Wednesday’s Mailbag: The cost of competing, smoke break and Pounding Tyler

The Mailbag is a regular feature on VeloNews.com. If you have a comment, an opinion or observation regarding anything you have seen in cycling, in VeloNews magazine or on VeloNews.com, write to WebLetters@InsideInc.com. Please include your full name and home town. Letters may be edited for length and clarity.

Hot – Velo Bella racers at U.S. Cross Nats – Two Velo Bella racersbeing named to the U.S. Women’s team for cyclo-cross world’s
Not – Having to pay your own way: $3750

Linda Locke
Berkeley, California

We’re all freaks in our own right
Editors,
Bravo to Michelle and Mark (see Monday’smailbag) for good letters supporting the DH racers.

They are right. We’re all cyclists. Heck, in the grand scheme of thingswe’re all just athletes. We shouldn’t discriminate just because we takea little different route than the others. I ride road and dabble in off-road.I’ll admit, from my limited experience it’s much easier to ride road thanoff-road. I have a lot of respect for those that navigate the single-trackcourses at high rates of speed and are able to avoid obstacles at thosespeeds on nasty terrain. It’s a different set of skills, but they are ridersall the same.

I also have a lot of respect for the roadies that can ride at high speedsin packs and maneuver through tight corners while keeping everyone uprightand flying. It also amazes me the ability to sustain those speeds for thelength of time that they do. It’s not easy to ride in a pack, join in anefficient pace line or ride all out for 100+ miles at over 40kph!

We’re all freaks in our own right. What normal person would subjectthemselves to road rash, trail rash, saddle sores, bruises, fatigue andthat lovely burn you feel in the quads, calves or triceps after an allout effort? Most people don’t drive the distances we ride in a year! Weall ride in horrible conditions when the rest of the population is toolazy to get off the couch and quit watching the trash that is known astelevision. We all get out and utilize the outdoors for our enjoyment.And we all have great stories of epic rides to share with our buddies.We’re all athletes pushing our minds and bodies to that next level. Soplease just chill out and enjoy the wide varieties of disciplines in ourgreat sport of cycling.

Judy Abrahams
Anchorage, Alaska

Jonesin’ for a ride
Dear fellow cyclists,
My name is Megan Hottman, I am a competitive cyclist, hoping to go Pro within the next two years. I’m also an attorney in Kansas City, Missouri, and I work for a judge in the local courthouse. Since my employment began there in August, I have encountered an amazing amount of smoking inside the building. Now this may seem like an absolute absurdity to those of you living in California or Colorado, but these are the conditions in which I am forced to work each day.

I get to breathe second-hand smoke all day and people look at me like I’m crazy every time I suggest that it is somehow wrong and that other parts of the country don’t even allow smoking in restaurants and bars. You know what the biggest defense of this situation is? “Well, smokers are addicted, they can‘t help it.”

I will go to someone’s office for a meeting, or to discuss something that needs to get accomplished, and their co-worker informs me, “oh, they’ll be right back, they’re taking a smoke break.”

I would like to pose a question to my fellow cyclists: Are we not “addicted” to riding our bikes? Aren’t we “addicted” to exercise and the resulting endorphin rush? Yet, we aren’t given license to get up from our desks, despite the amount of work awaiting us or the people in our offices waiting to seeus, because we are “addicted.”

How is it, that society condones less work from an individual because of an “addiction”? Why should we not, promptly at 10:15 and 3:15, get up from our desks, switch out our dress shoes for our tennis shoes, and say in an exasperated voice “I can’t do that now, it’s my exercise break. I’ve tried to quit, but I can’t. It’s an addiction.”

Oh, and by the way, I do know my body odor may be offensive to some, but come on… compare that to stale cigarette smoke.

I’d pay to see the jaws drop in response to a nationwide cycling revolt. The cyclists that take “smoke breaks” to go get their 15-minute bouts of exercise. “You say you want a revolution?” Arise fellow cyclists!

