The Mailbag 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.
Thanks for the update - and good luck, Chris!
Jon Geair
Springfield, Virginia
OLN's lack of coverage a good thing?
Editor:
I was at work Sunday morning as Kuurne-Brussels-Kuurne was being raced. I was checking my cell phone for the results on VeloNews.com and when George Hincapie’s name popped up I was ecstatic. A good win for him and one I would have liked the chance to see. Unfortunately, OLN’s schedule does not include smaller races such as K-B-K. I wished that there were some TV station that carried all the races.
But after a while I questioned that wish. What would happen to cycling in America if it were televised from the Tour Down Under to the Vuelta a España? Would we lose our great enthusiasm for watching all these races on television? As it stands now, I feel lucky to have any coverage, so when something is on OLN everyone comes over and enjoys it together.
I loved the days of when Paris-Roubaix was live and we all would be in blankets, with hot chocolate. It was great because it was something we didn’t get often. If we had all cycling, all the time, would it still have the same feel? Or would cycling coverage be more like a song we love that gets played out on the radio?
Maybe absence makes my cycling heart grow fonder. Then again, it would have been nice to be yelling, “Go George!” at home rather than at work.
Thomas Mendonsa
Red Bluff, California
OLN is a business, not a cycling charity
Editor:
You guys have to stop with the OLN-bashing. All television networks are ratings-driven, which determines how much money the networks can charge for their commercials. It is how they do business.
So if bass fishing gets more viewers than cycling, that is what you are going to see programmed. Would you run a business if it were losing money? No!
OLN is under no obligation to cover cycling at all. None of the other networks cover cycling because it is a money-losing proposition. If more people watched, things would be different.
Chris Roslan
Montville, New Jersey
A 26-inch tube will work in a pinch
Editor:
Regarding “Mari's Musings” Hey, did you know you could have used that 26-inch tube after all? The trick is to pump it up more to get it around your rim.
Don't ask me how I know. Let's just say necessity is the mother of invention when you discover you've made a mistake in purchasing.
Laura Evans
Lakewood, Colorado
Regarding motorists v. cyclists
Editor:
As usual, everyone is way over-thinking this thing. Go ride your mountain bike and forget about the idiot car people!
Mark Winbourne
West Hartford, Connecticut
Regarding cycling trading cards
Editor:
I do not remember Shaklee trading cards. However, I retired last July, and one of my gifts was a Lance Armstrong trading card. The company that produced it is Sport Cards Investor Magazine.
Now I'm putting on my "Old Guys Who Get Fat in Winter Racing Team" jersey, going for a ride, and returning home to drink a Fat Tire. Be nice to Patrick O'Grady; he deserves it.
Patrick O'Brien
Sierra Vista, Arizona