Presenting of the colors at the 10th annual CSC Invitational in Arlington, Va.
(photo/Tour of '03)

I don't know what it is about cycling that mainstream media like the Washington Post finds so unappealing. I guess you could say its the doping culture of men's professional cycling, but that would assume that sports editors have an idea of something beyond football, baseball and basketball in this country.

Perhaps as many as 20,000 people showed up in the multi-cultural, ultra chic, she she, Clarendon neighborhood of Arlington, Va., on a hot, muggy Saturday for the 10th annual CSC Invitational. The event is free, so perhaps that keeps the mainstream media away (I'm looking for excuses here). If they don't like the men pros -- and there were 178 of them in the 100-km race -- because of whatever it is that Bad Boy Floyd may have done, or the 75 or so female pros, maybe it was all the little kids on bikes with their parents (it's a family event) or the disabled cyclists giving it their all that is so unappealing. After all, some overblown ego on the Washington Redskins probably deserves more attention in the off-season.

I believe that good news -- people news -- interests people and can sell newspapers (not that I care if the Washington Post sells two more papers). But couldn't the website have at least run some coverage ... taken some pictures ... shown some interest in its community and what really does interest people? Or is it just that people should watch, not do? Whatever it is, as a long-time journalist and teacher, I understand why the mainstream media is struggling to remain viable these days. To be financially viable, you have to be relevant to your community. That means knowing something about that community, whether its on the day that the toughest crit in the U.S. takes place in its coverage area, or whether it's any day of the week when thousands of area residents are out on their bikes, whether it's on the W&OD Trail or the streets, recreating.

If the mainstream media wants to remain relevant to people's lives, it needs to understand what's taking place in people's lives. Saturday in Arlington, the mainstream media once again demonstrated that it just doesn't have a clue. That's bad business.