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Hi Joe and Dirk,I recently had arthroscopic surgery on my left knee to repair my medialmeniscus and to have some plicaeremoved. The cause of the damage is not known, although I'm pretty sureI did it in the weight room during the winter. The pain I felt in my knee did not manifest itself until late March/earlyApril when my cycling training was ramping up and I started hitting biggerhills (6- to 8-percent grades). I'm a relatively new cyclist (this is mythird season) and I have aspirations of road racing. I'm 29 years old, 6 foot 2 inches and I weigh about 185 pounds, withrelatively low body

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.It's more than medalsEditors,Stephen Burke claims to be mystified by Stuart O'Grady's block in thefinal lap of the Olympic Madison race (see Burke’s letter “O'Grady blockedBrits in Madison” Friday’sMailbag). Well mate, it shouldn't be too hard to work that one out. Aa any Aussiewill

Under the innovative drive of title-sponsor Crank Brothers and the collaborativevision of both the organizers and the promoters, the 2004 U.S. Gran Prixof Cyclocross Series is poised for take-off. With cooperation from USACycling and the UCI, the landmark USGP of Cyclocross seeks to bolster thethriving regional U.S. cyclocross scene by incorporating six races intoa national series with USA Cycling automatic world championship selectiongoing to series overall winners."Our hope," according to Series Marketing Director Bruce Fina, "is tobring out the best of USA cyclocross-the top riders

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Danielson showed his stuff on Mt. Evans

The men's 50-rider field...

...which only briefly contained Hesjedal.

Sauser, with broken chain in hand, was out early as well.

Absalon's winning ride.

Hermida got all choked up...

...talking about the crash that almost cost him a medal.

Crotia's No. 1 high jumper (she didn't win).

The Olympic flame above the stadium entrance.

A fountain in the Olympic Complex.

Haven and Tyler Hamilton and that souvenir they picked up in Athens

Not a bad day's haul: Dede gets silver, Tyler gold and Bobby grabs a bronze

Lots of interesting architecture in this place.

Olympic Complex walkway.

The Closing Ceremonies.

More from the Closing Ceremonies.

It's all over. Party time.

Bigmap

Colombian cyclist Maria Luisa Calle Williams, bronze medalist in last week's Olympic women's points race, has tested positive for a banned stimulant and has been stripped of her medal, the International Olympic Committee announced on Sunday. As a result, American Erin Mirabella has been awarded the bronze medal, the only American track-cycling medal of this year’s Games. Mirabella's bronze brings the total medal count for American cyclists to four along with Tyler Hamilton's gold, Dede Demet Barry's silver and Bobby Julich's bronze in the individual time trial on August 18. Traces of

Growing suggestions by critics before the Athens Games that IOC president Jacques Rogge would falter in his attempt to carry out his promised war on doping in the Olympics have been proved wrong. The 62-year-old former surgeon did more than wage a war - he oversaw a massacre that will be felt for years by those athletes who remain convinced that cheating and drug taking is the way to gold. While the 20-plus victims might have spilled tears instead of blood as they queued up to file out of the athletes' village in disgrace, their Olympic futures were dead and buried. Greek sprint idols

Julich, Voigt second at GP Eddy MerckxThe Dutch tandem of Thomas Dekker and Koen De Kort (Rabobank) edgedrecently crowned bronze Olympic time trial medalist Bobby Julich and JensVoigt (CSC) in Sunday’s two-man time trial race GP Eddy Merckx.Dekker and De Kort covered the 49km course 20 seconds faster than Julichand Voigt while George Hincapie and Viatcheslav Ekimov (U.S. Postal Service)came through fifth at 52 seconds slower.GP Eddy Merckx (BEL 1.2), two-man timetrial1. Thomas Dekker, Koen De Kort (Ned) – Rabobank, 43.9kmin 52:35 (50.07kph)2. Jens Voigt (Ger), Bobby Julich (USA) – CSC +0:203.

