What is the real deal about cycling?
- Thread starter glen
- Start date
Not many dopers in Cycling because doping is taken so seriously in that sport.
Riders get tested all the time. Lance got tested almost every week, with almost a weekly surprise test.
When there is a scandal. Like this year, or someone is found to be doping. They are taken very seriously. People careers have been ended because of doping. Others have been banned for a few years, which is similar to stopping a person career since professional cycling on average (not always the case) has a small age window to be at the top of the cycling community.
Basso and Ulrich (the two top contenders) were banned from the Tour de France this year on suspicions alone.
Riders get tested all the time. Lance got tested almost every week, with almost a weekly surprise test.
When there is a scandal. Like this year, or someone is found to be doping. They are taken very seriously. People careers have been ended because of doping. Others have been banned for a few years, which is similar to stopping a person career since professional cycling on average (not always the case) has a small age window to be at the top of the cycling community.
Basso and Ulrich (the two top contenders) were banned from the Tour de France this year on suspicions alone.
D1gger
Diamond Member
- Oct 3, 2004
- 5,411
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Unfortunately, cycling has been a haven for unscrupulous doctors and athletes for so long that it will take a major effort to eliminate the blood doping and drugs that they have been using. I thought they had made some great strides this year with the suspension of all those riders just before the tour started, but it sure looks like there is still a problem. I had to wonder after Floyd Landis bonked on Stage 16 and then soared on Stage 17 if he had something more than bacon and eggs for breakfast that day.
Sad days again for cycling as a sport.
Sad days again for cycling as a sport.
The poor Canadian snowboarder, in the 1998 Olympics, they took away his medal because he tested positive for marijuana, which is kinda redundant number one, number two, they said that marijuana was a 'performance-enhancing drug.' EEEEHHH.
Marijuana enhances many things, colors, shapes, sensations, but you are certainly not ****** empowered. When you're stoned, you're lucky if you can find your own goddamn feet! The only way it's a performance-enhancing drug is if there's a big ****** hershey bar at the end of the run.
lol
Marijuana enhances many things, colors, shapes, sensations, but you are certainly not ****** empowered. When you're stoned, you're lucky if you can find your own goddamn feet! The only way it's a performance-enhancing drug is if there's a big ****** hershey bar at the end of the run.
lol
I am betting it was the Cortisol shots that made for a weird sample.Lance got accused a few years ago after using a cortisol cream on his legs for inflammation.
Maybe someone told him there was a hershie at the bottom of the piste, so he bombed it down quicker than everyone else....
yep...I can't believe how many people refuse to see the obvious - that nobody really gets anywhere in any pro sport without performance-related misdeeds. the only solution is to tell the lot of them to go f themselves and start holding the billiard and curling players up as heros instead. things will change when we stop giving the crooked sports money.
JulesMaximus
No Lifer
- Jul 3, 2003
- 74,574
- 972
- 126
The thing is, if Basso and Ulrich were doping (and it seems likely that they were) they were never caught in any of the many tests they undergo. It would stand to reason that the drug companies are constantly working to develop performance enhancing drugs that can elude the tests. They definitely have the advantage of resources over the UCI.
I have a friend who is a CAT1 racer and he's convinced that all the pros at the top level are doping. I don't know if I believe that but in talking with him he does bring up some interesting points.
Ummm, some people don't dope. Just because average peopel can't do what some people with better genetics can do, doesn't mean all pro athletes dope. :roll: Some people are just born with better genetics. It is a fact of life. (Example: Williams sisters in tennis, Tiger Woods...) With rigorous training and good genetics, you can win.
Cycling cracks down on performance enhancing drugs far better than most other sports out there. The fact of the matter is that there have been major crackdowns in cycling. It doens't happen in football or basketball, but cycling takes doping seriously.
Queasy
Moderator<br>Console Gaming
- Aug 24, 2001
- 31,796
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I am sure there are some drugs which are hard to track, but with the constant testing and the raids, cycling is a pretty clean sport compared to other sports.
**EDIT**
Also the easiest way to get a negative test is to sneak clean smaple of blood and urine into tests, but with all of the public tests that go on, that is much harder to do in cycling.
I think to succeed at a professional level, it takes everything....genetics, training...and drugs. seriously...are you blind?
edit: which begs the question...how do you feel if you're one of the idiots who drugs himself retarded and then doesn't win anything? that's REALLY gotta suck.
Ummm... okay? How much do you keep track of cycling? Seriously. If you are going to claim that all cyclist dope just like all other pro athletes (which BTW is a generalization without any evidence), then show some conclusive proof instead of taking a "smarter than thou" attitude with no real substance. How much do you keep up with cycling? I keep up with it all the time. I even read cycling forums. How about you?
