How Many Here Would Dope?

[Skoorb]

Well, there's one thing that these responses are lacking. Pro cyclists are EXTREMELY COMPETITIVE. They look for any edge or advantage and in the case of cycling it is doping.

There has been a poll like this amongst athletes done somewhere. The question was if you could be #1 in your sport for one year, and then be out of it/dead, would you do it? While you can discount my credibility since I can't remember the source, but the response among the athletes was an overwhelming yes.

It's that edge that helps them get to their level and it is that edge that in many cases lands them broken without hitting #1

I cannot believe most elites would answer yes to that. Many do have some idea of a life beyond their training and selling one's life to be at the top for a year is something I think only somebody with exceptional mental deficiencies would say yes to.

 

[Trev_S]

You normally post some good stuff Trev but thats ****ing shithouse.

Yeah true!
I think it sounded better in my head at the time
back to the ol' drawing board

 

[thoughtforfood]

I cannot believe most elites would answer yes to that. Many do have some idea of a life beyond their training and selling one's life to be at the top for a year is something I think only somebody with exceptional mental deficiencies would say yes to.

I voted yes based upon the fact that I have not always fallen on the good side of moral issues in the past. I try not to really rail on anyone but Cadel because I have faced many moral choices that I did not do the right thing on. Actually, most times I made the decision to do the less than honest thing, it was usually a choice that was only slightly bad, really didn't "hurt" anyone, and initially seemed to slide around my conscience. (ALWAYS having burdened me in the future with some consequence I had not forseen.)

I believe in a couple of spiritual truths:
1. You do reap what you sew.
2. When you dance with the devil, you don't lead, he does.

But that hasn't always stopped me.

 

[shadowboxer]

I cannot believe most elites would answer yes to that. Many do have some idea of a life beyond their training and selling one's life to be at the top for a year is something I think only somebody with exceptional mental deficiencies would say yes to.

Ah, I remembered a similar study - maybe this is the one:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/07/28/AR2007072801369_pf.html
In the mid-1990s, sports medicine specialist Robert Goldman dropped a poisonous question in the locker rooms of Olympic athletes, informally wondering the following:

"If I had a drug that was so fantastic that if you took it once, you would win every competition you would enter, from Olympic decathlon to the Mr. Universe, for the next five years. But it had one minor drawback: It would kill you five years after you took it. Would you still take it?"

Fifty-two percent of those he asked said they would.


It's depressing, no? In fact, I believe only a few answered that they would give it absolutely no consideration.

I never have been at a level to contemplate that question seriously, so I can't really say what I would do, I guess. I'd like to think that I could see a little farther down the road than that. Then again, I'm not an elite athlete who has dedicated their life (up to that point) to athletic performance, and whose entire self-image - and the respect/adoration of millions of fans - is tied directly to the timing sheets.

Nor do I have to watch others who possess similar genetic traits and training ethos kick my a$$ up one side of the mountain and down the other...then have to explain it to my sponsors and team principals...

 

[Lonnie Utah]

Heck, I just wanna know where I can get some cheap chinese EPO so I can crush the guys I ride with @ work. I don't want glory, I just want people to suffer...

 

[obxbes]

When I was in college I just tried my hardest and studied as much as I could to get the best grades. Being of average intelligence I got average grades, mostly B's. I was studying one night with a group of A students who weren't pouring over their books and notes but filling there extra exam blue books with notes. It's amazing how my exam scores increased going forward.
As just a recreational cyclist who gets out as much as he can and goes as fast as he can wouldn't it be great to average over 20mph every time you went out. I hate it when I can't push as hard as I can push after a lay off with the knowledge that if I don't gradually increase the intensity I am going to feel like ****.
It doesn't matter if you lose until you lose.

Heck, I just wanna know where I can get some cheap chinese EPO so I can crush the guys I ride with @ work. I don't want glory, I just want people to suffer...

 

[JAPANic]

If your doctor diagnosed you as being testosterone defficient and put you on a testosterone replacement therapy... would you stop racing?