There were two very different impressive displays of power shown atthe NORBA National short track cross-country event on Sunday in Durango,Colorado: one involving the dominating performance of the Luna women’ssquad, which broke away on the first lap and stayed clear to the finish,and the other surrounding a solo effort by series leader Geoff Kabush (Maxxis),proving again, after winning Saturday’s cross-country event, that he wasthe strongest man of the weekend. Luna, Luna, LunaHeading into the event, held under hot sunny skies at the Durango MountainResort, Luna’s Alison Dunlap led recently

South African Greg Minnaar (G-Cross) and Californian Kathy Pruitt (Luna)both pulled off the one-two punch of winning both the final eventin the NORBA national downhill series and taking the overall wins on Sundayin Durango, Colorado.Speed and technologyMinnaar backed-up his fastest qualifying time of the day with a 1.68second victory over Australian Nathan Rennie (Santa Cruz Syndicate) and3.86 seconds over third place Joel Panozzo (Progressive/Intense/WTB) onan uncharacteristically dry course. In past years, competitors have come to the Durango Mountain Resortfully expecting rain and the

Mirabella in the points race

Three-up

Kabush

Minnaar

Pruitt had a helluva margin

In this case, it is about the bike.

It took longer than anyone associated with French cycling would have liked. But after being shut out of the bike-racing winner’s circle for the first 14 days of the 2004 Olympic Games, France finally scored the big one with Julien Absalon taking a convincing cross-country victory on Saturday. The 24-year-old broke clear with a group of six early in the race, then slowly applied pressure until the lead was his alone. Behind Absalon, Dutchman Bart Brentjens and Spaniard Jose Antonio Hermida swapped the silver-medal position back and forth before Hermida finally shed the 1996 gold medalist on

Erik Dekker (Rabobank) won the final stage of the Tour of Holland on Saturday, overtaking U.S. Postal’s Viatcheslav Ekimov for the overall victory by just a single second. Dekker proved fastest of the bunch at the end of the 202km sixth stage from Geelen to Landgraaf, crossing the finish line in 4:58:16, ahead of teammate Marc Wauters and CSC’s Fabrizio Guidi, both of whom were given the same time as Dekker. Ekimov crossed in fifth position, also in the same time, and slipped to second on the overall. American Bobby Julich (CSC) finished fifth overall at 21 seconds back. Stage 5 results1.

The men's cross country on Saturday rang down the curtain on the cycling events at the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens, and VeloNews photographer Casey Gibson was on hand to catch the closing action.

Canadian Geoff Kabush (Maxxis) and local favorite Shonny Vanlandingham (Luna) each took convincing cross-country wins Saturday at the final event of the NORBA National Series in Durango, Colorado, both securing their respective titles in the eight event series. In the absence of NORBA Nationals regulars Todd Wells, Jeremy Horgan-Kobelski, Seamus McGrath, Ryder Hesjedal, Mary McConneloug and Jimena Florit — all in Athens for the Olympic Games — the pressure was on for series leaders Kabush and Vanlandingham to maintain their leads. Kabush’s main concern was the possibility of a DNF, as his

Eric Carter (Mongoose-Hyundai) and Jill Kintner (Yeti Cycles) rode to commanding victories in Saturday night’s mountain-cross finals at the Durango Mountain Resort. Carter, nursing a swollen ankle sustained in downhill practice, admitted before the race that he “didn’t feel that great and wasn’t sure if my ankle would hold up through the night.” Still, with a thorough tape job that he said “really limited my ankle movement, but allowed me to compete,” Carter managed to qualify for the finals with his trademark inside-line passing technique. Clearly, the bum ankle stunted Carter’s starts,

A flag-waving Absalon celebrates his triumph

Absalon paid homage to his late father at the finish

Absalon doling out the pain on the descents ...

... and through the woods

Hermida and Brentjens battled for the silver . . .

. . . and Hermida won

Brentjens had to settle for bronze

The medalists in the final cycling event of the 2004 Athens Olympics

Julien Absalon gave France something to cheer about

And he gave the credit to his late father

Jose Antonio Hermida took the silver

Bart Brentjens collected the bronze

Liam Killeen gutted it out for fifth

Thomas Frischknecht had a bad start, then fought his way to seventh

Seamus McGrath cracked the top 10 in ninth

Little Mig cracked, period; he would not finish

Wells got gapped on the start loop but finished 19th

Wells

Vanlandingham all by her lonesome

Kabush cracks a cold one

Carter takes the risks – and the win

Kinter shows her heels to the field

You can only imagine the thoughts going through Gunn-Rita Dahle’s head in the waning moments of the women’s cross-country in Athens on Friday. Just as she’s done for most of the last two years, the Norwegian shot out ahead of the 30-rider field early in the 31.3km race, and had built a commanding 1:34 lead ahead of Canadian Marie-Helene Premont. But this time, Dahle was having problems. “I couldn’t use my small gear anymore,” explained Dahle, who sideswiped a rock during the third of five laps around the 5.3km course. “My rear derailleur was bent and for a moment I panicked.” Can’t blame

