My experience with drugs and blood doping

Originally Posted by House

I never asked for your name, merely what team you rode for and some of your results, but you couldn't give them. I asked where the proof that your first post implied and you have none. Which is the point I was getting at. You are just another person who claims they "know" what everyone is doing but can't provide any proof. We all know there is doping in cycling...and every other sport, but if you are going to claim everyone is doing it as a fact then bring real proof.

Originally Posted by lumpy

The question I have for TiMan is:

Why did you use so little testosterone? A standard first steroid cycle is at least 500mg/wk. Why didn't you use other products like EQ or deca with the test, which would have helped even more?

Originally Posted by TiMan

That's a body builders dose bro and would result in too much water and muscle weight gain even with an estrogen inhibitor like arimidex......but as little as 150mg/week will result in a doubling of free test in the body.
I heard EQ is good at about 400mg but never did it.

Originally Posted by sub55

TiMan ... I've heard of some Master's using a patch? Androderm or something like that which is supposed to bring levels back to "normal"?

Originally Posted by TiMan

The patch only provides a dose that brings your testosterone level into the mid normal range....it's for men that suffer from low natural testosterone levels due to age. But most men make plenty of testosterone even at age 60...yet some need a boost.

If you take the patch all it will do it shut down your own natural test production and hold you at about 500ng/dl(mid normal) range. Then your nuts would shrink because they are not putting out testosterone...and do if they atre small enough for long enough they may not return to normal if you stop the patch.
So if tbro's out there are going to take testosterone then I wouldn't take if for more than 4 months before going off.

Originally Posted by TiMan

I took 175 mg of testosterone per week by injection for one season.The ability to recover after repeated hard days was unreal. This dose of testosterone put my testosterone level above 1000ng/dl...about twice what a normal male puts out.
This is what the test does....it helps you recover. You can also get down below 6% body fat without loosing any muscle mass. On the down side test, and all steroids, will make you hold water weight and I was holding about 5 pounds I think. The water, however, is mainly intramuscular and it helps with strength a lot.

Sides.....acne, lost a bit of hair, and of course even a small dose of testosterone will shut down your natural testosterone production completely. When you stop it takes a while before your natural testosterone level comes back and you feel tired and with no sex drive at all.
Testosterone and all steroids will make your good cholesterol(hdl) basically disappear as well while "on" the stuff.




I also used EPO for 4 months 4000 iu's injected sub Q in the lower belly fat once a week to build, and then 1000 a week to hold. 4000iu's will bring your hematocrit up 1% a week.
I went up to 54% but even at 50%, the legal limit in the pro ranks , my performance was unreal.
My sustainable power output went from 350 to 420 in three months!!! That's a 20% gain!!!

Sides.....none because I checked my crit every three days with a portable crit tester.
I also NEVER got dehydrated and never went above 54%.
If anyone does not test their hematocrit at least weekly then they are idiots plain and simple.

Anyone that goes above 55% is an idiot because at night when your heart rate and blood pressure drops you can DIE simply because the heart is not getting enough oxygen.
By the way Riis and Pantani were well above 55% when they won "the tour".

At the time I was racing Cat 1 and I can tell you that most of the guys that were really good riders were on EPO or at least blood doping.

Now for the VERY COMMON way to blood dope.
Our team doctor would take about a liter of blood out of each of us a couple months before a big race. Then he would spin it in a centrifuge to rid the blood of plasma...what was left was pure red blood cells(packed cells). He would then drain the blood into blood bags, put preservative in it and put the whole nine yards in a frige at 33 degrees F. The day of the race we would infuse our own blood back. Each unit of packed cells(about 300cc) would increase our hematocrit about by 3!!! so if you infused 3 units you jumped 9 points....like from 45 to 54%!!!

Now I don't think that anyone should use drugs. I for one didn't like myself while I was "on". I always wondered about the guys in the back of the pack...what if they took drugs...maybe they would kick my ass. What about the pro's that don't use drugs ....maybe they would kick Armstrongs ass too.

SO...anyone who believes that Armstrong or any other top pro or even any top Cat 1 national level rider is clean simply lacks high level racing experince. Armstrong is an asshole for saying he has is clean......Greg Lemond know better. I do NOT wear the yellow wrist band!!!

Originally Posted by donrhummy

Very interesting stuff. Two things I'm wondering are:

1. What's everypone's natural hematocrit levels?
2. How much does a high hematocrit really help?

The reason I ask is that I'm natural, never taken drugs in my life and my hematocrit has been measured regularly at 47-49 (never goes below 47). Yet, I am not a very good cyclist. Obviously there are other factors but still...

Originally Posted by jsull14

Don, just curious how do you measure your hematocrit?

Originally Posted by TiMan

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At the time I was racing Cat 1 and I can tell you that most of the guys that were really good riders were on EPO or at least blood doping.

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SO...anyone who believes that Armstrong or any other top pro or even any top Cat 1 national level rider is clean simply lacks high level racing experince. Armstrong is an asshole for saying he has is clean......Greg Lemond know better. I do NOT wear the yellow wrist band!!!

Originally Posted by dwaller

This is very discouraging to hear if it is an accurate depiction of racing at the Cat 1 level in the US. My son is a very talented 15 year old junior, who has aspirations of perhaps making it some day to Cat 1. Based on what I've seen in his riding, I've told him that he could probably make it to Cat 1 if he was sufficiently dedicated and determined, but if he is competing with riders who are doping and they are actually boosting their FTPs by 20% through doping then I'm guessing he would probably not be able to get the results (riding cleanly) to make it to Cat 1 unless his talent is truly exceptional.