Letters to Cyclingnews - March 18, 2005

Here's your chance to get more involved with Cyclingnews. Comments and criticism on current stories, races, coverage and anything cycling related are welcomed, even pictures if you wish. Letters should be brief (less than 300 words), with the sender clearly identified. They may be edited for space and clarity; please stick to one topic per letter. We will normally include your name and place of residence, but not your email address unless you specify in the message. Each week's best letter gets our 'letter of the week' award. We look for for letters that contain strong, well-presented opinions; humour; useful information or unusual levels of sheer helpfulness. Please email your correspondence to letters@cyclingnews.com. Recent letters The Forgotten Hero! Way to go Bobby Bobby J Lance has lost the ‘Eye of the tiger’ Blood testing issues and Hamilton With all Due Respect All this Lance Talk... Is Lance getting soft?

Letter of the week The very bright Cateye SL-LD100 safety light is on it's way to Kai. The Forgotten Hero! Cycling never ceases to amaze me. Unlike other sports where you can count on the same individuals or teams consistently winning year after year, cycling breaks that mould (Lance winning the Tour aside). I am just thrilled for Bobby Julich. I have long been a fan of this man. He has soldiered on in near obscurity for much too long. My hat is off to Bjarne Riis for seeing something in Bobby that everyone else failed to see (Bobby included sometimes). I was touched to hear his story that a woman had asked him for his autograph last training camp, and he replied, pointing out Bjarne Riis, saying she should get his autograph because he had won the Tour De France. Bjarne quickly walked over to Bobby and pointed a finger into his chest and suggested that he had the same potential in him, he just hadn't unleashed it yet. Bjarne Riis is maybe the best coach in professional cycling and I think one of the best motivators in all sport. Being a Jan Ullrich fan I deeply wish he had gone over to CSC a few years back instead of returning to Telekom. Who knows what he may have achieved these last two years under Mr. Riis' wings. But back to Bobby Julich. He truly was the forgotten American. People always look to Lance or Tyler for their inspiration but I have always liked and admired Bobby as a man, competitor and sportsman. I can remember watching him in the World Championships in Hamilton in 2005. He had all kinds of mechanical problems and was left dangling off the back of the bunch. They did not even have a spare bike for him. No wonder he lost some of his motivation; that truly had to be a low point in his career. Now, just two years on he is back and with relish. He wins Paris Nice this year and comes up with a medal in the Olympic Time Trial last year. I'm not surprised in the least however, as even when he was off the back in the World Championships I watched him, the competitor that he is, try desperately to get back on and help his team, even on a broken bicycle. That feat proved to be impossible, but his rise back to the top of the sport proved only a coach and mentor away. Here is to all of the lost causes out there who still believe in themselves! Scott Wilcox Windsor, Ontario, Canada Tuesday, March 15, 2005 Respond to this letter

Way to go Bobby

We have read the words again. "The first American to win [fill in prestigious race name here]". It has been many years since being out on a training ride with my cycling buddies in college and someone remarked "Did you hear that Greg Lemond won the World Championships?" What a sense of pride we had then at such remarkable news, and now we can tick off Paris-Nice and K-B-K. I would really love to see us put a check mark next "The Hell of The North" this year. Let's go George!

Eric "That Landshark Maniac" Hallander

Little Silver, New Jersey
Monday, March 14, 2005

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Bobby J

Congratulations to Bobby Julich! I write this email as a while ago Bobby J was dropped from Telecom and several readers of you fine web site felt it was justified…I thought otherwise, and this result reinforces my original communications - I will close by saying perhaps Telecom are not as dynamic as they would like to believe.

Glenn Hore
Monday, March 14, 2005

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Lance has lost the ‘Eye of the tiger’

With all due respect to the folks once again predicting the downfall of Lance, it's just the same old thing. Last year people were claiming he was doomed because of Cheryl Crow, twinkies, donuts, beer or staying out past his bed time.

