Part of my arguing with other people was the result of my concussion. And part of it is the endless arguments over fluff that other people have been exercising on these groups since they were formed. Normally CampyBob gave sound advice but once in awhile he would run off into the boonies and expected not to be called on it.
Most drugging in bicycling didn't make people faster - it gave them more endurance. The stuff that could make you faster, over the short term, you could almost smell on people let alone catch them in a drug test. The stuff that MIGHT make you faster over a longer term would give you cancer. Lance didn't go faster today from his EPO or blood transfusions - it made him as fast tomorrow as he was today. And a great deal of it was totally imaginary. For instance - the stage times in the Tour de France have continued to fall despite more and more difficult drug testing. Was this because of riders getting around the drug tests? Perhaps a little. But mostly because they simply have been shortening the stages. On flat stages you simply can't get faster than they were 15 years ago. They ARE getting faster on the climbing stages because of lighter bikes. But with reaching the weight limit that is also frozen.
I wrote to the UCI and suggested that if they drop the weight limit any more that the play racers that are the backbone of the cycling industry are going to start having bikes collapse under them. Essentially they told me to screw off and that they would do anything they like.
The way that the UCI dealt with Lance is disgraceful. Lance MADE professional cycling. As great as Hinault, Merckx and others were it was a sport confined to Europe. First Andy Hampsten, Greg Lemond and then most importantly Lance made the Grand Tours a world sport. Lance was an asshole? Do you have the idea that Merckx was the nicest guy to ever stand on a pedal? He wasn't called the cannibal for nothing.
A lifetime ban after what Lance gave to the sport is an ignorance that can't be forgiven. He made doping scientific for sure. But had he not do you suppose Dr. Ferrari wouldn't have found someone else? And not Ferrari someone else? They gave drugs to American soldiers in combat in case you didn't know.
Personally I hate drugs. They killed a brother and have crippled other relatives. I have twin nephew and niece that wanted to meet their brother and it was extremely difficult to tell them to stay as far away from him as possible. That they don't have any idea of how lucky they were to be adopted by good, loving and moral parents. And maybe, just maybe, he is on the road to recovery. But he is over 40 and what will he ever do with his life now? At least Lance's efforts were directed at SUCCESS in a sport.
Someday perhaps we can have a sport in which all of the achievements are completely based upon human power. But NONE of those sports exist today. Hell, when tennis players use drugs to improve their performance you have to wonder if golfers aren't using drugs to calm their jitters.
