Cat 1/2 doping

cdy291

Just how rampant is doping in the Cat 1/2 feilds. I did my fist Cat2 road race yesterday. And the guy who won I have questions about. I have known him for a while. Last year he was just a mediocre Cat3. Now this year he is one hell of a Cat2. I train with him alot and he is just stupid strong.

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bikerboy

Only the ones riding 49 min 40k time trials!!

iliveonnitro

Rampant? No. Does it happen? Probably...

Face it, most cat2's are just stupid strong. To get to cat2 requires actual performance -- you can't just upgrade by entering a lot of races.

I know someone who wins cat3 races and only rides like 4hrs/wk on a good week...If he trains, I'm sure he would be amazing. It's just genetics.

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My club: University of Illinois-Chicago Cycling

fscyclist

Great question and one I'd love to know the answer to. I think it is a lot higher than we expect. When I was racing I was very naive until the last few years when I saw guys that were mediocre for years make sudden unexplained jumps in performance. This was the mid 90's. I raced again for a short time in '03 and didn't notice any major increase in speed, only that a lot more people could hang. What I did notice was there were now a lot of super sprinters. I used to be a pretty decent sprinter, but these guys were ridiculous and not even pros. They all looked like Abdu. I don't really know how to describe it but cyclists don't even look the same as they did 15 years ago.

PED use among our youth is a major problem that gets little attention. Hang out or talk to guys btwn the ages of 17-25 and you'll find that steroid use is rampant. These guys aren't athletes, they're just trying to score. So don't think for a second that young athletes aren't using the same stuff.

As an aside, I haven't raced Masters, but have ridden with many. I think those dudes are using big time, else I hope I can still kick ass like that when I'm 45.

bikerboy

I have a teamate thats older, and I just cannot see him doing that crap. I got beat last year in a race by a couple 50+ guys. I'm 18... They still have the endurance, and field sprinting is won by experience. If there is a drug culture in masters, I would laugh!! I think if you get beat down, then use it as an excuse to make yourself feel better... I would then.

fscyclist

I've never taken a beating by a 50+ year old rider, so you're alone on that one. You also, quite obviously, know little about people who use or abuse drugs. If you think you can just spot a drug user or think that 'good guys' don't use, you're in for an awakening at some point.

johnnyspt

You know all these doping issues that people talk about in the US? We should all ask the pioneers of domestic doping: the guys that administered the blood doping in the 84 oylmpics. And most of them were high up in the USCF!

johnnyspt

Dr. Falsetti
Steve Hegg
Danny van Houte