I don't know if he will win the Tour again this year or not. But I believe it is his to lose. We ought to wait a little before we all go into the annual ‘Lance is finished’ dance. Yeah, it seems he is a bit less aggressive than in the past, but who knows? It is early in the season, and since all his critics claim that he is only a one race rider, the fact that he isn't all that enthusiastic so far should be no shock. The real shock will be not if he finishes first or second in the Tour, but if he went into it unprepared. I doubt he will.

David R. Hufford,

Tokyo, Japan
Friday, March 11, 2005

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Lance has lost the ‘Eye of the tiger’ #2

Lance Gone Hollywood?

Okay, it's easy for all of us to sit and critique Lance Armstrong concerning his Hollywood'ish qualities these days. I remember the days where you would hardly hear about him until June and he would come out in July with all guns firing. Well those days are gone and hardly a day goes by without a "Lance Flash." However, he remains the "ELITE" athlete of the world and until he is toppled all the predictions and lifestyle critiques are wasted breath. Personally, I'm not surprised by Lance's showing this past week. In previous years when he looked weak at critical points in the season, he would consistently arrive at the TDF ready for business.

He is still in his early / mid 30's and is easily considered to be within his peak years still. So why the poor showing? I think it's the flu thing, but more than that it is his level of discipline. In short, he refuses to push the redline when it is deemed unnecessary. He understands that there is only so much energy produced and available for consumption throughout the cycling season. He and other great cyclists spend months building this reservoir of energy, and spend the majority of the season avoiding tapping into its resources. If the reservoir is tapped too often in the early season, then mid-season flatness is certain.

Give this guy some credit, he understands the laws of energy production and consumption and he is the greatest at riding that fine line of getting the most out of his body while not taking the most out of his system. Don't forget how busy he was in the early parts of the '04 season and how convincingly he won last year's TDF. Look for him in April at Tour de Georgia as this probably will be his coming out party for the year.

Jon M. Holmes

Sacramento, CA
Saturday, March 12, 2005

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Lance has lost the ‘Eye of the tiger’ #3

I remember this same time last year when we were all upset with Lance eating his way into Doughnut heaven. He then put an end to all the talk in July. I think this year he is just wanting to put a spin on the early season, do something different in his training regime.

Maybe asking him to go out on his first race in freezing, damp, and shortened stages wasn't the right thing, but he said recently that Paris-Nice is not one he should have started with. Come on, Lance can't win them all, and he will eventually get the focus going again.

Tim Redden
Wednesday, March 16, 2005

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Lance has lost the ‘Eye of the tiger’ #4

Lance has shown in the past that he can endure the bad weather with the best of them. He has won in the spring before too. If the reports of a sore throat and fever are true he is just getting sick – it happens to the best of them. In my book, if your getting sick its just stupid to continue just so the nay-sayers will think your tough.

David Gilliland
Friday, March 11, 2005

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Lance has lost the ‘Eye of the tiger #5’

Lance has lost it! I was down and out floored when I saw that he dropped out of such a girly race like Paris-Nice. What’s the world coming to? Take it from me, Frank "Captain Cubicle" Zapps, that Lance is definitely not going to win another one in July! We all know that if you can't win seven TDFs then you are definitely not a true champion! I am ashamed to be an ex-Lance fan, six years of fandom wasted!

Now, let me turn some Survivor back on, and do a few more big-gear intervals to get ready for this weekend’s MANLY club race!

Frank "Captain Cubicle" Zapps
Friday, March 11, 2005

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Lance has lost the ‘Eye of the tiger #6’

It's the same thing at the start of every year. The doubters start telling us that Lance has lost his focus. That he doesn't have the same hunger. That he's on his way out. Well I don't believe it for a second. Armstrong is the kind of man who puts his game-face on when it counts - July, on the roads of France. I also believe that he's the kind of man who will walk away from the sport on his terms, and at a time of his choosing. Even if he doesn't win this Tour, and I think he will, he'll go down fighting tooth and nail all the way to the Champs Elysees...

