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Friday's mailbag: Workday distractions; Bonuses? T-shirts; The joke that keeps on giving

Published: Jul. 29, 2005

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.

Slackers Unite!
I have really enjoyed your coverage. It has made it possible for me to follow the Tour while at work. Any plans for similar coverage for the world’s?Jack Hales
Tampa, FloridaYes, Jack, we plan to offer Live Coverage and race reports from the world’s and, of course, daily coverage from the Vuelta as well. Now get back to work! - Editor

We rule!
Dear Velo,
I'm not much of a sports spectator, and I don't care much for TV or TV commentators (in fact, I only decide to go watch certain stages at a friend's house based on how exciting your Live Coverage and stage reports made the race seem in prose.)That is, I love good writing on specialized topics, and good sports writing (even live updates on the Web) give me great pleasure. You all are the source of that pleasure for three weeks during the summer, and now I admit that I'll be following not just the Tour de France, as I always do, but at least the other grand tour events, just to keep your acquaintance. Great work.

Yours in Cycling,
David Axelrod
La Grande, Oregon

We suck!
Editor,
I must say it was quite the disappointment to see the latest cover. One would think that earning the yellow jersey and recording the fastest Tour TT speed ever would be enough. A month of the "Only Lance Network" and now a month that will consist of two VeloNews covers dedicated to Lance.

The future is here and once again VeloNews can't see beyond the Don.

Poor job,
Jim James
Austin, Texas

Zabriskie's string of stage wins in three successive grand tours is also worthy of note. - Editor

Fifth becomes sixth?
Editors,
There was a lot of talk by Phil and Paul on the OLN coverage of stage 21 that, because of the rain, the judges would not award time bonuses, including for the stage win. Phil and Paul said the judges ruled that the time bonus would not be awarded. Levi Leipheimer didn't contest the stage.Now, the final results have Vino' in fifth with 20 seconds on Levi, who has slipped to in sixth. What gives?
Ken Press
New JerseyThere was confusion, indeed, but it wasn’t the Tour’s fault. At one point, OLN – and we! – reported that the time bonuses were to have been scrubbed for the remainder of the race. Instead, Tour officials had merely eliminated the 6-, 4- and 2-second bonuses for the day’s second intermediate sprint, soon after the race reached the wet cobbles of the Champs Élysées. We have to assume that team directors knew what was going on better than we did. Besides, after riding four Gerolsteiners – including Leipheimer – off of his wheel at the day’s first sprint and handily beeting Brad McGee at the finish, Vinokourov more than made up for that two-second deficit he had on fifth place at the start of the day, no? - Editor

He's gonna miss L.A.
Editor
I'm sure that this will be a week full of hyperbole, but instead of resisting, I'm just going to embrace it and add to the dogpile.

Lance Armstrong has been a defining player to many cycling fans over the last decade. Courage, commitment, dedication, and so on. A quick perusal through the guest book of the Paceline.com is all it takes to get a feel for what he has meant and what he means to his fans. Let me add one to the list.

Perspective.

Having not won a race all of 2005, Armstrong turns in a ride-of-the-year candidate to win the final time trial of le Tour, in what will be the last real day of racing of his career (or at least, last day of racing where champagne will not be consumed en-route). As he nears the finish, you can guess what Phil and Paul are saying... that he's put his stamp on the race, that he's going out a true champion, that he's representing the yellow jersey in the finest of traditions.

After an hour-plus of full effort on the bike, he crosses the finish line and bee-lines to his waiting family, where he locks on to the beaming eyes of his son Luke. And like a duly proud son, Luke says what? "Good job, Dad, you made them suffer today." "Great job, Dad, I'm so proud of you." No, what Luke says is, "Hey, Dad, look at my goodie bag of free schwag that I got from the caravan."

Luke doesn't see a PowerBar spokesman or the dude in the Nike commercials. He sees his Dad, and he wants to tell him about his day.

And we wonder why he's retiring when he still has a few miles left in his legs.

That's a no-brainer to me.
Steve O'Dell
Peachtree City, Georgia

Actions speak louder than words
Editors:
Why does it bother me so much to see a rider wearing a "DOPERSSUCK" tee onto the podium?To me, it seems to be just another ulterior exercise in the self-serving.Why? Mainly because of what is implied in such an act: the wearer's owninnocence. We all know by now how meaningful - or rather  meaningless- ones own proclamations are with respect to dope or not.Maybe it's enough, particularly if you are clean, to let sport aloneto its own devices and to leave the proclamations and judgements to thepowers that be.Let's keep it clean. Really.
Ed Goulet
Aptos, California

July Fool’s Day?
Dear Editor,
I found this letter on another web site, which I believe refers to your April Fool's Day article about Dick Pound and Hein Verbruggen arguing at the airport. I think Mr. Ellis should get a VeloNews hat or something for so publicly humiliating himself. It reads as follows:

Who is in charge of the UCI?
I remember reading at the start of the season of a public argument at an airport between Hein Verbruggen and Dick Pound, the result of which, if I recall correctly, was that HV was going to step down as head of the UCI in June and DP was going to take over.I have not heard much on the story for a while, but it is now July and I wondered if HV had stuck to his plan?
Ian Ellis
New York

Eric E. Collander
Cleveland, Ohio

We agree Eric. If Mr. Ellis drops us a note, we’ll send him a signed copy of our original April Fools Story and a pair of VeloNews socks. Meanwhile, the columnist at the Boston Globe who reported that story as fact, has yet to claim his socks. - Editor

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.