Reconnaissance by Handlebar

Along Route 1 last week, 70 wiry South Vietnamese bent low on their racing bicycles, pedaling for all they were worth. Close behind were two vin tage French-made armored cars, their .30-caliber machine guns pointed unsportingly at spectators. It was an odd procession, and as it whizzed past his foxhole outside Danang, U.S. Marine Lance Corporal Charles Armour, 18, whose patrol had been ambushed nearby only hours before, could only marvel: "It's really weird."

Weird was not the word for it. The South Vietnamese were holding a four-day bicycle race in one of the worst areas of the war: the battle-plagued Viet Cong-infested I Corps, from the Danang area to the Demilitarized Zone and back--a distance of 340 miles. It was, of all things, the opening event in a fun-and-games campaign by Premier Nguyen Cao Ky to rally the nation for the Sept. 11 election of a constituent assembly.

Red Flag. Inspired by the Tour de France, bike racing has long been a favorite Vietnamese avocation, and the precautions taken reflected the nation's interest. Highway 1 was swept beforehand by troops of the national police. U.S. Marine checkpoints were ordered to flash word ahead as the cyclists hove into view. When the arrangements were complete, the entrants gathered on Danang's waterfront. With the starting gun, they pumped briskly off, preceded by a jeepload of tour officials clearing puzzled drivers off the highway with a red flag and siren.

Ten miles out, the cyclists were slowed briefly by government troops retrieving the bodies of a dozen Viet Cong who had been killed trying to cross the road an hour before. The pack quickly resumed its pace, wheeling over the misty Ai Van Pass to Hue thence to the Ben Hai bridge at the edge of the DMZ. There the racers turned around, headed back to Hue, then on to Danang. Only 16 of the starters finished, but miraculously none of the dropouts were kidnaped, and there was not a single Viet Cong ambush.

Pingpong & Plays. The bicycle race was only the beginning of the pre-election buildup. Ahead are pingpong tournaments, stage shows, swimming contests and shooting matches.

A more serious form of entertainment is a government-produced two-reel film being shown in moviehouses, which explains to citizens how to bau di (vote). Those who are not already on the electoral rolls are urged to register and to file complaints if their names are left off local voting lists. Citizens are told how to cast ballots; for the benefit of illiterates, candidates will be identified by such symbols as water buffaloes and lotus flowers. The narrator even offers advice on sizing up the more than 540 aspirants running for the 117-member assembly: "Let us question the candidates on what they have done for the country in the past, as well as what they plan to do for the people once they are elected."

The purpose of both the festivities and educational campaign is to get out a big vote--which would amount to a defeat for the Viet Cong, who have denounced the election as an imperialist tour de farce. Last week officials announced that 200,000 names have been added to the electoral rolls, bringing to 4,900,000 the number of South Vietnamese registered to vote; the regime will be delighted if the turnout reaches half that number. This, week the campaigning officially begins, which should raise interest even higher.

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