Oli Brooke-White

Wellington, New Zealand
Friday, March 11, 2005

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Lance has lost the ‘Eye of the tiger’ #7

I don't think Lance has lost the eye of the Tiger yet. It's too early to tell. I remember last year at about this time, I was pretty bummed because I signed up with a tour group to watch the 2004 Tour de France and read on cyclingnews.com that the "inside" word was that Lance had gotten soft...literally. The article talked about local riders who had seen Lance training in L.A. and they said he was carrying four kilos too much and had a pot belly, and so on...he didn't look great in the spring, in fact everyone was writing him off after he lost big time to Mayo on the Ventoux TT just weeks before the start of the Tour.

Everyone said Armstrong had lost his edge, and it was going to be Mayo, Ullrich, Vino, etc as the favorites. Well, guess what? I was at the tour, on Alpe d'Huez, right where Lance passed Basso (like he was chained to a tree) and knew one thing...this is a superman. In a league of his own. He can't just turn it on and off without training, but don't ever count Lance out. 90% Lance beats any rider on the Tour in July.

Jerrold Grecu
Wednesday, March 16, 2005

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Blood testing issues and Hamilton

I was not surprised when a teammate of Hamilton's also turned up positive for homologous blood doping. Not because I believed there were dopers on the Phonak team, but rather because the testing protocols appear to be structured in a way that will tend to produce higher probabilities of false positives when samples are tested with increasing numbers of antibodies (which is what I am guessing happened to Perez).

The test basically works like this: blood cells have a combination of surface proteins that is unique to the person (analogous to a fingerprint). Several companies make antibodies that will attach themselves to these surface proteins, and these antibodies carry differing fluorescent markers that glow under special light sources. When blood and these antibodies are mixed, antibodies attach themselves to the blood cells via the surface proteins, and now each blood cell will glow in a particular pattern of wavelengths depending on which antibodies bonded to the cell. If the blood belongs to only one person, all the cells in a sample will glow the same way. If there is mixed blood in a sample, some cells will glow differently from the others. Typically blood is tested with 10 to 15 different antibodies.

So far this sounds like a solid test. But there is a problem: each antibody has some small percent of cross-reactivity, that is, every once in a while it bonds to the wrong protein (initial HIV tests use antibodies and this cross-reactivity is one reason for false positives). If blood testers only used one antibody, this would not be a big deal - the odds of a false positive would be extremely low. However, testers use many antibodies, and because each antibody has some cross reactivity, the more different antibodies that are applied to a blood sample, the more likely a false positive is to occur. If testers went back to Team Phonak samples after Hamilton's alleged positive tests (in order to test for team-wide doping) and re-examined blood samples with increased numbers of antibodies, the probability of false positives for every team member increased, and Perez may simply be a victim of chance.

Which brings up an important point - if one rider's blood is tested with 10 antibodies, and another rider's blood is tested with 50 antibodies, this would be tremendously unfair. The latter rider is more likely to yield a false positive.

John Winnie, Jr.

Bozeman, MT
Friday, March 11, 2005

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Blood testing issues and Hamilton #2

In response to Kai Larsen's letter, I would like to mention a couple of points that reached me through the grapevine. If anyone knows more, or knows better, or received the information from more reliable sources than I did, I would like to know, as I assume others would who visit this website.

It is my understanding that the test used is an old test, one that has stood the test of time. It is primarily used on pregnant women to detect problems that result in the unborn child's blood mixing with the mother's — it's an early warning test of sorts to make sure the child isn't losing blood into the mother's system. However, this test will not detect whether an athlete is blood doping with his or her own blood, which is a common, though by no means exclusive, method used for blood doping — the test only detects mixed blood from different people, because that is what it was designed to do. From newspaper articles I've read, the medical community believes the test, through its long-term use, is nearly infallible.

It is also my understanding that to be effective, the timing of the doping is very important. So, if for some reason a blood doping athlete's store of his or her own blood is unavailable, he or she can use different blood to stay on the regimen, and it is relatively easy to get blood if you have the money. If an athlete is tested after doping with his or her own blood, no positive will result. There could have been many athletes in the Olympics who were blood doping with their own blood, and they will get away with it.

