  it was decoded deep within the nerve center of the union's secretariat for communications.  having been studied and cataloged, and analyzed for message content, i have chosen to release this update to the general cycling public. 

pullingabikeStPete.wmv (1.14 MB)

comrade rottier appears well.  union operations in that sector are ongoing and will continue.  no more details can be made public at this time.

end transmission

from robb hampton:

can you talk more shit on your blog? i'm tired of doing it all.

we got a nice note from james with regards to a recent blog post:

this blog is too hard. why don't you just write about t&a? throw in the occasional car/bicycle chase or shootout.

message received babe, loud and clear.  pete actually forewarded the link.  here it is.  i believe that everything you asked for is in there.  union 1, washington post "journalists" 0.  and you'd think that this would be enough humiliation for the post wouldn't you?  not by a long shot.  buried in the style section earlier this week was a small note to comics readers:

To make room for these changes, we will say goodbye to three strips, "Mary Worth," "Cathy" and "Broom Hilda,"

what do all these strips have in common?  strong assertive women lead characters.  one of the few places where the glass ceiling doens't constrain.  and the post chooses to do this during women's history month?  have these people no shame?  is there no sense of justice or proportion?  the union supports our sisters who struggle and strive.  union 2, washington post "journalists" 0. 

if you want to quibble about the score, bring it in the comments. 

- sg

keeping up with the math related talk, here are two posts which offer a contrast in expectations.

the way we teach mathematics here in the states:

http://kitchentablemath.blogspot.com/2007/03/first-grade-probability.html

the way math is taught in much of the rest of the world

http://kitchentablemath.blogspot.com/2007/03/despair.html

i also used the propotional method of solving, and came up with the same answer as the author.  i tried simultanetous equations and that didn't work either.  i did eventually stumble on the right approach.  for me, this example encapsulates a lot of problems our society faces.  some of you may feel that this is not cycling related. 

my take on it is that the problems we face as cyclists are a symptom of a much greater and more general problem: that our society is colossally stupid about a number of things.  while our imperialist exploitative overlords corporate executives sip starbucks and encourage their serfs employees to think outside the box, or whatever brainless motivational mantra of the moment they espouse, they never stop to ponder why they sit in traffic for 70 minutes each way each day.  they complain about their employees taking so many sick days but never stop to ponder whether the problem might be exacerbated by the lack of time to exercise and the commuting side-effects of pollution and stress. 

there has been a massive switch in outlook from objectivity to subjectivity.  you can see it everywhere.  journalists now strive to provide "balance" to a story, giving equal credence and hearing to both sides, even if one side is factual and the other non-factual or illusory.  to come right out and say that such and such is demonstrably true is inappropriate if there are people who feel strongly that the opposite is true.  things like logical inference, rhetoric, and debating are completely absent from the education that most people receive.  after the 1960's, many school districts replaced civics with a new curriculum called american government.  there are few examples i can think of that so clearly show the lowering of exectations, and regression from striving for excellence to the lowest common denominator.  should racing union thought seek to write off the current crop of adults and focus on the young pioneers?  my thinking is yes and i will provide a formal thesis along these lines at the upcoming party congress.  the union must seek to foster change by sowing seeds in fertile ground.

- - - posted by scott

back in mid-february, i openly speculated on how much longer garry kasparov, a true hero of the union, would be with us.  i have been forced by circumstances to revise the book.  at the time i wrote:

"just happening to fall out of a eighth story window.  could happen to anyone.  9:2"

apparently, it's even more comon than i thought.  check it out.  new odds are 5:4 and i'm putting you people on notice that if any other high level party members, athletes, dissidents or bureaucrats are defenestrated in the next two weeks, i'm moving this particular bet to even money or "off".

-sg

we are here today to honor those who have done valiant work towards the goals of the glorious cause that is the revolution in cycling and the social order.  we have a few shout-outs to issue this week.  all were unexpected and all are very welcome.  both contain the same basic motif: the union message of supporting and showing stewardship for our fellow cyclists....and.....mercilessly crushing any who would inhibit us from realizing our goals.

commendation #1: the medal of outstanding valour is hereby issued to kevin stapleton and pete lindeman by the supreme revolutionary council for propogation of message.  both of these citizens independently were pursuing ways to bring attention to a rather sordid form of crime.  their nearly simultaneous calls to action have resulted in people being reunited with their hard earned and beloved bikes and some sunlight being shone into some fairly unpleasant corners of commerce.  yes, the marketplace can solve all your problems.

and that's not all.  pete and kevin will receive additional rations of cabbage, cloth and lamp oil (and the hotties that go with that kind of largess) as a result of these commendations.  cha ching.  cha ching.  in stark contrast, the punishment for the perpetrators will likely fit the crime.  though dante does not specifically detail which circle of hell is reserved of bike theives, the union has branded them traitors to the glorious revolution.  so circle nine it likely is.  good luck with that fellas.

