The Mailbag is a regular department on VeloNews.com. If you have a comment, an opinion or observation regarding anything you have read in VeloNews magazine or on VeloNews.com, write to webletters@insideinc.com. Please include your full name, hometown and state or nation. Letters may be edited for length and clarity. Writers are encouraged to limit their submissions to one letter per month. The letters published here contain the opinions of the submitting authors and should not be viewed as reflecting the opinions, policies or positions of VeloNews.com, VeloNews magazine or our parent company, Inside Communications, Inc.

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Living large
Dear VeloNews,
Thanks for the article on JonBaker's 'cross adventure plans. I really loved his reason for doingit: "to live life to the fullest." It makes me wonder what kinds of 'offthe beaten path' life choices I have dismissed as 'not feasible' or 'notresponsible' that perhaps I should reconsider.Any chance you can have him as one of your rider diaries for the durationof the 'cross season? I'd love to hear how it all plays out for both hisracing and his family.
Thanks,
Al Parker
Philadelphia, PennsylvaniaThe real heroes
Dear Velo
Jon Baker is my newest hero. I have many though. The soldier who modifiedhis combat boots to accept SPD cleats and rides in Afghanistan is one ofmy heroes. The airman whose bike was blasted by rocket shrapnel in Iraqis one of my heroes. The sailor who spends his off-duty time riding hisbike on a stationary trainer in the Persian Gulf is one of my heroes. TheMarine who was back on the bike with a prosthetic leg after losing hisin an ambush is one of my heroes.Like I said, I have many. In the cycling world I have lots of heroestoo. Guys with comeback stories, in particular a couple of Americans namedGreg and Lance, are among my heroes. But the list of heroes riding in thepeloton today is pretty short. Reading VeloNews’ rider diaries onthe website and in the magazine is both amusing and annoying. I find itironic that these pampered professionals can tout how “hard” they are inone entry and then snivel about how difficult it is living abroad or beingaway from family for a few weeks or months. Give me a break! Just likethose of us serving in uniform, they volunteered. They weren’t drafted.They knew what the requirements for success were and are. If they thinkits tough riding at the front of the peloton for a (sometimes) six-figuresalary, they should try riding point in a convoy in Iraq… the day afterseeing their buddies killed by an IED on the same road. That is hard!That is heroic!Jon Baker is a hero too. A man whose love for cycling and drive to improvehave pushed him to make a difficult choice, but one many of us wish wehad the courage to make. And rather than complain about how difficult it’sgoing to be, he thought things through, planned meticulously, and is makingit work. Talk about courageous! Selling his home and packing his familyup to move halfway around the world in pursuit of more worthy competition.I can’t think of a more just cause for which to risk it all, except perhapsfreedom. Yes, Jon Baker is definitely my newest hero.I hope VeloNews will keep track of Jon’s results and experiences.His is a rider diary I would really like to read. He’s living the dreamand he has his whole family there with him to enjoy it too. Good for you,man! All those other whiners need to “Harden the f**k up!
Ted Essenfeld
U.S Navy
Forward DeployedCheaters actually do prosper
Editors:
While watching the Marion Jones story on television we asked a question.Now that she has confessed (Eric Zabel and Bjarne Riis are otherexamples), whether prompted by legal action or out of conscience, and afterall that celebrity money has been collected and put in the bank, does shehave to give it all back?It seems a good deal to cheat. Take a chance and then, eitherget away with it, get caught or confess a couple of years later.Banking a good sum of money, less lawyer fees, before the axe falls makescheating an attractive option for athletes.The threat of prison and fines equal in magnitude to the winningmoney (race and sponsor provided) may be an answer. By keeping themoney the cheater, now absolved, continues to cheat every time they usesome benefit of their celebrity status.
David KampNow we need to trust the labs
Dear Velo,
With regard to the letter from Jane Kyle (see "State of Denial"in Monday'sMailbag) in which she comments strongly on cheaters in sport.I, too, want clean athletes and events and I would like those that dopeto be disciplined appropriately. That being said, I also want thedrug control systems in place to be as near to perfect as possible.It seems to me that, as of now, the labs are thought of as infallible.If an athlete tests positive, they are guilty.The "A" and "B" sample method just tells me that if the process is flawedor the sample is contaminated, you get bad readings on both. In theLandis hearing there were experts who called into question the trainingand procedures used but they were apparently disregarded by two of thethree arbitrators. Landis has now probably run out of funds to carryon the challenge.I don't dispute that probably the greatest percentage of those athleteswho fail drug testing are guilty; it just appears that the general consensusis that the labs and those that work there are incapable of error. Theprice a wrongly accused person has to pay is often career-ending.
Thomas Howell

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The Mailbag is a regular department on VeloNews.com. If you have a comment, an opinion or observation regarding anything you have read in VeloNews magazine or on VeloNews.com, write to webletters@insideinc.com. Please include your full name, hometown and state or nation. Letters may be edited for length and clarity. Writers are encouraged to limit their submissions to one letter per month. The letters published here contain the opinions of the submitting authors and should not be viewed as reflecting the opinions, policies or positions of VeloNews.com, VeloNews magazine or our parent company, Inside Communications, Inc.