Megan Hottman
Mission Kansas

Standing up for Pound
A note to Any Kruse (see “Put up or shut up” in Monday’s mailbag)

Andy, why should Dick Pound “shut his mouth?” Pound’s position has got everything to do with what he thinks of Hamilton’s medical practices. If he didn’t think Hamilton had tested positive, he wouldn’t be saying he thinks Hamilton should be stripped of his medal.

FACT: According to the first Olympic test, Hamilton is positive. Both subsequent samples taken at the Vuelta were as well.
FACT: He keeps his medal based on a technicality.

Let’s assume the test is valid, as Phonak’s panel of experts have yet to agree whether there was a problem with it or not.

In your letter, Andy, you seem to agree that the only reason Tyler got his medal was due to an error by some “lackeys.” By that, how are you not defending a doper? Please enlighten me. If someone you knew was murdered, and the killer got off on an administrative technicality, would you not be pressing for an appeal? Obviously not, because the rules are the rules, right? And if Pound’s statements are libelous, I’m sure we’ll see Hamilton in court. As if!

I have read a great deal of invective directed against Mr. Pound on various websites, all from U.S. correspondents. I cannot understand why. Mr. Pound is taking a stand against widespread doping in the pro peloton. Let’s support him in his efforts.

Antony Hubbard
Swindon, Wiltshire, United Kingdom

Just the facts, man
VeloNews,
Basically, the Tyler Hamilton vs. Blood Doping controversy vs. Dick Pound vs. the IOC vs. UCI vs. WADA, USADA or whatever comes down to one main issue: They say he doped. Tyler says he didn’t.

At this point, how is Tyler Hamilton going to prove he didn’t? The UCI and WADA will simply use these results to punish him.

How, pray tell, does Hamilton prove he did not dope? His word, the words of his family, friends and teammates are not going to matter to these people. It will require hard facts.

Where is Tyler going to get them? Just wondering.

Danny Autrey
Bremerton, Washington

The answers were right in front of you
A note to Mickey Borlemer (See “Tyler tunes (as told by Oliver Stone)”in Monday’smailbag)
Mickey, you mentioned that you “just had to check Tyler’s web site- www.tylerhamilton.com- to learn the basis of O’Grady’s oblique reference to a cloak-and-daggerconspiracy about Phonak and doping results.”

You really should have read Tyler’s article in full. You asked:

1) Why did Phonak pay a blackmailer?
2) Is law-enforcement that sloppy wherever this event allegedly happened?
3) Can’t someone just go to Mustache-Man’s house, since hisidentity is known?
4) Doesn’t all of this sound a bit far-fetched?

All of your questions would have been answered by the part of Tyler’s article that says:

After the exchange, the man drove off still, believe it or not, wearing his fake mustache. The police jumped out to stop him and he punched the gas. A little way down the road, he stopped, probably knowing at the very least his plates would implicate him, and the police finally arrested him.
The man maintains the whole ordeal was just a joke. He said he was merely acting on hunches when he sent text messages to Urs about the positives. And he said the extortion bit was all for fun and he had planned to turn around and give the money back. He faces up to three years in prison for the bribery bit.

Maybe Santa will bring you a towel to wipe the eggnog off your face, Mickey.Merry Christmas.Rob Roeder
Austin, Texas

You’ve got to accentuate the positive
VeloNews,
Enough Already!

Either he did it or he didn’t. Tyler Hamilton is the only onewho will ever really know if he cheated. Let’s stop making a drama aboutthis until the facts are available and judgment is made.

Let’s stop advertising the negative aspect of cycling and focus onthe positive side.

Saul Montanez
Wilmington, Delaware

To quote Daniel Baal, standing on the court house in Lille in Julyof 1998, “Perhaps ‘positive’ isn’t exactly the word you’re lookingfor in this context.” – Editor

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