Mailbag: Reader write on race radios, Evans’ win and fixie thugs.

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Three cheers for Michael: Cheer #1

Editor:

Three cheers for Michael Barry and his principled decision to support the UCI’s race-radio
ban!

His column spelled out the reasons quite clearly — rider safety, a return to a reliance on the rider’s skills, and far more exciting racing. What’s not to like? Phooey on those control-freak race directors who want to run the race to their advantage. Let’s let on-the-spot tactical instincts reclaim their proper role in deciding the victor of the race.

Charles Hansen,
Boulder, Colorado

Cheer #2

Editor,

Thanks for running Michael Barry’s well-written and insightful essay on radio-controlled racing. He explains well the situation in the pro peloton and how and why earpieces have reduced the drama in racing (unless you count mass pileups of course!).

I hope the UCI has the guts to stand up to the folks who are complaining about this proposed rule and move forward. I’m getting tired of the “ever-advancing technology” arguments put forth by the bike industry. Their efforts take the focus away from the athlete in favor of the machine.

Larry Theobald,
Sioux City, Iowa

Cheer #3

Editor,

Michael Barry has me reconsidering whether the UCI radio ban is as foolish as I at first thought (and I was pretty well convinced). I’d like to read more opinions from the racers themselves; That seems like something VeloNews could give us …

Thom Falter,
Westby, Wisconsin

No cheers for fixie thugs (or us)

Editor,

I was surprised that VeloNews columnist Lennard Zinn posted a link to the MASHSF Web site and videos in his column.

Apparently the Vittoria folks were running these videos at InterBike to promote their tires. I have a lot of respect for cyclists who ride fixies, but the sales tactics Vittoria and MASHSF are using are pretty sad.

Nothing I do will stop the hipster fixie squirrels at MASHSF from endangering us all to move some product, get some fuzzy-focus-punk-backed internet exposure or start their own reality show, but it chafes me more than a bad saddle that Velo News, Vittoria, and Mr. Zinn used them to promote themselves as well. I have been riding or racing, helping to get people on bikes and trying to keep us all alive for 30 years and seeing these quasi-skilled jocks instantly create thousands more PO’d drivers that can now try to kill the rest of us is depressing at best.

There are plenty of crazed ways to get an adrenaline rush on a bike without endangering innocents for sport. Normally you do a nice job of supporting, reporting on and promoting these at least slightly less narcissistic methods we cycling freaks enjoy and I’m not sure why you gave these guys space.

Although I’d normally say we should all try to learn about and be more supportive of any type of cycling and take a nuanced view of the riders, in this case they’re clearly too self-involved for that to make sense.

It’s probably only a matter of time before they kill or permanently cripple at least some of themselves, so why help them increase the severe risk to bystanders as well?

I know that VN, Mr. Zinn and Vittoria will say that they don’t endorse the behavior in the vids, but you are (in addition to helping their sales). As for me, although I’ve ridden and raced Vittorias for many years I think it is probably time to quit. Maybe I should try some of the tires that are marketed without actively endangering me when I ride them.

Regrets,

Eric Buhs
Lincoln, Nebraska

No gold for Velo?

Editor,

I’ve got to agree that your report on Cadel’s victory at the worlds was lame.

Attacking like Evans did (no matter who the others were and what they were or weren’t doing) was spectacular.

As audacious as a Marco Pantani or Lance Armstrong shaking things up at full gas. I live in Florence, Italy, where the reports I read were sadly similar to your own: full of Spaniard and Italian failure.

Ethno- and Eurocentricity often blinds Italians to the brilliance of others. Yet at least one Italian reporter was humble enough to honor Cadel describing his winning move as ‘the perfect attack.’

Give him his due – he blew them away in the toughest one-day race on the calendar!

Spectacular. We’d do well to major on the winner and minor on the losers, especially in this case, and maintain a certain independence which means reporting actually covers winning moves.

And what about the work of the Australian team? Mature, talented, gutsy inspiration that positioned Evans brilliantly. Look out for more where that Aussie victory came from … even though we might not hear much about it.

Andrew Lubbock,
Florence, Italy

Too many chiefs at worlds

Editor,

First let me say congrats to Cadel Evans. He’s had some tough times but now he gets a big one.
 
As a former pro rider and team mechanic in Europe I think I can look at the pro ranks and make valid points.

The Spanish and Italian teams had great riders on their squads but had too may chiefs and not enough Indians. This was also the case on a few other teams and it cost them at the line while the Aussies and some othes worked for the team leader.
 
If Cancellara had a couple more team mates at the end the result might have been different and for others to whine that he cost them is stupid.
 
Evans was well-deserved in his victory and he seized the moment while others thought about themselves.
 
Peter Cusden,
Apex, North Carolina

Bringing your A game – and A-Team

Editor,

Did the United States understand that they could bring its best squad to Mendrisio? Even though the Worlds fall late in the season this should not lessen it’s importance. Many of the other nations have riders that have ridden the entire season and it didn’t stop them from sending their best riders.

Last year Chris Horner was excluded from the team and was somewhat called out for it when he spoke up regarding the powers that be. The U.S. have riders like Armstrong, Hincapie, Horner, Pate, Leipheimer, Vande Velde, Zabriskie and yet none were there.

I understand that some might be due to injuries but c’mon … not one U.S. rider in the top 50! Maybe we should take a look at what it means to represent.

Brian Peters,
McPherson, Kansas

Black socks, they never get dirty

Editor,

I have to agree with Sebastian Lecourt (in the Sept. 28 Mailbag). Today’s cycling shorts are a real eye sore.

In fact, they’re almost as bad as black socks! What we need is a return to black shorts and a ban on black socks. Give us some cool kit we can admire!

As for Cadel Evans’ victory salute at the end of the World’s Elite Men’s race, he looked to me like a man who couldn’t believe his luck, or that it had – at last – changed for the better. All I can can say is: “Good on yer, cobber. You deserved it!”

Francis Glibbery,
London, England

Pricy shades don’t impress

Editor,

I assume that the $4500 price for a pair of Oakley C-Six shades is not a typo.

Frankly, that’s more than I have ever spent on an entire bike. My last pair of shades cost me about forty bucks at Costco so I bought a spare, and was heartbroken when I lost a pair at the airport.

With both parents having grown up watching single moms hoard every dime during the Great Depression, I still have a hard time parting with money that frivolously and suspect that with the economy in the tank, the rest of the
nation will also start to value keeping a buck in the bank rather than blowing it on senseless bling.

So is anyone actually buying this insanely overpriced stuff, or is that irrelevant? Sorry, fellaz, but all that Ponzi-scheme wealth of the last few years has evaporated faster than an ephemeral lake in Death Valley. How about some stuff the public can afford to buy on a reduced budget and that has down-home uses, such as getting your kids to the local school or yourself to work?

Khal Spencer,
Los Alamos, New Mexico

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