The other bit of information that came through the grapevine was that Tyler screwed up and had to use blood not his own to keep up the regimen, and he got caught. I assume, under this argument, the same happened with Perez. Further, seeing that it is likely that two athletes from the same team would have similar procedures managed or controlled by the same person, it looks circumstantially damning to both. If it isn't doping, then isn't it a case of lightning striking the same team twice?

So asking why Perez would have doped at a seemingly unimportant point in the season doesn't seem to me to be a relevant course of enquiry — he could've been doping all along with his own blood. It's not like Garzelli's positive for an outdated drug that was no longer used by athletes in general because it was ineffective, though it was still on the banned drugs list. The powers-that-be appear to be more concerned with the test result than why the drug was taken. If Tyler is guilty, and I suppose belief in the test is the only way to be sure, then he got caught through stupidity or hubris or both, which is how most thieves get caught.

I still hope that Tyler is innocent, but to be honest, I will be very surprised if he is. And given the PR to present him as a wholesome guy, an incredibly strong Dudley-Do-Right, his fall will be farther and harder than others; his deception will have been greater.

Trevor Thorpe

California, United States
Saturday, March 12, 2005

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With all Due Respect

While I am well aware of the convincing evidence against Tyler Hamilton and the seemingly few possibilities of error in the testing procedures, I am also a strong believer in the innocent until proven guilty philosophy especially in a sport such as cycling that already receives such a great deal of criticism and is tainted by cheating and drug abuse. That being said, I would just like to point out the inconsistencies with which you have delivered news about a man who (as of right this instant) is still ¨innocent¨ under the American Justice system. On numerous occasions you have referred to the ¨sacking¨ of Tyler from the Phonak Cycling team.

It is my understanding, however, that sacking is not the appropriate term and that Tyler stepped down in hopes of allowing his team to receive a UCI Pro Tour invite; ¨By stepping aside, I had hoped to see the Phonak Team accepted into the Pro Tour. I also hoped to see the team carry out the long-term plans we put in place last January. While I was saddened to have to part company with a group of people I care for so deeply, it seemed this was the only way to keep the team operating and able to compete at the highest level of the sport of cycling¨ (www.tylerhamilton.com). To me that sounds like a respectable thing to do, not a ¨sacking¨ as you so put it. It is with this in mind that I request that until the proceedings of the trial are complete and if (and only if) he is proven guilty that you continue to use such loaded words to describe a stand-up guy who has given a great deal to the sport of cycling.

Because until that point statements such as the aforementioned only further tarnishes the good nature of our wonderful sport. Thank you!

Sam Crocker

Yarmouth, ME (Alicante, ES)
Friday, March 11, 2005

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All this Lance Talk...

Here we go again…

Every year, at least for the past six or so, Armstrong has a bad early season race, and everyone writes him off. People for certain said he was going to lose the Tour in 2004, but if I remember correctly, he and the Postal team dominated those three weeks in July almost like never before.

I ask this though - it's March. Where's Jan?

Yeah, Armstrong might have had jet lag, and there's a good possibility that he started to get sick, therefore having to pull out of Paris-Nice. What's the big deal? People, you seem to keep forgetting that Armstrong will show up in July ready to rip. And for the critics that say he's a "one trick pony". So what? For the last six years he's won the biggest and most prestigious bicycle race in the world, saying as much before every single win, and nobody has stopped him since 1999. I wouldn't count him out just yet.

Tom Arsenault

Chapel Hill, NC, USA
Friday, March 11, 2005

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Is Lance getting soft?

If I remember correctly, the last time Lance abandoned Paris-Nice he was attempting his comeback from cancer. He took some time off the bike then had that epic training session in North Carolina with Bobke then returned later that year with a vengeance.

He took fourth in the Vuelta and fourth at the worlds right after that. The rest as they say is history. Don’t write Lance off so quickly. Will he win number seven? I don’t know. Is it too soon to be calling him soft and having lost the eye of the tiger? Probaby…

Ian Wright

Texas
Friday, March 11, 2005

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Is Lance getting soft? #2

Let me preface by saying i'm not a Lance fanboy by any
means.

