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.

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Masters can help grow sport through schools
Editor:
I would like to offer my input on the subject of improving participation in the sport of cycling. I am a teacher at A. C. Flora High School. I am also a U.S. Cycling Federation racer and have been one for 25 years. During my 16 years of teaching I have helped some young riders develop a love for cycling. However, it was not until I decided to give up some of my training and my racing ability that things took off.

Three years ago I decided to start a team at my school. I gained approval from the school and district, but did not get funding — that I got from my local bike store and other area businesses. I put out requests for used clothing, helmets, parts, shoes, etc. When it was all done I had nine bikes, plenty of shoes and clothing. My idea was to make this team like any team at a high school —with all the equipment in place, all the kids had to provide was the engine.

I coach the team; I ride with them, create training plans, and teach them how to lift, eat and train properly. Year one, I had six riders on the team; year two, the word got out about our travels and racing and I had 14 riders. Presently I have 11 riders. We are going to junior nationals this year and the future of the team looks good, as I now have people/businesses asking to be sponsors.

This is how you will make this sport grow: Put it in the schools. It is really not that expensive to start up. If a district could negotiate with a big manufacturer they could get some great prices on bikes, just as districts negotiate prices on other items. Nike and other big names are now trying to sponsor high school teams. Don’t you think Cannondale, Specialized, and Trek would like to have a district contract to provide bikes for the High School Cycling Program?

Would this hurt the local bike store? No! Five of my riders have now gone on to buy high-end bikes from the local bike store. And the kids are buying all of the cool clothes, glasses, etc. None of them would be buying any cycling gear if there were no program. The bike stores would be behind this fully.

How will the above occur? We need experienced riders to lead this. They don’t even have to be associated with the school — they just have to want to help build the future of the sport. But presently, I do not see this happening. Masters riders are the ones who could make this happen, but most are too busy with work — or with their training and what they are going to get from their sponsorship. I find it amazing that masters teams here in the Southeast get free bikes, clothing, entry fees, etc. When you have a group of men who probably make $70,000 per year average getting mad if they don’t get this or that free, then they don’t give a damn about juniors. Our veterans’ attitude must change for this sport to grow.

If you are interested in knowing more about how to start up a team, please look up my e-mail at USA Cycling.org; you can find it under the clubs listing.

Tom Sunday
Columbia, South Carolina

Good on you, Tom. The Northern California High School Mountain Biking League is doing something comparable on the other side of the country; our man Neal Rogers wrote about it in 2004. Anyone else out there bringing the sport to the kids? Drop us a line at webletters@insideinc.com. — Editor

Loss of smaller events weakens the sport
Editor:
Setmana Catalana canceled? Trofeo Luis Puig canceled? Even I've heard of these, so they must be important events. It sounds to me like the ProTour is elbowing out everything but the top-tier events. It must surely weaken the sport if there are fewer races for aspirants.

From what I've gathered, the UCI has artificially limited the number of ProTour riders that can attend "lesser" events. The result of the regulation is that TV coverage becomes harder to get, sponsors pull out, and bang! The event dies. The only cause that serves is making the big events even bigger.

Why would the UCI want to set a limit? Are riders incapable of deciding whether a race fits their schedule? Let's remember that Alessandro Petacchi won Luis Puig last year. If an event that draws that kind of talent can fold, it must have been hit pretty hard.

If the UCI were Robbie McEwen, they'd disqualify themselves. (Just kidding Robbie, I'm a big fan.)

Bill Neal
Wellington, New Zealand

UCI cares nothing about women’s racing
Editor:
Lumping the cancellation of the Primavera Rosa – the women's race run in conjunction with Milan-San Remo - together with the cancellation of non-Pro Tour men's races (such as Setmana Catalana and Luis Pig) is disingenuous and lets the UCI off the hook.

It is understandable that, to increase the vitality of professional men's cycling as a whole, the UCI took steps that had the effect of "pruning the tree" of certain men's pro races. We should expect the international governing body for cycling to make those sorts of tough decisions, though we may disagree with them.

However, as the international governing body for cycling, the UCI must take steps to enhance the vitality of all parts of our sport, and that includes women's cycling. I fail to see how a business model that leads to the jettisoning the Primavera Rosa, even though it is run on the same course at the same time as MSR (implying that the incremental cost of the women's race is very low relative to a stand-alone race of similar magnitude) could in any way have the effect of enhancing the vitality of women's cycling.

Regardless of whether you think the UCI's ProTour strategy for men's cycling is good or bad, it has become clear that the UCI has no strategy for, and no true interest in, women's cycling. If the UCI is not going to do what it can (within the bounds of commercial reasonableness) to grow women's cycling, who is?

Mr. McQuaid, we look forward to hearing from you on this topic.

Nathan Drake
Wheat Ridge, Colorado

Forget Bode: Here’s some real news
Editor:
Another bored, attention-seeking person makes unfounded allegations against Lance Armstrong and it's newsworthy? How about I make an allegation against Miller? Would you print that story?

If you're so short on filler material why don't you do a story on something interesting? Come up here to London, Ontario, Canada and do a story on our indoor Forest City velodrome. Surely that's newsworthy, seeing as it's one of three indoor velodromes in all of North America (and yes, we have two of them up here in Canada). Y'all wouldn't be staying away because you're jealous, would you?

Mike Tierney
Woodstock, Ontario, Canada

The rant: Flogging a dead dog
Editor:
Oh, man. O'Grady, thanks a lot for your "Friday's Foaming Rant." Wow. You would have been better off characterizing a skeletal figure of Marco Pantani sitting on Mother Theresa's lap smoking a crack pipe while watching a pole dance than spoofing a dead dog. Those animal nuts are crazy. Now I am going to be stuck reading endless mailbag submissions about how god-awful VeloNews has gotten.

Kevin Flanders
Minneapolis, Minnesota

Tell us about it, Kevin. Editing the Mailbag post-rant can be a lot like thumbing through a stack of Holden Caulfield’s old report cards. — Editor

The rant: There’s no there there
Editor:
After numerous attempts, I have finally completed reading a "Friday's Foaming Rant" all the way through for the first time! And on this momentous occasion I have come to a conclusion: Just like "Seinfeld," it’s a show (or an article, in this case) about nothing!

Rich Cosgrove
San Diego, California

Maybe so. But it doesn’t pay nearly as well. — O’Grady

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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.