Disappointed - Page 2

My other sport is golf and it's ridiculous how some players pad their handicap by shooting high scores until tournament time and then they magically "find" their game. Cycling at the amateur and masters levels actually seems relatively free of cheating. There are always those who will do whatever they can to gain an advantage. I sometimes wonder how they live with themselves, but I guess that's their business. Personally, I don't lose any sleep over these people. If that's how they want to go through life, so be it.

Understand. But there's a risk-benefit profile to any pharmaceutic use. On the female side, HRT (Estrogen agonist) definitely has benefits for most, but some will increase their risk for breast cancer and others.

I guess the question is, is this guy's use of HGH driven by his competitive cycling activities or by genuine health reasons?

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Morphed Bianchi Camaleonte IV 2006, Ridley Damocles 2006, Garmin, Mac

Don't know but possibly neither. Quite possibly it's just vanity and the athletic impacts are a handy side effect.

I don't fully understand how this substance works and what it would do for athletic performance. Presumably speed up the process of improving one's power/weight ratio.

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Yes, there's definitely a dose-response relationship. At higher dose, he WILL suffer in due course!

I suspect he is getting it at a rather low dose (similar to Estrogen therapy). But it would be interesting to find out just what dose range he is on, and if the effect at that dose range can really translates to improved athletic performance?

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Morphed Bianchi Camaleonte IV 2006, Ridley Damocles 2006, Garmin, Mac

There's a fairly interesting story about various performance enhancing drugs in this article about a guy who experimented with several of them http://outside.away.com/outside/body...ug_test_1.html. In the end, this guy decided to ride clean.

I believe the line is too fine to measure using HRT to increase hormones to natural production levels for that age group and crossing that line where it gives an athlete an advantage over a field of competitors.

IMO - a banned substance is a banned substance and it is too bad that a person may not be able to compete because of natural deficiencies, but athletic federations cannot fairly monitor those fine lines between medical needs and performance advantages. The person needs to make the choice between competition by the rules or sitting out of competition because they believe their health and the use of medication is more important than competition. It only takes a small dosage increase for that person to gain an edge over many in the field of competitors. They may not be able to beat the rare genetically gifted, but they have a better edge over the rest of the field (if they are properly trained).

Huh??? This guy is NOT a decent guy! He's a frickin' cheater. He's a fraud! Let's call a spade a spade here!! All this Politicallly Correct B.S. lights a fire under me !! You're just plain and simply too nice. I wouldn't call the guy out and name names, but I'm not going to consider him "pretty decent guy" either. You can't have it both ways, neither can your cheatin' buddy. You either stand for something, or you fall for anything...The guy's scum if you ask me and I would NEVER consider that person a decent guy. My $0.03 worth...

My stance on drugs in sport has changed dramatically over the course of the year. Infact it almost changes day to day...Personally I like 99% of you on this forum don't consider PED's an option but my stance on OTHERS doing this kind of thing is very blurred. Not everyone is brought up with the same moral's as me some ppl are brought up to win, some people are brought up to win and still be morally correct.

The OP seems to be stuck between a rock and a hard place in which I don't think he has any space to move. If there was any chance of mentioning it to this rider and still not reveal your source I think thats the best option. maybe something like this "Hey I hear your on HGH man, dont ask how I know this but what were the reasons for it? Im not being judgemental I am just interested".

If it were a junior rider and I had to compete against him then of course I would be disapointed. If I came 2nd to this rider I would be distraught and probably feel like revealing what he has done atleast to a few close mates/ rellies etc.

To the person who hoped there was a complication to the injection then YOU are the one with the problem. Good people do stupid things all the time its no reason to hope they die. He probably isn't even doing it for performance anyway. I doubt a small dose of HGH will do anything except get the guys confidence up!

I'm not 100% sure he has cheated, you are allowed drugs for disabilities etc etc. The issue is that the drug being taken to deal with the midlife issue has a side effect of enhancing his cycling performance. A loop hole ?

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Training Log

No loop hole. It's clearly listed as a banned substance.
http://www.asada.gov.au/substances/prohibitedlist.htm

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But what about "Therapeutic Use Exemptions" http://www.wada-ama.org/en/prohibitedlist.ch2 Appears that you need to have applied for an exemption.

Couldn't find the Australian rules on drugs.

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Training Log

You didn't look very hard at the link I posted! They are the Australian rules. We comply with WADA anyway.

TUEs are very limited in application (asthma inhalers & topical creams for certain inflammations is about it). The asthma TUE was tightened up significantly a year or two ago as it was getting silly. Apparently a ridiculously large percentage of the pro peleton had asthma.... now they don't.

I coach an athlete approaching menopause. The commonly prescribed hormone treatments are banned and she cannot get an exemption (she's tried). It makes for difficult choices for some people.

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Custom Training Plans -- cyclecoach.com -- My Blog -- Power Meter Hire in Australia

as was the case for Chris Boardman wanting medication to prevent his problems - which weren't allowed. Additionally, wasn't there a US rider in the Tour de France a few years ago who got stung (wasp/bee?) and needed some topical corticosteroid to reduce the inflammation (but wasn't allowed if he wished to continue in the race).

The rules are specific -- even if you need something as a medicine for a disease/condition you have, you're unlikely to get a TUE for it.

ric

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Jonathon Vaughters, St. 15, Tour de France 2001

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Gawd, was it almost six ago already

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