However...get a grip folks. Lance has one bad race and his place in history and chances for a Tour win are questioned. Maybe people forgot to take note of the race conditions: near freezing temperatures, rain and snow. Is it beyond the realm of possibility that the guy had a little jetlag, jumped into a hard race in terrible conditions and got a little sick? Despite appearances, the man is human.

JS

USA
Friday, March 11, 2005

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Is Lance getting soft? #3

There are loads of Lance fanatics who all want Lance to win and there are loads of Lance haters who want to see anyone else win.

And there are those of us in the middle who know that the presence of Lance Armstrong in a race in July means that everyone has to be honest about their own abilities.

What do you think would happen if Lance misses the Tour de France this year and Jan Ullrich were to win? He would always carry an asterisk after his win and the footnote would say, "Because Armstrong wasn't there".

The only way that anyone can be a real Tour champion is to beat Armstrong.

Thomas H Kunich

San Leandro, CA
Monday, March 14, 2005

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Is Lance getting soft? #4

How is it possible to be disappointed at Lance's seventh attempt at Tour de France glory? Well, gimme' a chance...

With his sixth concurrent victory at the Tour last year he has already garnered a "never been done before" achievement. But, in my opinion, to be considered a great cyclist along with the likes of Merckx, Hinault, Zoetemelk, Ocana, etc, there must be an attempt to win the "other" events of the year.

Lance's mastery of the July spectacle has been awe-inspiring at the very least, but to dismiss the Spring Classics, The Giro and the Vuelta flies in the face of the master cyclists of the past. Victory in those races has led to this great majesty that is pro cycling today. Lance has proven that he is without question the dominant force of the Tour during the past decade, but to barely use the early spring races as a warm up or training for the Tour is curious to say the least.

I was hopeful that Lance would have refrained from the Tour as he had said earlier in the year, raced the Spring classics AND the Giro to win them. He would have taken a July break and then continue with the Fall season, possibly the Vuelta and attempt the Hour record. All these events seem to be an achievement he could attain, considering his "mastery" of the Tour - the "hardest" bike race in the world.

This could have conceivably given him the year to freshen his legs for an attempt at the seventh Tour victory with a chest full of solid palmares. Not to mention the fact that he would take on the challenge of the 2005 Tour winner and podium finishers, Ullrich, Vino, Cunego, Valverde; who knows, but it would have set up an incredible match up for the 2006 Tour. And now..?

Has Lance dominated so well that it may be a case for a been-there-done-that attitude for the non-cycling or even cycling audience in the USA? Go Lance.

Walmy Puro
Monday, March 14, 2005

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Is Lance getting soft? #5

To all you Lance doubters out there... ENOUGH already! Every year we have this same conversation. "Lance looks a little fat this year." or "I heard Lance was eating ice cream" and my personal favorite "Lance can only win the Tour." Listen up people Lance has won other races! Off the top of my head, he's won the Dauphine Libre twice! I race that is right before the Tour... You would think the exertion to win a race that close to the Tour would cause him to lose the Tour (it almost did in 2005) but it didn't. For all of you people who repeat the quotes I listed above like a mantra... Just look at Lance's palmares and they will answer all of your questions. Looking at that list of wins you would almost forget that he is also a cancer survivor.

So again, please drop the yearly Lance bashing please - its getting old. I will say this, however, if Lance has "lost the eye of the tiger" it’s fine by me, he's done enough, he's a legend. Leave him alone. Hey Lance! Even if you don't win one race this year, here's one fan that will remember what you've done over your career!...unlike all your fair weather fans!

Warren Beckford

Bloomfield, CT - USA
Friday, March 11, 2005

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Is Lance getting soft? #6

I don’t really think anyone can call Lance, or any cyclist or athlete of any nature, soft, because of a performance in an early season race. I guess it’s very easy to call someone “soft” based on what coverage you see on television or read in the newspaper, but these human beings do have other lives outside of cycling and the five minute segment does not show what that athlete has done every day all day for the last six months.

