One Trib reader says, I want more cycling news!

Dear Tribune,
As a cyclist , the world's largest sport with more cyclists in the United States than soccer, golfer, and tennis players combined, and as a Tribune subscriber, I was so excited to enjoy your coverage of the Tour of California. After the excellent coverage I was equally as excited to see more articles related to the UCI Pro tour as the Tribune seemed very cycling savvy. But my hopes were diminished as some of the largest world events in cycling like the Paris-Nice Milano-Sanremo, and Tirreno-Adriatico passed without a mention, even in the sports briefs section ... It would be great to see at least a mention of a sport that is becoming bigger and bigger in the U.S. (cycling) in the sports page other than those related to dopping ....
_ Nate Erickson

Nate: Thanks for such a thoughtful message and the compliments about our Tour of California coverage. Let me offer a few responses to your broader point about our cycling coverage overall:
We recognize that many people in our county participate in more than the "ball" sports. Cycling, running, swimming, surfing and kayaking are among the outdoor sports locals enjoy. So we do try to include articles on those topics and other outdoor and "extreme" sports to provide readers with more. We probably cover those sports more than most daily papers.
Yet, the majority of our Sports section readers remain die-hard fans of the big three -- football, basketball and baseball. And nary a day goes by, it seems, without some fan of one of those sports calling to complain that we don't do enough on their favored pastime, whether it be in stories, photos or stats.
In short: It is nearly impossible to provide all readers with everything they want. There are so many sports today, and so much of it televised, that the readers always want more than we can accommodate with our limited space.
For cycling, we will continue our July tradition of strong coverage of Tour de France, for obvious reasons. And I will work with our sports editor on wire service coverage of the Giro de Italia and the Vuelta as well, since they represent the other legs of the Grand Tours.
_ Tad Weber