The Mailbag is a regular feature on VeloNews.com. If you havea comment, an opinion or observation regarding anything you have seen incycling, in VeloNews magazine or on VeloNews.com, write toWebLetters@InsideInc.com. Please include your full name andhome town. Letters may be edited for length and clarity. Writersare encouraged to limit their submissions to one letter per month.The letters published here contain the opinions of the submittingauthors and do not necessarily reflect the opinions, policies or positionsof VeloNews.com, VeloNews magazine or our parent company, InsideCommunications, Inc.

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Regarding Sarah Hammer’s multiple medals
Editor:
Maybe her parents should have named her "Sledge."

Richard Foust
Albuquerque, New Mexico

Xenophobia will not resolve doping issue
Editor:
According to a lot of Americans, the whole doping issue is related to the fact that the French are jealous of foreigners winning the Tour. That’s just xenophobic bull. Go to France in July. You won’t perceive the supposed animosity of the public. In fact, you’ll see much less animosity than was present in Michael Joliat's letter (see Friday’s Mailbag: ‘Saviors’ of sport are destroying it).

The excuse of medical prescriptions in cycling is not new; it has to be addressed. For Joliat's information there are some French riders implicated in that prescription issue.

My advice is don’t be xenophobic. Learn a second or third language and read newspapers from around the world.

Christophe Delahaye
Edmonton, Alberta, Canada

’Saviors’ are not the problem
Editor:
I sure as hell hope that Michael Joliat is, as he suspects, in the minority. Why should cycling cover up the doping to protect the sponsors instead of weeding out the cheats to protect the sponsors? Last time I checked, doping was against the rules and contracts as accepted in writing by the cyclists.

Why should we should be more concerned about the dopers who are hounded out of the sport than the non-dopers who drop out because they can't compete against the cheats? Those who are willing to trash their bodies to get an unearned advantage are the ones who are ruining the sport.

And how is it more fun to watch a contest among dopers than a contest among non-dopers? Every cycling race I know of was won by the person who beat everyone else to the line, not by someone who beat the previous best time in that event.

I have intently followed pro cycling for the last decade but the depth and sophistication of the cheating today hardly qualifies it as a sport anymore. Every time I see somebody on the podium now I find myself wondering what chemistry really brought the victory. That, Mr. Joliat, is what will drive away the fans and sponsors and kill cycling.

David Gilbert
Sierra Vista, Arizona

It was You, Charley
Editor:
As it would appear that nominations are already being accepted for male and female cyclist of the year for 2007, I would like to take a page from Time magazine and make my own nomination: You. Yes, You.

You deserve to be the male or female cyclist of the year (your choice). You are riding your trainer in the winter and getting in those before- or after-work rides during the season so You can best the other riders in Your club to that city-limits sign. You aren’t inserting the name of sponsors into every conversation because You aren’t sponsored, and You are actually buying your gear with money left over at the end of the month because you actually have a regular job (going to school counts as a job too).

Does anyone care if You are doing performance-enhancing drugs? No! You’re not even being tested, because You’re not making money from this sport (and since You’re not in it for the money, why would You dope?). So there’s no chance that You will be tested positive and further sully our sport’s already seedy reputation.

In fact, You are enhancing our sport by participating in it, by supporting the bicycle industry (from manufacturers to Your local bike shop), and by showing the non-riding population out there what a real cyclist is like. You give to this sport, and the sport is the better for having You in it.

You, not the professional cyclist, are who makes this sport great.

So that’s my nomination, corny as it may be.

John Hodge
Grand Junction, Colorado

Regarding the rant
Editor:
I really like Patrick O’Grady’s work. His rants are the highlight of Velonews.com for me. But doesn’t he find it surprising that a guy who’s now in his early 30s started taking asthma medicine in March 2005? Perhaps he is something more than a knucklehead.

Jim Smith
Calgary, Alberta, Canada

Jim, a cursory Google search turned up a wealth of information on adult-onset asthma. Indeed, O’Grady himself resumed using albuterol in his late 30s, after a hiatus of two decades, following an asthma study which documented that he had the pipes of a cadaver. He’s still slow, but at least he can breathe. Meanwhile, here's an interesting study on the problems surrounding the diagnosis and treatment of asthma among Olympic athletes. — Editor

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The Mailbag is a regular feature on VeloNews.com. If you havea comment, an opinion or observation regarding anything you have seen incycling, in VeloNews magazine or on VeloNews.com, write toWebLetters@InsideInc.com. Please include your full name andhome town. Letters may be edited for length and clarity. Writersare encouraged to limit their submissions to one letter per month.The letters published here contain the opinions of the submittingauthors and do not necessarily reflect the opinions, policies or positionsof VeloNews.com, VeloNews magazine or our parent company, InsideCommunications, Inc.