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.

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Not dead yet
Dear Editors,
Hear, hear! Thank you for providing evidence of the health of our beloved sport in the face of the hue and cry over doping. (see "Analysis: Far from dead, there was plenty of good news from this year's Tour") You guys at VN have a knack for saying the right thing at the right time.Unquestionably, doping is the most serious problem in the pro peloton and needs desperately to be addressed effectively, but the pandemonium arising out of the current struggles over how precisely to do that are far from evidence of the end of cycling. On the contrary, this is what it looks like to clean up a mess: it's really freaking messy. It may even get worse before it gets better, but in the long run, it will get better.Someone told me the other day that Winston Churchill once said (and I haven't been able to verify it, but I like the quote anyway), "If you're going through hell, keep going."What athletes are better equipped for that than cyclists?
David Neale-Lorello
Rockville, MarylandThe future is now
Dear Editor,
I think there was one key element missing in this story. Please note that three of the Tour's four jerseys in play were in the hands of two first-time Tour riders, Soler (KoM) and Contador (GC and best young rider).The old generation may its days numbered but, far from dead, the Tour is now on the hands (legs) of a new generation.This, in my opinion, is the really good news.
Adolfo Perez-Duran
Boulder, ColoradoSupport for cycling
Dear Velo,
Well in my opinion the ’07 Tour was great. The doping issues are being handled well as can be for now. Sure, it might be handled better, but the actions taken this year represent a big step.As a pro’ athlete one should set examples by doing the right thing as so many are in the sport of cycling. So I dare anyone to look down on our sport with all the other sports including football, baseball, soccer and God knows what else with doping issues far worse than cycling.So again, I loved the Tour this year and watched it ever night on Versus and I can't wait for more. I think the tour and other races are healthy, growing and will continue to do so. The Georgia Cup stopped off in Albany, Georgia, this year for the second time and we had way more attendance this year. Great racing as well.

Many thanks.
Mike Vann
Albany, Georgia

Vive le vélo!
Dear Velo,
I enjoyed finally reading about the up side to the state of international cycling that you've been printing post Tour. I absolutely feel that all this upheaval is a good thing. People who love cycling love its purity and will support that, and it has now become cool to be clean!It's like how religions are pure at their inception before the politics and economics of the organizations become immoral and distort the original purpose of the religion. There are the vast majority of believers of spirituality and cycling that maintain the essence of the religion and the sport.Thanks for keeping us up to date with what is going on.
Michael Burns
Berkeley, California

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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.