The May 14th issue of VeloNews just arrived in my mailbox. On the cover is Danilo Di Luca celebrating his victory at Liege-Bastogne-Liege - an emotional finish surpassed only by Stuart O’Grady at Paris-Roubaix (in my book, this is saying a lot, as I suspect that O’Grady’s performance will go down as one of the most exciting this season).
But I didn't bring this up to talk about Danilo Di Luca or Stuart O'Grady, for there's something else in this issue of VeloNews I want to talk about. If I can blow my own horn for a bit, the May 14th issue also has a letter to the editor written by your’s truly. The subject? An article published in the April 16th issue of the very same publication. Unfortunately, none of this stuff is reproduced online, but all you really need to read is my letter:
While I appreciate rebellious misfits as much as the next guy, I couldn’t contain my disgust when I read about Michael Ball and his Rock Racing team (“Revolution Rock,” April 16). I’d never heard of Rock Racing prior to reading this article, but if Ball’s team reflects his attitude, then like his denim company, it’s all show and no substance. It’s the corporate establishment disguised as rebellion.
Changing team kit colors for each race or driving Escalades as team cars doesn’t challeng cycling’s status quo. A true rebel would try to shake the whole notion of corporate sponsorship or encourage alternative forms of transportation. After all, some of us buck “the system” by actually commuting to work on our bikes!
It is perhaps unrealistic to expect a cycling team at this level to eschew corporate sponsorship altogether. But to seek out and celebrate the sponsorship of a company that actively encourages America’s addiction to gas guzzlers is the kind of mindless consumerism that represents much of what is wrong with pro sports. It doesn’t, as Ball so eloquently puts it, give cycling ‘a nice kick in the ass to make it fucking cool.’
It’s worth mention that, although I’d never heard of Rock Racing prior to reading this article, I did hear of the team after Stage 6 of the Tour of Virginia. That’s the day which featured a criterium down in Harrisonburg where the first to cross the finish, Kayle Leogrande of Rock Racing, was relegated for not holding his line in the final sprint. You can see some real nice photographic evidence here: http://love2ride.smugmug.com/gallery/2788646#148675413; and check out the photographer's narrative of the event in the May 2nd post here: http://love2ridephotoszzz.blogspot.com/2007_05_01_archive.html).
I don't mean to pick on Leogrande here. I have nothing against him in particular, and he's clearly very talented. My beef isn't even about his team so much as it's about the presentation -- passing off something as revolutionary and rebellious when in reality it's about selling an image. And besides, cycling doesn't need a nice kick in the ass to be fucking cool. It already IS.
-- posted by Chris