I also ask anyone that reads these letters who can point out any one of the other favorites for the Tour de France title that races the classics and other spring races to win. I can’t think of any. Also, Lance has raced the classics in spring preparation in the years past up to the tour. Just because he did not last year does not mean that he never has. Go through results of previous years before criticising someone when you have no idea of their schedule.

Dan Carrington

Apex, NC, USA
Tuesday, March 15, 2005

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Is Lance getting soft? #7

While everyone is taking shots at Lance for going home after a couple of days of snow and freezing temps in France, it seems that they are missing the point. So what if LA only wins the tour? How many classics victories would you trade for one Tour de France? If you want to have the entire pro peloton at your mercy in July, maybe you don't want to burn all your candles trying to keep pace with the boys during a 42km road race in near freezing conditions in early March.

And what's with all the jokers piling on about LA being a one dimensional rider - not being an all around rider. I guess a World Championship, a Dauphine, a Tour de Suisse, a San Sebastian World Cup event and a Fleche Wallonne, along with two Tours DuPont (raising millions of dollars for cancer research) being a father of three and winning six Tours de France makes you pretty one dimensional. Oh, if only the rest of us could be that unbalanced!

Speculate al you want - LA will be there for the Grand Depart in July and I will be happy to see him bring home lucky number seven.

Bjorn Carlson
Friday, March 11, 2005

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Recent letters pages

Letters 2005

• March 4: In Defence of the Pro-Tour, Grand Tours back down...for now, Armstrong and Simeoni,Help - what’s on the TV?, Cycling on TV, Lance Defends His Title!, Hamilton movie role downplayed, Blood testing issues and Hamilton, I really don't know when it happened
• February 25: Lance Defends His Title!, Build it and tear it down?, Build, dismantle and donate!, Lance's Hour Record attempt, I really don't know when it happened, Can't get enough!, Dream on
• February 18: Build it and tear it down?, Remember Marco, One Reason I Love Cycling, The ongoing Hour Record Saga, Lance’s Hour Record attempt, Can't get enough!
• February 11: One Reason I Love Cycling, Francisco Cuevas, F-One - Come down to earth Lance!, Armstrong and the Hour, Can't get enough!, Greatest of all time
• February 4: F-One - Come down to earth Lance!, Armstrong and the Hour, Armstrong and Simeoni, Can't get enough!, Help, Greatest of all time Eddy is King, but who is second best?
• January 28: "I am the greatest of all time", Armstrong and the Hour Record, F-One - Come down to earth Lance!, Lance Drug Probe, Armstrong and Simeoni, Can’t get enough!, Help, NBC's 2004 RAAM Coverage, Doping, Crash distance from 1km to 3km, Eddy is King, but who is second best?
• January 21: Professional Cyclists, Der Kaiser's Goals, Jan Ullrich's problem = Lance, Rider of the Year, Crash distance from 1km to 3km, Help, Lance vs. Eddy
• January 14: Der Kaiser's goals, Help, Foreign stage races, Lance vs. Eddy, Tour '05, Rider of the Year, Best bikes for heavy riders, Quick Step helmets
• January 7: Death of Dmitri Neliubin, Der Kaiser’s goals, Rider of the Year, Best bikes for heavy riders, Who's Greater? Come on now!, Virenque "most charismatic"?, Downhilling, Downhill time trial, Trendy cyclists, No flat tyres, Spring classics trip advice, Bettini's trainer
• January 3: Spring classics trip advice, Big Bear ends downhilling, Armstrong and Simeoni, Holding teams accountable, Downhill time trial, Trendy cyclists, Bettini's trainer, No flat tyres

