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From: AMuzi <am@yellowjersey.org>
Newsgroups: rec.bicycles.tech
Subject: Re: Job Offer
Date: Thu, 20 Mar 2025 20:21:00 -0500
Organization: Yellow Jersey, Ltd.
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On 3/20/2025 8:16 PM, John B. wrote:
> On Thu, 20 Mar 2025 10:45:45 -0700, Jeff Liebermann <jeffl@cruzio.com>
> wrote:
> 
>> On Thu, 20 Mar 2025 13:48:08 +0700, John B. <slocombjb@gmail.com>
>> wrote:
>>
>>> On Wed, 19 Mar 2025 22:08:56 -0700, Jeff Liebermann <jeffl@cruzio.com>
>>> wrote:
>>>
>>>> On Thu, 20 Mar 2025 09:37:40 +0700, John B. <slocombjb@gmail.com>
>>>> wrote:
>>>>
>>>>> On Wed, 19 Mar 2025 11:36:03 -0700, Jeff Liebermann <jeffl@cruzio.com>
>>>>> wrote:
>>>>>
>>>>>> On Wed, 19 Mar 2025 09:15:20 -0400, Catrike Ryder
>>>>>> <Soloman@old.bikers.org> wrote:
>>>>>>
>>>>>>> I never understood why some people like to watch people they don't
>>>>>>> know play with their balls.... or ride their bicycles.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Sports are battle simulations much like the gladiatorial contests of
>>>>>> ancient Rome.  The only difference is that the participants of today's
>>>>>> sports contests are more likely to survive.  Bicycle races are similar
>>>>>> except the participants sometimes engage in limited combat.
>>>>>> <https://www.google.com/search?q=bicycle%20jousting&udm=2>
>>>>
>>>>> I think you over simplify.
>>>>
>>>> I agree.  I was in a hurry to leave for lunch with some friends and
>>>> did not have sufficient time to embellish my comments with details and
>>>> references.  So, I just provided my main talking point and ran away.
>>>>
>>>>> I well remember tree climbing contests when
>>>>> I was in grade school and the girls had rope skipping contests.
>>>>> And the Olympic "games" that dated back to something like 770 BCE were
>>>>> initially a religious affair.
>>>>>
>>>>> I believe it is more accurate to say that mankind has an inborn desire
>>>>> to be first. In whatever activity, not solely war.
>>>>
>>>> I agree.  However, the form that this competition takes seem to
>>>> parallel similar forms found in warfare.  For example, the early
>>>> Olympic competition featured athletic games that would all have been
>>>> useful in warfare.  (Javelin, discus, long jump and hammer).  I'm not
>>>> sure what you mean by "religious affair".
>>>
>>> The ancient Olympic Games (Ancient Greek: t? ???µp?a, ta Olympia[1]),
>>> or the ancient Olympics, were a series of athletic competitions among
>>> representatives of city-states and one of the Panhellenic Games of
>>> ancient Greece. They were held at the Panhellenic religious sanctuary
>>> of Olympia, in honor of Zeus, and the Greeks gave them a mythological
>>> origin.
>>>
>>> Note the term Panhellenic Games.
>>> "Panhellenic Games is the collective term for four separate religious
>>> festivals held in ancient Greece that became especially well known for
>>> the athletic competitions they included."
>>>
>>>> Games and battles have
>>>> always included ceremonial requests that the gods provide the
>>>> participants with victory or survival.
>>>>
>>> I don't recall any reference to the Olympics being held to ensure
>>> victory although I did see
>>>
>>> "During the celebration of the games, the Olympic truce (ekecheiría)
>>> was announced so that athletes and religious pilgrims could travel
>> >from their cities to the games in safety. The prizes for the victors
>>> were olive leaf wreaths or crowns. The games became a political tool
>>> used by city-states to assert dominance over their rival city states.
>>> Politicians would announce political alliances at the games, and in
>>> times of war, priests would offer sacrifices to the gods for victory.
>>>
>>>> Thje Olimopocs were [receded by
>>>> "Day Three: Sacrifices (Hecatomb) and feast"
>>>> <https://www.open.edu/openlearn/history-the-arts/the-ancient-olympics-bridging-past-and-present/content-section-7>
>>>> We no longer sacrifice 100 bulls at the Olympic Games.  Emptying the
>>>> treasury of the host city or country is a tolerable substitute.
>>
>> It's interesting that there are many prayers available on the
>> interknot for cyclists to offer before a bicycle race.  4 example:
>> <https://www.google.com/search?q=prayer%20before%20bicycle%20race>
>> I might go so far as to suggest that ALL religions have some form of
>> prayer to their respective divinity for a favorable (athletic)
>> outcome.
>>
>> While the motivation for holding the Olympic games will vary depending
>> on the readers point of view, I point out again that the original
>> games involved weapons of war (javelin, discus, long jump and hammer).
>> In the relatively recent past (1897), the bicycle was considered
>> suitable for military transportation.  While not a race, but more an
>> endurance ride to demonstrate the effectiveness of bicycle transport,
>> the event was basically a military exercise.  Whether they prayed
>> before starting their 1900 mile (3058 km) ride is unknown.
>> <https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/the-black-buffalo-soldiers-who-biked-across-the-american-west-180980246/>
> 
> 
> 1897? The Japanese used bicycles very successfully during the invasion
> of Malaysia  - 1941
> 

As did the Italian Bersaglieri against the Austrians in The 
Great War.

As did the British against the Boers 20 years before that.

-- 
Andrew Muzi
am@yellowjersey.org
Open every day since 1 April, 1971