The Mail Bag is a regular feature on VeloNews.com. If you have a comment, an opinion or observation regarding anything you have seen in cycling, in VeloNews magazine or on VeloNews.com, write to WebLetters@InsideInc.com. Please include your full name and home town. Letters may be edited for length and clarity.

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Tell us, Tyler
Editor:
It’s easy — Tyler Hamilton should simply say that he has never had a blood transfusion, using these words: “I did not have a transfusion of blood. I did not and do not cheat. Not by yesterday’s rules, today’s rules or tomorrow’s rules!”

We all cheer the American dream to work hard, to get ahead, to succeed, to enjoy the fruits of your labor and to live life in the grand fashion ... but not if you get there cheating!

There are many true heroes out there, but very few spun up by the media are real. My next contribution to your foundation, Mr. Hamilton, depends on what you do next.

Michael Copperthite
Washington, D.C.

Dope suspensions should trim teams’ race rosters
Editor:
Despite all the responses to the Tyler Hamilton case, I haven’t seen many ideas on how to reduce the incentives to use drugs in cycling. When a cyclist tests positive, there is much debate on whether or not he is guilty. If he is, most people want the book thrown at him. In addition, the team sacks the rider, who "retires" or goes into isolation for a couple of years. The team then hires a new rider, and it's business as usual. But none of this has reduced doping in the peloton.

One possible solution would be holding the team and/or team doctors liable for doping violations. In my eyes, a team is as guilty as the rider who tests positive. Either the team is complicit in the doping or failing to monitor their riders closely enough to prevent cheating. Perhaps when a team’s rider tests positive and is suspended, that team should be required to enter one less rider in all UCI events for the duration of his suspension. If Tyler Hamilton were suspended for two years, Phonak would ride a man short in UCI events. With both Oscar Camenzind and Tyler suspended, Phonak could only suit up seven riders for the Tour de France.

Perhaps if teams are punished along with the athletes, they will be forced to either eliminate their illicit performance-enhancing programs or monitor their riders more closely. This may cause the loss of even more sponsors, but maybe the cycling profession needs to suffer some huge losses to force some major changes instead of proceeding with “business as usual.”

Kevin Schaeffer
Minneapolis, Minnesota

Clean up or give up
Editor:
In response to David Labbe's "We're sticking with the sport we love" in Monday's mailbag ( see Monday's mailbag: Awright Chris! Bad boys, bad boys; All Star Cycling), I completely agree with you. I will always be a cycling fan and I will always be a cyclist. But I find myself a little jaded lately.

Tyler Hamilton has sworn up and down for years that he is as clean as the Virgin Mary. Now the entire world is watching his career go down the proverbial toilet. And he's not alone. Look at David Millar (former Englishman and now just a Scotsman). I cheered for both of these guys year after year and it has all been a sham. Who else in the peloton is a cheat and a liar? We don't know, but the blood tests are getting better and there are going to become fewer ways to hide the dope.

My recommendation to all the rest of the dopers for next year is either clean up or don't show up —you'll end up just like Tyler and David.

Brian Jones
Fort Worth, Texas

Who checks for underwear violations?
Editor:
My son's high school cross-country running team was advised at the beginning of the season that they needed to remove any item that was not team-colored, so his LiveStrong bracelet had to go. The Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association officials check the kids before the meets.

A couple of years ago, a local high school had a girl's relay team disqualified because a girl was wearing the wrong color bra. Who checks for that?

Jeff Martin
Lemont, Pennsylvania

We ain’t touching that one with a 10-foot LiveStrong bracelet, Jeff. —Editor

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The Mail Bag is a regular feature on VeloNews.com. If you have a comment, an opinion or observation regarding anything you have seen in cycling, in VeloNews magazine or on VeloNews.com, write to WebLetters@InsideInc.com. Please include your full name and home town. Letters may be edited for length and clarity.