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• Send it to webletters@insideinc.com.

More Lance?
Editors,

Could you please give us some more coverage of what Lance is up to these days. I’m serious, the letter from up in Canada is puzzling.

Is he talking about the ads that run with Lance’s pic? That’s not “coverage.”

After reading Johan’s book ...I WANT MORE LANCE! The naysayers can say all they want, but they can’t put down his dedication when he was racing.

No one even came close.

Eh?
Patrick Caselli,
San Jose, California

More on our Armstrong coverage
Editors,

Re: the Armstrong fatigue letter.

Nobody shoved Lance Armstrong down our throats. If you read the article, that was your choice. When Lance suits up and crosses the line it's news. I'd be interested in Eddy Merckx if he did the same thing.

Life and sport are about our history as well as our future. As one who will never know the kinds of speed our racers display I am awestruck when I watch races unfold. I'm inspired by the stories of others whose exploits have made the names of the great Alpine climbs famous.

The rollers in my part of Kansas wouldn't make a dent in Lance's or Eddy's power meters. They challenge me, though, and somedays the simple fact that remarkable people ride bikes is the only thing that gets me over my personal Muur, Alpe, or Gavia.

Because, when it comes down to it, the only ride that matters is my ride and the only important rider in the world is me. But I'm not news.
Michael Munro,
Lansing, Kansas

Likes our BMX
Editors,

Great job covering the BMX racing at the Olympics, I can not believe it took this long for BMX to be an Olympic sport.

Racing BMX throughout my teenage years made me a life long cyclist.
Bruce Lagerquist,
Waterloo, Wisconsin

Riccò's admission
Editors,

In response to Allen Wahlström's letter on Ricardo Riccò.

"I was heartened by Ricardo Riccò's admission and earnest apology for his mistake. "

While I appreciate the sentiment in Allens letter lets make no mistake - Ricco didn't "make a mistake" - he knowlingly and intentionally doped to win bike races. There is no mistake there, other than getting caught.

I'll give Ricco props for owning up to what he did (Tyler and Floyd still make me sad for still denying the preponderance of evidence — and this from someone who wants to believe they didn't cheat). I'll give David Millar props for owning up to what he did.

But let's not sugarcoat it and call it a mistake. They cheated. They knew they were cheating. They wanted to cheat. They intended to cheat. They both sought out ways to cheat, to win, to make themselves better than their opponents on the road. The only mistake either one made was getting caught.
Randy Bitts,
League City, Texas

Unimpressed?
Editors,

So the domestic pro peloton was unimpressedwith the 5th place finisher in the TDF in their midst at US Pro Crit championships? Further evidence of the decline of civility in the world.

I'm guessing if these same guys found themselves racing in Europe, they'd no doubt be texting all their friends about how the peloton allowing a home rider to ride ahead to greet his family no doubt ruined the winning move they were about to launch.

I thought it was great fun to be standing by the 8th corner near Christian's family and enjoyed their reaction to his little tip of the hat to his home town.

For years, I promoted the Illinois State Road Race. One year CVV was home and, not wanting to ride alone for 5 hours if he could avoid it, asked to ride the state championship, just sitting at the back of the field. Because I had written the race flyer as a "1/2" event rather than a "pro 1/2" event, I had the unhappy task of calling and telling him it was a no go. I found him to be a gracious young guy and hung up thinking, "wow, I hope my son turns out like that if I have a boy."

He can live in your world, guys, but until you finish in the lead group on a hors categorie climb, save the smack talking till you demonstrate you can live in his.
Barry White,
Glen Ellyn, Illinois

Thanks
Editors,

I had some free time at work and was cruising through some of the "videos" of the Tour De France. I just wanted to say a special thank you to all who took part in gathering and presenting all of the coverage. The behind the scenes clips — interviews with the riders and directors — are always so
interesting. Taking us up the mountain passes to see the crazy people there was so cool.

What I found to be the most interesting were the interviews with the riders and how different their personalities are. Check it out sometime, just sit back and review some of the clips and
you'll see what I mean.

Anyway, staff of VeloNews — thanks a bunch and hats off to you. Maybe I'll have the opportunity to work with you someday.
Keith Spangler,
Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania

Road Rights
Editors,

re: Bob Mionske's column.

Indeed, violence against cyclists will be old news to the readers of VeloNews.

However, I still don't understand why roadies have trouble with managing their own behavior. A ROAD is defined by Webster as "an open way for vehicles, persons, and animals." An OPEN way suggests that a certain freedom and efficiency of movement is an objective of road-ness. If I'm on my road bike and have to slow down for gravel, I consider that a poor road. If I'm in my car and I have to stop for construction, I also consider that a demerit against the road.

I do not understand the tactics of Critical Mass. Choosing to become the object that reduces a road to a parking lot can do nothing to raise positive awareness amongst drivers. The anger engendered by their infantile and negative posturing does more to put me, as a roadie, in harm's way than a drunk in a truck. I hold participants in Critical Mass demonstrations in the same regard as I do the last moron who drove me off the road.

I do not understand the need of my roadie comrades to ride two-abreast when there's any traffic whatsoever. I feel that I have the same right to use the road as a driver (the law even proves it), but I also feel that I have no right to hold up traffic that normally travels 2-3x faster. If riding single file isn't the definition of common courtesy, I don't know what is. The primary reason I train alone is because even my beloved teammates don't get this very simple concept that should have been learned in Kindergarten.

Full disclosure: I've been riding on the road since 1983 and have been licensed by the USCF since 1986. I am not new to this.
Peter Krogh,
Nevada City, California

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