Letters 2004

• December 24 letters - Why are cyclists so trendy?, Business and cycling, Big Bear ends downhilling, Off-bike weight gain, No flat tires, Armstrong and Simeoni
• December 17 letters - Business and cycling, Tom versus Axel , Big Bear ends downhilling, Shane Perkins, Spring classics trip advice, Tyler Hamilton, Phonak and the UCI, Why are cyclists so trendy?, Mark Webber interview, Armstrong and Simeoni, Injured and missing it: an update, Clyde Sefton
• December 10 letters - Why are cyclists so trendy?, Big Bear ends downhilling, Floyd's choices?, Merckx, fit and trim, Pound must go, Spring classics trip advice, Tyler Hamilton, Phonak and the UCI, Punishment: Vandenbroucke vs Hamilton, Prosthetic hip, Armstrong and Simeoni, Dave Fuentes, Homeopathy, Jeremy Yates, TDF coverage for Australia, Weight limits and maintenance, Mark Webber interview
• December 3 letters - Domestiques vs Lieutenants, Tyler Hamilton, Phonak and the UCI, Dave Fuentes, Santa vs Hairy Guy, Why are cyclists so trendy?, Mark French and homeopathy, Shane Perkins, Jeremy Yates, Weight limits and maintenance, UCI regulations, Armstrong and Simeoni, Prosthetic hip
• November 26 letters - Mark French and homeopathy, Two big guns in one team, Tyler Hamilton case, Bartoli's retirement, Dave Fuentes, Shane Perkins, Merckx and Armstrong, Training like Lance, Lance Armstrong, Why are cyclists so trendy?, Phonak gets what it deserves, Armstrong and Simeoni, Bike weight, Spouseless riders, Mary McConneloug, Adam Craig, Mark Webber interview, Santa vs Hairy Guy
• November 19 letters - Tyler Hamilton case, Phonak gets what it deserves, Are you there Mr Coates?, Bike Weight, Merckx and Maertens make up, Heart troubles, Where to find cycling spouses, Mark Webber interview, Lance Armstrong, Where's Greg?, What ever happened to..., Why are cyclists so trendy?, Armstrong and Simeoni, l'Etape du Tour registration, Still Laughing
• November 12 letters - Why Armstrong will ride the 2005 Tour, Scott Sunderland, Why are cyclists so trendy?, Armstrong and Simeoni, Where to find cycling spouses, Lance on Italian selection, Heart troubles, l'Etape du Tour registration, Tour 2005 team time trial, What ever happened to..., Love and a yellow bike
• November 5 letters - Love and a yellow bike, Tour 2005, Where to find cycling spouses, Why are cyclists so trendy?, Lance on Italian selection, Armstrong and Simeoni, Tour of Southland, Construction technique for veloway, Heart troubles, l'Etape du Tour registration, Rahsaan Bahati
• October 29 letters - Armstrong and Simeoni, Lance on Italian selection, Armstrong and Tour 2005, Lance to Tour Down Under?, Davis on Lance, Bike Shows, 2004 Cycling Spouse of the Year, Cycling and hip replacement, Doping - Enough drama!, Doping redefined, Injured and missing it, Heart troubles, Interbike, l'Etape du Tour registration, Whatever happened to...
• October 22 letters - 2004 Cycling Spouse of the Year, Doping , Floyd Landis, Armstrong and Tour 2005, Interbike, Armstrong and Simeoni, l'Etape du Tour registration, The new blood test, Injured and missing it, What ever happened to..., World time trial champion, Cycling and hip replacement, $125,000 criterium in Charlotte
• October 15 letters - Is the Pro Tour a good idea?, Cycling is bigger than doping, Doping, Floyd Landis, Museeuw is too nice to be guilty, Pound must go, Armstrong and Simeoni, Blood doping, Peers and Planckaert, Doping and nationality, The new blood test, Tyler Hamilton, World Championships, World Time Trial Champion, Erik Zabel Interview
• October 8 letters - Pound must go, USA World's Team Selection, World Championships, Armstrong and Simeoni, Filip Meirhaeghe, Say it ain't so, Dario!, Baby names, Blood doping, The new blood test, World Time Trial Champion, Tyler Hamilton, Doping and nationality, Erik Zabel Interview
• October 1 letters - Baby names, World Time Trial Champion, USA worlds selection, Tyler Hamilton, The new blood test, Rider of the Year, Tyler, USPS and Bruyneel, Alternative criterium formats
• Letters Index – The complete index to every letters page on cyclingnews.com