The Mailbag is a regular department 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 should not be viewed as reflecting the opinions, policies or positions of VeloNews.com, VeloNews magazine or our parent company.

"Well, it's one louder, in't it?"
Editors,

Just when I thought that cassettes had been taken to the point of absurdity, Campy finds a way to cram yet-one-more cog in there.

It sounds like something out of "This is Spinal Tap" (our amplifiers are better, 'cause they go to 11). What has this done to wheel-dish, as well as cog and chain life? How long before the shifters start skipping gears? Do we really need a 13-23 cassette in one-tooth steps? I'll stick with my 9-speed racing triple. That gives me everything from stump-pulling low gears to higher gears than I can use. And cassette life is already too short in my opinion.
Matt McGough,
Hazel Park, Michigan

A letter to the USADA
Editors,

I sent the following email twice to USADA and I still have not received a response. I'm have hopes that if you post it to your Web site maybe USADA will feel the need to respond.:

USADA,
As a runner, cyclist and triathlete, I’m curious why USADA is not involved in testing professional sports.

If USADA is in charge of testing Olympic athletes and our Olympic basketball team generally comes from the NBA, why are you not involved in drug testing the potential crop of athletes that could be part of the basketball team (ie. The entire NBA).

You have no issues drug testing professional cyclists or track athletes who may potentially be chosen to race in the Olympics, so what is the difference between a cyclist or runner that may make the Olympic team and a basketball player?

Additionally, if my tax dollars (Federal grant of $8.4M as stated on page 17 of the USADA 2006 Annual Report) are paying for most of USADA’s existence, why haven’t you stepped up and offered to
provide insight, testing, adjudication and recommended disciplinary action for all professional sports in the USA?

If this is of such importance that our federal government is wasting its time (and my tax dollars) having hearings about steroids in baseball (an Olympic sport), why hasn’t USADA taken it upon itself to use my tax dollars more wisely and offer to expand its reach and attack the problem of drugs in sports across all levels?

Thank you,
Marcus F. Moore,
San Antonio, Texas

Ineffective drug tests
Editors,

During the Giro d'Italia when Moletta's father got caught with illegal substances, the Live Update commentators said: "One of these days, these boneheads will get a clue, no?"

I responded that apparently they do have a clue as athletes are not failing the doping controls, they are failing the smuggling of their drugs.

Of course no reply or comment was sent back to myself.

Today however, we see that intentionally positive results are sent to WADA approved laboratories and they come back negative. Other negative samples were sent and came back positive. These weren't exotic drugs they were trying to detect, just good old EPO.

If the laboratories are still having problems detecting the intensely studied drug, EPO, how are we supposed to think they can detect anything that has been recently developed?

I also read that there is a gene which is very dominant in Asian men which masks testosterone doping. It occurs in a small percentage other men too, how can we fairly test for testosterone doping now?

Maybe Floyd has a defective gene and didn't use a testosterone patch (Not that I actually believe that).

In the article a professor from Pennsylvania State University states: "The anti-doping authorities remind me of little boys whistling in the graveyard."

Unfortunately it seems to be very true.
Paul Brush,
Rohnert Park, California

Astana and the Tour
Editors,

I hate to say it but I have to agree with the French ASO in regards to Astana’s exclusion in the Tour de France 2008.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m a huge fan of Levi, Contador and the bunch and for them not to defend their titles is a shame.

After reading “Conspicuous Absences” [in the VeloNews Official Guide Tour De France] and seeing the trend of Astana’s past I couldn’t help thinking of that phrase “fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me.” In fact, Christian Prudhomme’s quote is similar to that phrase.

Astana was absent from the 2006 because the team was named in Operacion Puerto. This, coupled with two more riders being implicated for doping a few months prior to the 2007 Tour, lead to ASOs hesitancy to include Astana in 2007. They relented and look what happened.

