|   Osama's Cycling Club | Doc
Nov 26, 2001 12:29 PM | | I recieved this from a co-worker today, hope you all enjoy it as much as I did!
Updated: Mon, Nov 26 9:22 AM EST
KABUL (Reuters) - Afghan cycling enthusiasts, forced off their bikes by the Taliban, are back in the saddle.
About 20 cyclists in full gear staged their first race for five years from the capital, Kabul, Sunday after the city fell to forces of the Northern Alliance.
Braving a potholed road that crosses the heavily mined former front line, they traveled 40 km (25 miles) north to the town of Charikar at the base of the Panjsher valley.
The Taliban had outlawed public sports events in line with their strict interpretation of Islamic law that also obliged men to wear beards and women to leave their homes only in the company of a male relative and shrouded in a full-length burqa veil.
"During Taliban times we weren't allowed to do sports, it was very difficult. Now with freedom we can do what we want, so we are organizing this race," Mahmoud Azani, of Afghanistan's Olympic Committee, told Reuters television.
He said the race had been staged in honor of the late Ahmed Shah Masood, the Northern Alliance's legendary commander.
Two assassins posing as journalists killed Masood in a bomb attack two days before the September 11 hijacked airliner assaults on New York and Washington.
Northern Alliance and other forces have swept the Taliban from power in most of Afghanistan since the United States began military action against the militia on October 7 for harboring Osama bin Laden, prime suspect in the September 11 attacks. |
| I'd love to see some pics of that..... | TNJED®
Nov 26, 2001 12:33 PM | | Next thing you know, spandex will be introduced to Afghanistan. Full length for women of course. |
| re: Osama's Cycling Club | Sna-FU!
Nov 26, 2001 12:35 PM | | That's great news! What a way to spit in the Taliban's face. Thanks for sharing Doc.
P.S-How about we all go and buy them helmets and water bottles? Support the cause! |
| Kevlar Kamelbak's would be more appropriate! | Doc
Nov 26, 2001 12:38 PM | | I bet they ride rigid single speed's too! |
| Afghanistan could have some awesome trails | tl1
Nov 26, 2001 7:10 PM | | With all those high mountains and all. Might have to have IMBA do something about all the landmines scattered about though. |
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