 

[Crankyfeet]

Ok, so far 51 say they'd dope, 47 say "no". All 51 dopers I think would dope in reality and probably only a third of the "no dopers" would actually stay clean once they faced expulsion from their team because they kept getting dropped at training. So here, as in the peleton, the majority dope.

No wonder we talk all day about this subject, we are all mostly dopers ourselves. So if we want to keep our collective self esteem, we should conclude that the system is f#%@ed and the riders really have no choice.

 

[Klodifan]

Ok, so far 51 say they'd dope, 47 say "no". All 51 dopers I think would dope in reality and probably only a third of the "no dopers" would actually stay clean once they faced expulsion from their team because they kept getting dropped at training. So here, as in the peleton, the majority dope.

No wonder we talk all day about this subject, we are all mostly dopers ourselves. So if we want to keep our collective self esteem, we should conclude that the system is f#%@ed and the riders really have no choice.

just wanted to say, I really enjoy reading your posts! LOL

 

[Crankyfeet]

just wanted to say, I really enjoy reading your posts! LOL

Thanks Klodifan. I like yours as well. Though I don't want to get into a debate on Klodi's possible drug habit, I was going for him and Cadel in the TDF. I especially was going for him after he dropped back to help Grandma Vino (nice of Vino to return the favor..not). I couldn't understand why the team let Klodi drop back as he was my pick to win the GC at that stage....but then again..it was a team solely set up for the Kazakh kid.

I was astonished at how little support both he and Evans got in the media prior to the race. AFAIWC they both were proven climbers and time-triallers who could last the three weeks. Maybe its just that they are the quiet achiever types whom the media don't tend to like.

 

[hard boiled]

Probably not. It'd be a hard thing for me to do. But I wouldn't be particularly bothered if someone else doped, either. Not on the icky-needle or pure-soul level, anyway. If I knew things and didn't like the doper, I'd probably be prepared to make revelations. I think this is why LA has a problem.

 

[HenryLaRoy]

Nope. I'm a competitive jerk. I like winning too much to give the honors to a pharmacist.

 

[Klodifan]

I was astonished at how little support both he and Evans got in the media prior to the race. AFAIWC they both were proven climbers and time-triallers who could last the three weeks. Maybe its just that they are the quiet achiever types whom the media don't tend to like.

I think you nailed it on the head. They are more quiet in that way. It was all about Vino's ups and downs. They didnt even profile evans until the very last week and klodi got one 10 second interview. Print media was better, but still, annoying, especially over here in the States. It was non stop disco propaganda, and big george hincapie, blah blah blah, as if he were a real GC contender! lol! then when they couldnt deny how crappy he was riding the focued shifted to levi. but, I digress.

For the purposes of this thread, no, i would not dope. In fact, i dont injest any sort of drug, not even for a headache. i am very much a purist. drugs weaken the body, regardless of benefits to a certain area, another part of your body will suffer. I havent taken drugs in over 9 years and I have never gotten sick in that time.

a good healthy and balanced diet and exersice... the natural drug

 

[JAPANic]

Very dissapointed with the results in this poll so far. I bet the 52% who would dope are the same people who voted for Bush.

 

[Crankyfeet]

Maybe we should bump this to see if there are any new members who haven't yet voted.

 

[ad9898]

No, the way I think you gotta be true to yourself, if money is a driving factor in your life and nothing else then doping is probably the way to go

On the other hand if competing and getting the absolute best out of yourself is your goal, then its definately no, whats the point??, you cant lie to yourself.

Take the Riis situation, in '96 the guy would seem to have done anything for the yellow jersey, yet 12 years on it means **** to him, why??, because dope gave him instant gratification of winning but in the long term your just cheating yourself.

If your "best" isn't quite good enough then thats just the way it is.

 

[JAPANic]

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=dyqyVKSJiOM

 

[ad9898]

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=dyqyVKSJiOM

lol

 

[Malkmus]

I am doping as I write this. I am going old school style. Just taken some strychnine and I am feeling fine. Gotta go. Mister Softee is outside.

 

[Malkmus]

I actually am not voting. The way the question is presented skews my position a bit. I would dope to survive and keep the job. I don't think I would dope to win. Splitting hairs. I know. I don't like cheating.