Have you even looked at the differences in Lance Armstrongs's physiology that made him so good at endurance sports? Some people are just naturally gifted. As I pointed out in my previous post, I don't think Tiger Woods won his pro golf tounreys by doping. He was just gentically superior and athletically more well trained. Same with the Williams sister's in tennis. At least give some conclusive evidence. Sure there are dopers in cycling, but they eventually get found out (through the constant screening and raids) and taken down unlike other sports which seem to take a blind eye to the problem.
I have pointed out facts, where are your facts? I only see baseless general statements by you, so stop posting personal attacks and actually show me conclusive proof.
**EDIT**
BTW Lance Armstrong cycled ever since Middle School. By High School, the cycling committees had bumped him up to Cat-2 riders, which is unheard of. (Normally you have to ride many races to get to that point, but he was just so good, they had to bump him) He wrote in his books that he would ride 20+ miles in the morning and 2-3 hours at night and then swim laps as well. The guy just trained harder and longer than anyone else, and had great genetics. You put someone that has done something ever since they were young and also has a natural gift against a group of people who trained later in life (even some that doped), and you will have someone who is at the top of their game.
I've been following (pro)cycling for the better part of my life. I'm convinced that at some stage in their career all procyclists are/were using some kind of illegal substance, even the great Lance and the great Merckx.
I live in Belgium where cycling is the biggest sport and doping is widespread even on the amateur level. When millions are at stake for the the Ullrichs, Armstrongs, Landis and Basso's, taking performance enhancing stuff is normal. Everyone who believes that these guys are riding the Tour de France on a baguette with cheese is naive as hell
it's still the greatest sport in the world for me, even with all the "cheaters" :thumbsup:
I live in Belgium where cycling is the biggest sport and doping is widespread even on the amateur level. When millions are at stake for the the Ullrichs, Armstrongs, Landis and Basso's, taking performance enhancing stuff is normal. Everyone who believes that these guys are riding the Tour de France on a baguette with cheese is naive as hell
it's still the greatest sport in the world for me, even with all the "cheaters" :thumbsup:
As a big cycling fan I tend to disagree with DaShen. I believe that doping is especially prevalent in cycling because it is an long distance endurance sport with very little rest in between. Obviously, blood doping is going to increase endurance, speed up recovery times, and give the cyclists the edge that they need day in and day out.
I believe baseball and football also encourages drug use, but not doping, as they are becoming more and more power sports, where muscle development and strength are becoming the primary drivers to exceed.
That being said, is most of the peloton doping? I can't say for sure, but if I were a betting man, I'd put good money down that most (>50%) of the peloton is doping at some form or another. Most may not be as egregious that the UCI is going to do anything about it but they may be doping to put themselves at the top end of what the UCI considers legal for hematocrit levels, which I believe is 50%. Even going from 43% (average) to a 50% is a 10% increase in red blood cells. You can't tell me that doesn't give that rider an advantage.
Now, if Landis really did dope, he's possibly the dumbest rider on the planet. There's no way they're not going to test a stage winner. Keep in mind this was only the "A" test. They'll use the "B" sample also drawn at the same time and test that to make sure that there is not a test error. In addition, as DaShen says, there are other explanatory reasons that Landis may have a raised testosteron level, although I believe any medical treatments must first be given notice to the UCI before treatment.
I believe baseball and football also encourages drug use, but not doping, as they are becoming more and more power sports, where muscle development and strength are becoming the primary drivers to exceed.
That being said, is most of the peloton doping? I can't say for sure, but if I were a betting man, I'd put good money down that most (>50%) of the peloton is doping at some form or another. Most may not be as egregious that the UCI is going to do anything about it but they may be doping to put themselves at the top end of what the UCI considers legal for hematocrit levels, which I believe is 50%. Even going from 43% (average) to a 50% is a 10% increase in red blood cells. You can't tell me that doesn't give that rider an advantage.
Now, if Landis really did dope, he's possibly the dumbest rider on the planet. There's no way they're not going to test a stage winner. Keep in mind this was only the "A" test. They'll use the "B" sample also drawn at the same time and test that to make sure that there is not a test error. In addition, as DaShen says, there are other explanatory reasons that Landis may have a raised testosteron level, although I believe any medical treatments must first be given notice to the UCI before treatment.
The cortizone shots were allowed. Lance had a similar false positive because of Cortizone cream a few years ago.
Yes, cycling is not totally clean, but a lot cleaner than other sports because of the regular testing and raids. To say they are totally clean is naive, but to think that all pro athletes, especially in cycling, dope, is incredibly naive, too.
You can believe whatever you want...but I think you're allegiance to the sport just signify's your unwillingness to see the obvious. And you haven't pointed out any facts...just opinions.
I don't know about golf - it's not as physically taxing as others. but it wouldn't surprise me at all.
Like I said - it takes everything. yes, those people are physically gifted. but that ain't the whole story. The whole POINT of doping these days is to do it without there being any evidence of it.
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