Utter happiness, I’d say, if you love the varieties of sweet ambrosia that can be found in any pub in Belgium.
Jupiler is building a pavilion completely out of beer crates near the Atomium, in celebration of the 50th anniversary of the Brussels World’s Fair, Expo ‘58.
There is no finer font of liquid happiness in the world than the land of my forebears. Drink it whenever and wherever you find it.
An update to my post yesterday.
It seems the riders of the Paris-Nice peloton are not happy about van Impe’s treatment, and they’re getting upset at the apparent overreach of doping controls at that race—I haven’t much sympathy for this since they were warned by the UCI that racing under ASO only would strip them of rights and dignity. Though whether the UCI’s controls would have been less invasive and time-consuming is a question for another day.
However, David Rebellin makes a strong point that is symptomatic of extremism of anti-doping efforts:
“We support the controls, but what I’m worried about is the invasion of privacy. They come to our homes and we are always available. They have to remember that we are people, too, and not gangsters.”
And there it is in a nutshell: all riders are guilty unless proven otherwise.
David, welcome to the insanity of drug wars everywhere. It’s only going to get worse.
This is certainly something we’re starting to become familiar with in the U.S. as our rights are being eroded by this administration and the fear they’ve generated in the sheep. I’m sure that once they have doping “under control” they’ll start testing for terrorists.
Then again, who’s to say they’ll wait that long. Remember, the indignities these riders suffer are really nothing compared to what hundreds, if not thousands, of people experience every day at the hands of the inept and abusive Transportation Security Administration.
Cycling: humanity and politics in a nutshell.
