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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Florit says adios to team, racing
Editor:
I am writing this letter to thank all the sponsors of the RLX-Ralph Lauren team, who during the six years I have been with the team supported us with the same level of passion we had for racing.

Racing for the RLX-Ralph Lauren mountain-bike team has been a great experience, giving me the opportunity to compete in two Olympics, win four NORBA titles, two Pan-Am Games medals, one Continental Championship, and several other major races. But the best part was that it shaped me into the person I am today, learning, enjoying, experiencing, gaining friendships, and many, many laughs.

Racing for RLX gave me also the opportunity to share six great years with excellent teammates, on both a personal and professional level. We were involved very closely with the brand from the very first days, pouring our experience into wear testing, designing, and promoting, acting not only as a voice for the brand but also as models, at events and in catalogs and ads.

The RLX team was committed to the sport, not just on the racecourse, where we achieved great results, but as role models for kids. We were at almost every Shimano Kids race, regardless of our sponsorship. We were always supporting team appearances at schools, bike shops and autograph sessions. That made us one of the most appealing teams on the circuit, to our sponsors and the public alike.

That's why I encourage sponsors inside and outside of the cycling industry to invest in these riders so they can stay together. Jeremy Horgan-Kobelski, Willow Koerber and Carl Swenson are professionals who compete honestly and with passion. I feel really lucky to have shared my career with all of them and wish the very best in their future.

As for me, it is time for me to make choices, thinking about the future and moving on to my next chapter. I am considering all my options, some of them with sports, some of them without.

Mountain biking has given me great friends that I will keep forever, and great memories that no one can take away from me. I am sad that I will not be at each start line of the NORBA races, but I am excited about my future, and pursuing other opportunities – perhaps adventure racing. So some of you will still see me around!

I would like to thank all my sponsors during my racing career, my teammates for putting up with me, all my competitors for making me stronger, my coach Arnie Baker for guiding me and always being there no matter what, and my husband John, for his unconditional love and support.

In other words, mountain biking has been veri veri gud tu mi!

Smiles,
Jimena Florit

How ’bout those collegiate champs?
Editor:
Hats off to your story on the collegiate champions! It would be great if you could give these college racers a little more press coverage. Many of the collegiate racers race just for the love of the sport.

West Coast might be dominating Division I, but North Carolina is a dominant force in Division II. How about little Lees-McRae College winning the Division II national championship two years in a row? A small private college located in the high country of North Carolina is trying to start a trend. With a third-place finish in last year’s collegiate road finals, they might just be the school to watch out for in the future of collegiate cycling.

And don’t forget Warren Wilson’s second place two years in a row as well. They are just down the mountain from Lees-McRae, near Asheville.

Doug Owen
Lees-McRae College

Why not slip insurance-cost hikes into entry fees?
Editor:
We are told that the fee increases that have been announced by USA Cycling for one-day licenses and annual licenses are driven by increased insurance costs. Certainly, racers must absorb those costs. But it seems a poor strategy to cover insurance costs with membership fees, especially for one-day licenses, which are used primarily by neophytes in the sport, who may become avid racers. Let’s keep the two separate, so we know that our membership fees cover membership services.

Insurance cost increases can be passed on to promoters; after all, race promoters pay for the insurance. As a race promoter, I’d simply increase entry fees to cover the insurance costs - it’s only fair that racers cover at least the basic costs of putting on a race.

Rich Pierce
St. Louis, Missouri

Racer is mad at the wrong people
Editor:
Stephen Schilling's letter (see Wednesday’s mailbag: “Not a welcoming environment”) was full of bitterness directed at the USCF, but the sources of it were for the most part beyond the USCF's control:

Being pulled when only 100 yards off the back: This is plain poor officiating. The rules are open to interpretation here, and more leeway should have been given. But that's not the USCF's fault; it was the commissaire on the spot who went with such a harsh call. Perhaps the organizer had asked the commissaires to be very strict on this front, but again, not the federation's doing.

Poor course design: Organizer. If this is a problem that has been allowed to go year after year, then the sanctioning body does have some culpability.

Entry fee: Organizer, not USCF.

Late fee: Organizer. He wants to encourage you to get in the system ahead of time. The race runs smoother for everyone if things are not done at the last minute.

One-event membership: At last, something that can be justly pinned on USCF. Now go find your own liability insurance for less money and report back to the rest of us.

Of course you are entitled to vote with your wallet - the most potent vote of all in my book - but make sure you know who's responsible for the problem before you attack. I have nothing to do with the USCF since I live in Canada, but I am a race organizer and commissaire. If you really want to change things, why not join an affiliated club and start helping out with races? You'll start to see just what it takes and how dedicated people are.

And the money? Pretty soon you'll be amazed at how cheap racing is, considering all the costs there are. If bike racing is such a money-maker, how come the big corporations haven't moved in?

Wally James
Penticton, British Columbia, Canada

There are choices other than USA Cycling
Editor:
When it comes to paying fees to race, you have choices other than USCF/NORBA. Let’s compare the fees U.S. cycling organizations charge for a full racing license (road, cyclo-cross and mountain bike):

Oregon Bicycle Racing Association (Oregon): Annual, $20; juniors, free; one day, $5.

American Bicycle Racing (Midwest): Annual, $20; juniors $8; one day, $4.

American Cycling Association (Colorado, New Mexico, West Texas): annual $30; juniors $10; one day, $5.

USCF/NORBA: Annual, $90; juniors, $30; one day, $10.

Let’s say you race 20 times a year, then your license will average out to $1 a day for ORBA and ABR, $1.50 for ACA or $4.50 for USAC. All pay about the same per rider insurance surcharge for each race ($1-$2).

As a racer the annual license is not a big deal if you do 20 or more races a year. For ORBA, ABR and ACA, it’s about the cost of one race. For USAC, it’s about the cost of three races.

As a promoter, I'm glad I don't promote races with a $10 one-day fee. It’s hard enough to get new racers out as it is.

Stephen Haydel
Boulder, Colorado

Doping is no laughing matter
Editor:
While I have grown tired of reading letters about catching cyclists doping, possible penalties and how this or that cyclist didn't do it, all of that pales in comparison to my distain for the constant calls for a drug-legal cycling league (for the latest of these, see Wednesday's mailbag, "Just give up and embrace it"). This type of humor ignores the fact that the use of performance-enhancing drugs is dangerous and (in most countries) illegal.

Professional cyclists’ bodies are not like race cars that can be fixed with a wrench or a hammer when a modification goes awry. Their bodies can be (and are being) permanently damaged by many of the substances that have been banned by the UCI and IOC.

Mike Pearson
Sacramento, California

Headlines tell some sad stories
Editor:
Here are the three web headlines that show up on my Yahoo homepage under the cycling category I have set up:

Cycling team challenges Hamilton's blood testing

Former World Champion Knetemann Dies at 53 - Report

Spanish cyclist told of irregular blood test, team says

Pretty sad news in general.

Bill Fournell
Manhattan Beach, California

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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.