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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‘Meirhaeghe speaks’ interview stunk
Editor:
Gotta say, I couldn’t be more disgusted with your magazine – at least, since I decided to stop buying it until it took a more progressive role in helping the sport solve its doping problem.

That interview with Filip Meirhaeghe just stunk. How about asking some real journalistic questions that would help stop cycling’s free-fall into the abyss of substance enhancement? Who supplied it? How did you learn to inject it? Do you do other drugs? Do you know who else is on dope (lots, I assume)? Will you return the prize money to the competitors you stole it from? How about doing a story on how the other Specialized athletes will be affected?

Get a clue that most readers are weekend warriors who want to read about fair competition and maybe your publication could generate some credibility.

Isaac St. Martin
Conway, New Hampshire

Way to ask the tough questions
Editor:
Nice Meirhaeghe interview. Way to ask the tough questions, cowards. Is that carpet that you’re sweeping all the doping news under getting a little lumpy?

Rylan Lundgren
Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada

Meirhaeghe’s only sorry he got caught
Editor:
Was that Jason Sumner or Larry King lobbing those softballs to Filip Meirhaeghe in the VN interview? Filip cheated his fellow competitors and their sponsors out of World Cup placings, recognition, and prize money and should make restitution! He probably even cheated Ryder Hesjedal out of a world championship.

He says it was "bad luck" that he was caught in an out-of-competition test! Okay to do it, but bad luck if you're caught. Egad - not much contrition there.

Peter Episcopo
Cambridge, Massachusetts

As Jason Sumner noted in his article, the online version of his chat with Meirhaeghe consists of excerpts from the complete interview. The real deal will appear in the next print edition of VeloNews, which should be hitting the streets on Monday.–Editor

Would OLN’s Tour critics like some of its ‘lame’ coverage of Vuelta?
Editor:
I remember during Le Tour how many of your elite cyclists wrote in to let us know that they just couldn’t stand the coverage by OLN. My thoughts then were, ‘Well then, guys, why don’t you just watch it on say, CBS, or if not there, surely ESPN or something?’ So I now laugh at those same jerks who are now are complaining about no coverage for the Tour of Spain, and say, ‘What do ingrates like you expect?’ Many memories are short; with some cyclists, apparently, there is no memory chip at all.

Phil Arnold
Rocklin, California

Don’t get tied down in tinkering – just ride your bike
Editor:
Once in a while I like to take a look at what's going on in your Tech section. For the most part, I find the topics discussed interesting and/or informative, but the latest Q&A on chain compatibility and the like made me consider a novel approach to solving some of those "bike problems.”

I’m no saint as regards the temptations of tinkering with arguably the most harmonious piece of apparatus available to mankind, but it seems to me that a few of us sometimes get caught up in the details and forget the simple pleasure a bike can provide.

As far as compatibility goes, stick with 100 percent of whatever gruppo your budget will allow and you'll avoid a lot of questions and concerns at the same time. I'd rather be riding slightly mis-tuned 105 on a more-than-slightly-rusty steel frame than not riding at all.

Ivan Dravigny
Charlotte, North Carolina

Where were the mountain bikes?
Editor:
Three days of Eurobike coverage and the only mention of a mountain bike was that Absalon's hardtail was on display? Why even put that up? Just go full-time with the skinny tires and be done with it. If I sent someone to Europe and got that, I'd ask him where the other half of his coverage was.

Bill Christensen
Answer Products
Los Angeles, 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.