Friday’s Mailbag: Steffen’s charges; flying objects; risin’ Raisin; LeMond’s rainbow; and cycling in Italy
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.
Steffen knows nothing, should leave sport
Editor:
What is with Prentice Steffen? I read the David Walsh article in the Sunday Times years ago, where if my memory serves, Steffen makes his original allegations. I recall that the riders in question asked Steffen how they could improve their performance. Steffen admits that the riders did not ask him specifically for performance-enhancing drugs. He came to that conclusion, however. In other words, there’s no smoking gun, he just may have misunderstood Tyler and Marty’s queries.
How is it possible for this ER doc, not a licensed biochemist, able to comment about the guilt or innocence in Tyler’s case and Lance’s case, so far removed? He knows as much about what currently goes on in Phonak and US Postal/Discovery as I do, which is nothing.
As for the premise that it’s “possible” to dope with a hematocrit level of “55 and 60,” what dope has he been smoking? If Lance had done that, presumably before a serious mountain stage, and finished in the top three, he would have been taken for testing after the race. How does he avoid that? No chance to draw blood before blood controls then.
As for micro-dosing, we know that EPO testing is expensive and time-consuming. Trying to straddle the line is perilous, because it would be easy to get it all wrong. We know that hematocrit levels can give different results depending upon what machine you use. It’s easy to say this can happen plausibly under laboratory conditions but in the real world it’s highly implausible that a team would take such a huge risk, where so much can go wrong.
Back to Steffen: I seriously hope that he leaves the sport, as he has threatened, since he has already prejudged Tyler’s and Lance’s case, from afar.
Ken Cheng
Gardiner, Maine
You can’t beat the ‘boing’ of a launched acorn
Editor:
Bob Mionske’s article on liability for damage from “sailing rocks” addressed one of the things I love about bicycle riding. When I started riding bikes with narrow, high-pressure tires, I discovered the simple pleasure of launching loose items on the road sideways with my tires. The “boing” of the tire and the arc of the projectile is a thoroughly delightful experience. I recommend acorns; they’re lightweight so they fly high and far and their roundness allows for nearly ideal launch conditions. Neither is there any need to try to launch them; when they drop from the oaks, they fall in profusion and it’s difficult not to launch at least one.
David Thimsen
St Paul, Minnesota
More on up-and-comers like Raisin, please
Editor:
I thought your interview with Saul Raisin was great. I had the privilege of visiting with Saul this year at the Tour de Georgia, and when I walked away, I could not help but think, “What a great kid.” Level-headed, down to earth and just doing what he can to live out a dream. That is good stuff. Keep the updates coming on these young people they are the future of American cycling.
Jerred Brackkett
Springfield, Missouri
LeMond led the way
Editor:
I just read the article regarding Greg LeMond’s world championship after seeing the link in the mailbag. Thanks so much. It reminded me of the books I read when I was a kid.
I don’t think people realize today that back then there was virtually no media coverage of cycling, no Internet, no way to see cycling’s stars, and no of course huge (U.S.) endorsement deals until LeMond led the way. I still don’t believe that people realize that LeMond could have won seven Tour de France titles as well as many one-day classics.
Thanks for the memories.
Joshua Germany
Augusta, Georgia
Italy is the epicenter of cycling
Editor:
Europe is the center of the world of cycling. A recent letter writer (see “Monday’s Mailbag: World’s memories”) simply failed to visit the epicenter, Italy.
Look at a list of the top pro cyclists in the world. It’s a good bet that half of them are Italians. This is no accident. There’s no question that Italians love football (soccer) and Formula 1 but cycling is the summer sport there in the same way that baseball gets the attention of mainstream America.
Biased? Of course! After following both the Tour de France and Giro d’Italia for 10 years (with a couple visits to Spain along the way) we founded CycleItalia in 1998. Why? There’s simply no better place in the world to be a cyclist or cycling fan.
Larry Theobald
Sioux City, Iowa
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.