Leon van Bon (Lotto-Domo) won the fifth stage of the Tour of the Netherlands on Friday, a 221km stage from Dusseldorf, Germany, to Sittard, Netherlands. Van Bon soloed in for the victory in five hours, 10 minutes and 28 seconds. Marc Streel (Lanbouwkrediet-Colnago) was second at 1:06, with Manuel Quinziato (Lampre) third at 1:43. Viatcheslav Ekimov (U.S. Postal Service-Berry Floor), retains the overall lead going into Saturday’s finale, a 197km stage from Sittard-Geleen to Landgraaf. The silver medalist in the recently completed Olympic time trial bounced into the overall lead after winning

VeloNews photographer Casey Gibson was braving the Athens heat once again on Friday, capturing the action in the women's cross-country race. Here's a sampling of what he saw.

Maybe the best thing about the mountain bike venue for Friday’s women’s cross-country was that it wasn’t in Athens. Now don’t get me wrong. I don’t have anything against the Olympic host city. I’m just not a city boy at heart, so it was nice to get up in the hills for a day. The course was set at the base of Mount Parnitha, which (fittingly) kind of looks like the hills east of Los Angeles (air pollution reference there). It’s barren, dusty, dry terrain. But when the sun finally tucked in behind the hills and the temperature came down, it was a pretty pleasant place to be. And the sky is

SAN FRANCISCO, CA (August 27, 2004)- Event producers Tailwind Sports and Threshold Sports announced today that a record 42 number of men’s and women’s teams will compete in the 2004 T-Mobile International, presented by BMC Software, on September 12th. The internationally diverse field will be comprised of 22 women’s teams and 20 men’s teams with riders representing the United States, Canada, Spain, and Italy, among others. Six-time Tour de France champion and U.S. Postal Service team leader Lance Armstrong will highlight the men’s field along with other standout Americans such as Olympic

USA Cycling’s fifth annual Colorado state championship MTB race for middle and high-school students is slated for October 30 at the Black Forest Camp and Conference Center east of Monument, Colorado. The race is open to private, public and home-school students in grades six through 12. The Black Forest camp is a 300-acre private venue with a wooded course; housing (75 beds available on Friday night with a meal package); RV hook-ups; and a post-race feed before the awards ceremony. For more about the event, see the host club’s website. For more about the camp, see www.bfccc.org. To

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.Olympics coverage much worse than Tour TV Editor:Having read your mailbag and other cycling forums with all the whining about Al, Bob, Phil and Paul during the coverage of the 2004 Tour de France, I found the comments quite comical after hearing some of the butchered commentary during

Mike Jones (Health Net-Maxxis) won the 80-mile third stage of the Colorado Cyclist Classic stage race on Friday in a four-up dash to the finish line in Estes Park, Colorado. After 10 laps of the hilly, 8-mile Devil’s Gulch Road Race circuit, Jones took the victory in 3:23:48, with Jeff Louder (Navigators Insurance) second, Aaron Olson (Ofoto-Colavita) third, and Michael Sayers (Health Net-Maxxis) fourth, all in the same time. Will Frischkorn (Ofoto-Colavita) retains the overall lead by five seconds over Danny Pate (Health Net-Maxxis) with Dan Bowman (TIAA-CREF/5280) third at 1:42. In the

The last three weeks Paolo Bettini and Davide Rebellin have done some serious racing - especially Bettini, who has competed in the Olympics on top of the three World Cups. The Championships of Zürich was the last of the World Cups until the two final weekends in October - Paris Tours and Tour of Lombardy. Rebellin and Bettini have been dueling for the lead the last few weeks, and Bettini is slowly tugging Rebellin’s leader’s jersey from his shoulders, consistently placing in front of him in the races. Zürich is a tough race with one large rolling loop and then four hilly 40km loops. The

Dahle bobbled once, but was otherwise unstoppable

McConneloug crossed in ninth, more than nine minutes back

The medalists

Dahle's winning streak continues

Spitz beat the heat to claim the bronze medal

This is the view the field had of Gunn-Rita Dahle all day long

Until they saw her here, that is

Dahle blazes the berm on the start lap

Alison Sydor just missed medaling, crossing fourth

Two-time Olympic medalist Paola Pezzo bailed after finishing the first lap in 11th place