I think the link between the two years of Astana legacy is Vinokourov. He did the teams and pro cycling a huge disservice and sent cycling back to the dark ages as far as common opinion of cycling/doping. Astana as a new team may have new riders/staff/director/philosophy, etc., but still carries the name. It is similar to one trusting the Enron name even though that may have gutted their whole staff. It’s a bad situation and I wish the best for the boys of Astana. However, I have to side with the ASO in their decision.
Curtis Chow,
Redding, California

Re: The Two Leagues of Extraordinary Gentlemen Theory
Editors,

After looking over Mr. Wilcockson's column about possible league races, I would wonder if the Tour de Georgia could not get in on the ASO schedule?

I agree with many of the letters on Boonen, however for a different reason. I would consider cocaine to be a performance enhancing drug while out of competition. It would seem to me that this would enable an athlete to train much harder if not taken to excess?
Eddie Winkler,
Lenoir, North Carolina

More on the Boonen Situation
Editors,

Cocaine is not considered a long term performance enhancing drug. It is illegal only for in competition. Granted, the wisdom of taking this dangerous drug at any time is questionable, but the UCI and WADA rules state that it is illegal only while competing. So the UCI was correct in not sanctioning Boonen, as what he did was not contrary to their rules. And the rule is a correct one — they are charged with suppressing performance enhancing drugs, not with suppressing recreational drugs.

ASO, on the other hand, excludes Boonen on a somewhat vague basis, not due to any specific rule against recreational drugs. This is where pro cycling seems to be headed — governed not by a written set of rules, but vague guidelines whose interpretation is at the whim of a commercially motivated company. And they just bought into the Vuelta and ToC, as well. Today, their interpretation can be said to be 'for the good of the sport.' But, what about tomorrow? It is not that much of a stretch to imagine ASO interpreting their guidelines for commercial reasons.

This is the company that wishes to replace the UCI. Bumbling though they might be, at least the UCI did publish the rules for all to see, and the playing field was relatively level. ASO's actions look more like what one would find in a club sport, than a professional sports organization.
John O'Rear,
Lexington, Kentucky

Thanks!
Editors,

Just a quick note to say THANK YOU to Columbia Sportswear and Garmin for stepping up and becoming main sponsors for two great cycling teams! I hope we the fans and everyday cyclists will support these companies in the future so they remain on and other companies follow suit.

Also, thank you to VeloNews.com for their always excellent race coverage and cycling info!
A.J. Baxter,
Tampa, Florida

More women's coverage, please
Editors,

Hello fellow riders, I've been an avid reader of VeloNews for many years, and have enjoyed the new format along with the indepth articles.

But ... I worry that some of the women riders here in the US and around the world aren't getting some equal press ... or at least some coverage.

In cycling as well as other sports, women do deserve some press.

Thanks for your time,
Steffie Szobota,
Longmont, Colorado

In defense of Fred Legs
On your front page, the headline for the new Grease Monkey Wipes is listed as "The Cure for 'Fred Legs'"

Don't tell Sky Yeager (former Bianchi USA product manager, currently Swobo product manager) that chainring calf tattoos are Fred marks.

Back in the day, I worked at A Bicycle Odyssey, in Sausalito, and did some work on the side for Grant Petersen at Rivendell ... and met Sky on a number of occasions through those connections (plus, she sold me a pair of Campy high-flange track hubs at the Mill Valley swap one year); and her legs rocked.

As evidence, may I offer as this.
Steven L. Sheffield
Holladay, Utah

Editor's note: No argument from here. Sky's tat rules.

A horrifically redundant crash description
Editors,

Re: Andrew Hood's CSC article

Enable the hyperbole checker! I'll go with "horrendous" for O'Grady's crash, but two "horrifics" for Schleck? No way! Maybe a "spectacular," or, at most, a "spectacular" plus a "scary." He hopped back on the same bike.

Style aside, thanks for the great coverage!
Chuck Barrineau
Dallas, Texas

Wants more RAAM
Editors,

Please cover the RAAM better. It's not even on your race coverage calendar on the Web site. I don't even know who won or where to find out. It's gnarly — they earn the coverage! Also — cover the MegAvalanche in detail — it rules.
Gabriel Vest,
Tempe, Arizona