(I found this on the Pro Cycling website - I'd love to sort through those trailers each night! Aldo Ross)
...So can an old bicycle really contribute to improving the infrastructure of an entire nation? Perhaps not, but this is the stated brief of an ingenious humanitarian initiative recently unveiled by Italian sport's newspaper "la Gazzetta dello Sport"" in collaboration with the 2001 Giro d' Italia.
At the end of the international cycling season a collection of used bicycles donated by cycling fans, pundits and even professional riders will be dispatched to Burkina Faso, where they will serve as a means of transport for instructors and community workers in rural areas. The Giro d'Italia will be the centrepiece of the project, with spectators invited to consign used machines to "Rebicycling" trailers stationed in hospitality villages on every stage of the race.
"Rebicycling" is the brainchild of renowned Italian explorer and navigator Giovanni Soldini, whose rusting old Bianchi will be among the first contributions to the charity when it is officially launched at the Milan San-Remo race next spring:
"I think that it's a fantastic idea, and my old bike is ready to be donated! I just hope that it be useful to someone, or at least make someone happy."