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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Down with Brown
Editor:
As always Sheldon Brown has a way of bringing us all back down to earth and pointing out just how silly we cyclists can be at times That said, he ain't working on my carbon frame (with more than its share of pricy carbon components).

Bill Levey
Reisterstown, Maryland

Rally on, Carl and Adam
Editor:
After reading the story on Carl Decker and Adam Craig and their exploits in a rally car, I have become one of their biggest fans.

My mother was a schoolteacher and my father worked at a toilet-paper factory, yet somehow they still managed to scrape up enough money to build and race a rally car during my childhood in the '70s and early '80s. Unlike cycling (dope free), in motorsports the mighty dollar can (legally) buy the horsepower needed to beat more talented but less funded drivers.

We will never know whether or not my parents had talent since their financial situation put them in slower equipment. They, just like Mr. Decker and Mr. Craig, had to race carefully and wait for their better-funded competition to crash or make mistakes due to fatigue. This tortoise-and-hare approach, necessitated by a lack of funds, appeals to my "root for the underdog" mentality. Wouldn't we all love to see the team with the lowest payroll in the major leagues beat the Yankees in the World Series!

As life would have it, I grew up to compete in grassroots XC mountain biking where I figured money would not make up for a lack of talent. I was right. I now spend on my bikes what my parents spent on their cars racing my tail off for last-place finishes in the 40+ expert class.
Go like molasses, Carl and Adam. You're my team!

Scott Alderson
Bellingham, Washington

Everyday cycling is what catches eye (and ire)
Editor:
I am amused by the recent juxtaposition of letters from readers worried about the reputation of cyclists suffering in the light of drug scandals and letters from readers worried whether they have to halt for stop signs and red lights. I hope I can successfully explain the paradox.

The general public may occasionally hear about drugs and cycling, but the public's most common view of cyclists is when they are stopped at traffic lights, intersections, crosswalks, etc., as cyclists ride past them and through the intersection. This is what makes the reputation of cyclists in the eyes of the general public (ask any motorist what that is). Some Eurotrash's second appeal in a court in Elbonia doesn't mean squat to them, but make a motorist hit the brakes hard and spill his frappuccino and you've made an enemy for life. And the rest of us cyclists will be tarred with the same brush. Thanks, 'cause we appreciate abuse for something we've never done.

Oh, and if you are unsure whether you are legally required to stop, then stop. Because the owner of that BMW 7 Series you just dented the hood of can afford a better lawyer than you. That lawyer will make short work of that gray area and your next bike will be from WalMart instead of Italy. And if you know you have the right of way, you may end up being the most righteous cyclist in the graveyard. Good for you for standing up for your rights!

My last settlement from a motorist took five years to resolve. Now I can't remember what I was doing 60 seconds ago. Does anyone know where I can buy a short-term memory? I only have eight grand to spend.
"Oh no! My pack has been split by a red light! What am I to do?" Harden up! That's what!

Christopher Giuliano
Berkeley, California

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.