Pound, the Giro and Sheldon Brown

By VeloNews.com
Published Feb. 8, 2008
Updated Nov. 4, 2009 at 12:02 AM UTC

The Mailbag is a regular department on VeloNews.com. If you have a comment, an opinion or observation regarding anything you have read in VeloNews magazine or on VeloNews.com, write to webletters@insideinc.com. Please include your full name, hometown and state or nation. Letters may be edited for length and clarity. Writers are encouraged to limit their submissions to one letter per month. The letters published here contain the opinions of the submitting authors and should not be viewed as reflecting the opinions, policies or positions of VeloNews.com, VeloNews magazine or our parent company, Inside Communications, Inc.

The anti-roping road is long and hard
Editor:
Recent letters have criticized Dick Pound’s nomination for the presidency of the Court of Arbitration for Sport as well as the exclusion of teams with recent doping infractions from the Giro. While these events are indeed distressing, the larger issue is the problem of doping and the need to do something to correct the problem.

Changing the behavior of dopers has never been easy, especially when the rewards for doping are high. There has been an element of acceptance or complicity of doping at the elite level of most sports, and until recently most dopers got away with it.

Unless firm sanctions are in place, doping will continue to be commonplace. Unfortunately, it takes more than just telling people to do the right thing and not dope. It is going to take painful consequences, which we are now seeing.

Doug Urness
Red Deer, Alberta, Canada

Write to CAS to oppose Pound
Editor:
As a Canadian, I am embarrassed that Mr. Pound shares the same citizenship as I. That the CAS would even consider him as a leader their organization is beyond belief. A man who is so willing to ignore all semblance of due process in his messianic zeal to convict those who he considers guilty has no place in a quasi-judicial process (legal training notwithstanding).

I encourage all who have concerns about his credibility to write directly to the CAS and express their concerns. Writing to VeloNews will have no impact. Only by providing direct feedback can you really have an impact.

Stephen Roedd
Richards Landing, Ontario, Canada

Giro’s pickiness might make for better racing
Editor:
Perhaps it is a good development for fans to see the Giro d’Italia exclude top team(s) that don’t target the race as a goal for the season. It doesn’t make for an interesting Giro to see riders on a training ride during the Giro, preparing for the Tour de France. The Giro deserves more than that as an epic stage race. Come to race or don’t come.

Peter Brueggeman
La Jolla, California

How about boycotting ASO events?
Editor:
So what would happen if the ProTour folks simply boycotted the ASO events unless they were all invited? Maybe it’s time for them to drop the bomb. At this point, what do they have to lose?

Steve Rempel
Los Altos, California

About Sheldon Brown
Editor:
Reading Mr. Zinn’s obituary on Sheldon Brown, followed immediately by his description of Active Spokes was truly poignant. Okay, so Active Spokes are a serious thing; but I hope you know Sheldon’s POWerwheels could kick Active Spoke wheels any day of the week. And then there are the other ShelBroCo products that came out annually, at the beginning of each April.

I, for one, will be taking my fixed gear out for a ride this weekend.

Thank you, Sheldon.

Eric Dittmar
Fremont, California

He will be missed
Editor:
I am sorry to hear about Sheldon Brown’s passing. While I never met him personally, I have often relied on his advice and web sites to help me fix my customers’ bikes. I hope the riding is all downhill and car-free in paradise. Sheldon, you will be missed.

John A. Hoeven
Milano, Italy

Sheldon enriched our sport
Editor:
The economy’s slow, the election’s depressing, the Giro’s a joke, every cycling event pivots on who is or isn’t doping, the war in Iraq continues, and Johnny still can’t read. I know my priorities are straight, though, ‘cause none of these things sadden me as much as the news of Sheldon Brown’s passing.

Our “relationship” consisted of exactly two emails, but his encyclopedic knowledge and willingness to share it via his site cause me to miss him nonetheless. I send his family my deepest sympathies. He never won the Tour de France, but he left our sport richer than he found it.

I have a feeling my next few rides will be spent worrying less about my heart rate and more about enjoying that wonderful conveyance that binds all cyclists as a family.

Rest in peace, Mr. Brown.

Jasper Mason
Houston, Texas

A great mechanic and a top-notch human being
Editor:
I think that it’s time for the cycling community to take a moment away from petty issues like doping, the exclusion of teams from the Giro, and the like so that we may mourn the loss of one of the most luminous and heroic figures in cycling, Sheldon Brown.

A mechanic, collector, family man and all around lover of all things two wheeled and self-propelled, Sheldon represented what it is to be a cyclist more than any million-dollar pro ever will. His endless knowledge of all things related to the bicycle and his limitless willingness to share that knowledge means that every one of us, directly or indirectly, have probably learned something about cycling from him.

The loss of Sheldon has left a hole in the cycling world that may never be filled, so my hope is that his website may continue to be maintained so that people who are not familiar with Sheldon may gain a glimpse into an extraordinary life, and so that people may continue to learn from him, not just about the bicycles, but about what it is to be a decent human being.

It’s not all sad, though. it’s good to know that for Sheldon, wherever he is, all the rides will be epic. And remember, AASHTA (As Always, Sheldon Has The Answer.)

Cody Stephenson
Durango, Colorado

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