Doping

[roo4]

I've had this discussion with some friends. Should we care if professional cyclists dope? Should auto blood transfusions be legal (because it is their own cells) but everything else be forbidden? If we say that doping at that level is ok, what does that do to young cyclists? Will they have to dope in order to be competitive? Again, should we care?

[Wahine]

I've had this discussion with some friends. Should we care if professional cyclists dope? Should auto blood transfusions be legal (because it is their own cells) but everything else be forbidden? If we say that doping at that level is ok, what does that do to young cyclists? Will they have to dope in order to be competitive? Again, should we care?

I had this very discussion with my BF who was a high level junior road racer in the 80s. I am a doping cynic. I have been invovled in high level sport as a health care professional for enough years to know that if they aren't all doping, then most of them are. My opinion has been, why don't they just make it legal? Let them dope and stop the farce that is drug testing. For one thing, it's not like the powers that be really take testing seriously. Professional sport is about money and they make money by getting people to watch. We watch because the athletes continue to entertain us with their amazing abilities. Their abilities wouldn't be so amazing without doping...

Don't get me wrong. I don't agree with doping. I'm just trying to be realistic. As a health care professional, it would be easier if it was all out in the open.

My BF is also a cynic when it comes to doping but much to my amazement, he adamantly states that it can't be legalized. Not really. Because of what it would do to juniors and he's right.

I had never thought about that angle. If nothing else, we have to at least maintain an image of trying to keep the sport clean so that youth riders can stand a chance at escaping the doping game. Hopefully at least the ones that never make it to professional cycling (most of them) will avoid using performance enhancing drugs that could kill them or maybe even give them testicular cancer in their mid twenties. Oops, did I say that out loud?

[Grog]

+1 what Wahine said about the juniors...

As if the physical aspects of doping weren't bad enough, there's the psychological aspects too. Many of these guys seem to be in total denial and they have to kid themselves as much as they need to kid others. I really liked reading that (super long) interview with Landis on the topic. If you have many hours to spend on the topic, check this out: http://nyvelocity.com/content/interv.../landiskimmage (aka "The Gospel according to Floyd").

[pll]

I second the conclusions of Wahine's discussion. I had a similar one at work (no health care experts present, but a few cycling fans). I enjoy watching cycling, but the doping is present at every level, not just professionals. Yesterday there was news of 2 amateur cyclists doping for the NY Gran Fondo (see Bike Radar).

I think seeking surges in performance is probably like any addictive behavior: some people may try it once and really long for the performance boost. That, to me, would explain why amateurs do it, too.

[SheFly]

Don't kid yourselves that doping is only happening at the professional level. As pll said, yesterday the news broke of master's aged racers being caught doping at a Grand Fundo - the grand prize? An $8000 bicycle that many could likely afford. One of the racers has admitted to the doping - he won Tour of the Battenkill this year. Think about how it feels to be racing against someone, only to find out they were doping.

DH and his friends are sadly questioning the performances of more than a few local AMATEUR racers. They have the means to do it, and testing is virtually non-existent at our local events.

Put yourself in a racer's shoes. Every weekend DH and I are out putting in our best efforts on the local race scene. We don't dope. We pay our money, work our a$$es off, and have to question the performances of some of our peers. It's disheartening.

Oh - and EPO is readily available on the internet. And just yesterday, DH's rheumatologist quipped that even male enhancers (you know the ones advertised consistently during prime time TV?) would improve performance.

So, do the pros do it? Yes. Do the amateurs do it? You bet. Does that make it ok? Absolutely not.

SheFly

[Wahine]

Don't kid yourselves that doping is only happening at the professional level. As pll said, yesterday the news broke of master's aged racers being caught doping at a Grand Fundo

Masters athletes have been the fastest growing performance enhancing drug user group for about 10 years now.

At sports medicine conferences the discussion isn't about whether doping is right or wrong. It's about what the latest drugs/doping techniques are, all the horrible things it does to your body, how to recognize an athlete that is using and how to manage that athlete medically.