Thanks Aldo, the transcriptions are entertaining and timely.
With the troubles for the Giro today, I am glad to be getting this old story.
Starting May 11, each day I would check in on the 2002 Giro first. After the first scandal, I started reading about 1949, then checking in on today's Giro. Now, however, I am disillusioned, hopefully only temporarily, and I am ignoring the current affairs in favor of a race from decades past.
I have always had a hankering for the old days, which is why I got a history degree, why I ride old bikes, why I try to appreciate what previous ages were really like. I don't want to be romantic about it or nostalgic, I want to look at history for lessons to improve the present and to attain a just and equitable future. But there's also a pleasure in hearing a voice from the past, one that speaks of what were, at least in this instance, much better days.
Please, keep them coming and thank you for your efforts. The writing you are making available to us communicates what bike racing was and still should be about. It's a "Boys of Summer" for bikes (a metaphore that makes me realize that it's not just bike racing that has fallen a few notches due to today's economy).
--Keven Ruf in Seattle,
WA