commendation #2: the order of the 11 tooth cog is hereby bestowed, by the bolshevik vanguard of the union, on the national capital velo club.  this is not their first award, and their good works are known to all who struggle on two wheels.  however, this specific commendation is presented for outstanding progress in actualizing racing union thought.  the principles of the union are well understood but many clubs have not made progress in putting them into action.  here, ncvc leads the way.

the context for this is not widely understood.  mabra pursued sponsorship for a series of races within it's boundries.  promoters were allowed to petition to be part of this series.  if they were accepted, the money was made available to them.  rather than increase prize lists to make the race an even more mercantile exercise, ncvc has opted to lower race entry costs, hence lowering the barrier to race for all cyclists and citizens.  this populist approach pleases the vanguard of the racing union and we offer our very best wishes to this club on what we would characterize as a good start towards returning bike racing to the people.  huzzah!

- - - posted by scott

p.s. eric marshall will have every right to complain and be justifiably bitter that his excellent, and exceedingly popular, and populist, quicksilver winter solstice series race has been left out in the cold.  but i'm out of medals.  the blame for that shoudl fall squarely on those fictitous mining production quotas the vile and repugnant capitalist and imperialist interference in our pastoral and decentralized communal and collectivist economic processes.

VOLGA AND MIKULA. Illustration to the Kievan bylinas. 1913

the february mailbag is such a weak and tired collection of bitching and moaning that i can't even bring myself to publish it.  really people, if this keeps up i will die of ennui.  i didn't think the principles of the glorious revolution in cycling and the social order were so abstract or difficult to internalize.  i considered trying to change attitides based on our current government's behaviour management program but i dismissed that as unlikely to succeed.  heck, it didn't work for them and they've used it for years.  i do not have years people.  we need to get this party going.  now.  ahora mismo.  immediamente! 

i considered using some alternate materials which might hold your microscopic attention spans a few seconds longer.  however, initial testing produced unexpected, unpleasant and unacceptable reactions.

so we're going to start it out real simple like, using very basic tools that you imperialist mouth breathers probably spend an awful lot of time viewing on a regular basis. 

watch this several times and then we'll see about moving on to some more advanced material.  for those of you who are a bit further along in the curriculum, we can have a spirited discussion of the joys and irony of using capitalist tools of citizen control (tv images, mass produced culture) for our own purposes in the comments. 

- - - posted by scott

yesterday, i needed to consult with racing union legal counsel on a number of miscellaneous matters.  we roll hard, and occasionally, we need backup.  and backup we've got.

one of the topics brought up was seeking justice for those citizens who fall injured in the line of duty, valiantly struggling on two wheels, through unacceptable conditions.  roads are cleared but multi-use paths are left alone, untreated, and barely rideable.  does the state, and i'm using state in the largest and most generic sense here of the agent in control, have some obligaiton to make sure all rights of way are safe including multi-use trails?

this is really complicated.  first off, ownership (and stewardship and maintenance) of some of the extensive trail networks in our area is not entirely clear, at least to me.  we are all familiar with obvious examples of different approaches that different jurisdictions may take.  the doctor gridlock discussion on the post web site yesterday involved some questions on this topic, pointing out that the CCT is generally cleared in DC but as soon as you hit the maryland border, it's untreated.  is this because the dc section is maintained by the national park service and the maryland section is maintained by some other agency such as maryland national capital park and planning service?  unclear.  but why would they have different ideas about whether the multi-use paths need to be cleaned or not.

while you're figuring that out, you may also struggle with whether someone can actually bring a case against a jurisdiction for injury sustained on an untreated path.  racing union legal division pointed out a few useful things.  you would need permission to bring the case and that may not be the easiest thing to do.  even if you could bring the case, dc, md and va all incorporate the ideas of contributory negligence into decisions so it's unclear what your rights versus responsibilities are.

kevin posted some useful information on cases which illustrate some of these principles:

sample case: http://www.cicle.org/cicle_content/pivot/entry.php?id=1297#body

more information on a similar case: http://www.cicle.org/cicle_content/pivot/entry.php?id=1300#body

just to be clear, i'm not suggesting people go out on dangerous, icy trails, take a long and traumatic tumble (the yard sale) and then look for a free lunch courtesy of a hungry lawyer.  i'm more interested in the issue from the perspective of regarding alternative transportation as a serious alternative.  when snow and ice comes, "the state" is serious about clearing the roads.  i hardly expect them to be equally serious about clearing paths, but some areas are not the slightest bit serious about it now.  lobbying doesn't seem to work.  i'm curious as to whether other types of pressure can be brought to bear on the situation.

-sg