I Dope NY
- Thread starter CAMPYBOB
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Dave kicked my ass so many times I STILL have his cleat marks on my butt. Damn, was he fast. There's a thread on his bust/admission here in the dopage forum.
http://www.cyclingforums.com/t/499543/us-cycling-athlete-leduc-accepts-sanction-for-anti-doping-rule-violation
I remember doing a crit in WV and the first 10-15 laps were at warp speed with a couple of locomotives pulling hard. LeDuc went to the front and disappeared into the distance. He was on the podium pretty much every time I saw him.
"LeDuc, who lives in Willow Spring, admitted to using an array of performance-enhancing drugs: amphetamines; synthetic testosterone; and EPO,..."
I KNEW I should have got on the band wagon 30 years ago. Racing was always painful, but in the late 80's training, nutrition, bike technology and 'other things' made it very hard.
Read more here: http://www.newsobserver.com/2013/12/31/3498676/legendary-local-bicycle-racer.html#storylink=cpy
http://www.cyclingforums.com/t/499543/us-cycling-athlete-leduc-accepts-sanction-for-anti-doping-rule-violation
I remember doing a crit in WV and the first 10-15 laps were at warp speed with a couple of locomotives pulling hard. LeDuc went to the front and disappeared into the distance. He was on the podium pretty much every time I saw him.
"LeDuc, who lives in Willow Spring, admitted to using an array of performance-enhancing drugs: amphetamines; synthetic testosterone; and EPO,..."
I KNEW I should have got on the band wagon 30 years ago. Racing was always painful, but in the late 80's training, nutrition, bike technology and 'other things' made it very hard.
Read more here: http://www.newsobserver.com/2013/12/31/3498676/legendary-local-bicycle-racer.html#storylink=cpy
The article mentioned some of the dangers around amphetamines and EPO but I seem to be hearing more and more about the potential downsides of testosterone therapy outweighing the benefits. I used to joke about using it to stay competitive with the twenty somethings but would never consider it these days.Originally Posted by WillemJM
Sigh.....
Since surrendering to old age, I have been chasing this dude for three years now, finally he cuts me a break.
http://www.newsobserver.com/2013/12/31/3498676/legendary-local-bicycle-racer.html
I gather there are a number of reasons for cheating, but as someone who is not getting any younger I find a profound sadness in this comment from the article: “and there are people out there who say why would a 62-year-old man do this,†she said. “Clearly they don’t understand masters racing, because you have folks who want to stay relevant."
Moving out to pasture is an inevitable part of life, and one can either embrace it or deny it. Regardless, the pasture awaits us all. We can only hope when we get there, we are somewhat content with the lives we've lived, made amends with those we've loved, and had a go at everything we'd dared dream of. As a 46 year young racer, I may be simply being naive in making such a statement, but while I feel no sympathy for LA, I feel kinda sorry for this dude.
Read more here: http://www.newsobserver.com/2013/12/31/3498676/legendary-local-bicycle-racer.html#storylink=cpy
Damn, Dan...that's pretty profound.
Yeah, I'm already in that pasture and the gate's been locked. All I can do is charge the fence and keep trying to jump it!
I wouldn't feel sorry for Dave LeDuc. He's a racer's racer. He'll kick more ass on training rides during his 2-year vacation than you and I and Swampy and Willem will have done in our lives. I figure he'll come back strong and still be winning $5 medals if they have to pull him out of a wheelchair and sit him on a bike with a white-coat orderly on either side of him until he gets rolling.
Yeah, I'm already in that pasture and the gate's been locked. All I can do is charge the fence and keep trying to jump it!
I wouldn't feel sorry for Dave LeDuc. He's a racer's racer. He'll kick more ass on training rides during his 2-year vacation than you and I and Swampy and Willem will have done in our lives. I figure he'll come back strong and still be winning $5 medals if they have to pull him out of a wheelchair and sit him on a bike with a white-coat orderly on either side of him until he gets rolling.
I started racing (amateur, in the U.S.) when doping was still "normal" in professional cycling. Then Tommy Simpson died on Mont Ventoux and everything changed. This was the mid to late 60's in California. I would never have passed a modern drug test although it was off the bike recreational use, or after a race when I had to go work the midnight shift. It was a different time.
What is so sad to me is that every "doper" in professional cycling had to do a heck of a lot more than dope to perform at that level. I think there is a general misconception in the general public about the extent to which "doping" makes a difference in performance. The folks on this forum surely understand that even the marginal advantage offered by EPO, for example, can make the difference between winning and losing. What it doesn't do is substitute for consistent training or make it hurt less (well, maybe a little less.)
When I watched Lance in The Armstrong Lie there was a moment when the facade cracked. I believe he was recalling a performance when he was racing "clean" and knowing that none of that matters anymore. He is tainted and no one will ever believe anything he says, even if it is the truth.
I despise what LA did to cycling, but his greatest sin was the way he treated his teammates, friends, and others. He is a bully and an egomaniac. Imagine if, after winning a couple of Tours he said, "Wait a minute - I want to win but I want to win clean. This has to stop." He might have been the only person at that time who could have stepped up and made a difference. That makes him a coward as well.
Doping seems a bit like a black hole - sucking the beautiful sport of cycling into its maw. If this is a story, how does it end? How can it end?
What is so sad to me is that every "doper" in professional cycling had to do a heck of a lot more than dope to perform at that level. I think there is a general misconception in the general public about the extent to which "doping" makes a difference in performance. The folks on this forum surely understand that even the marginal advantage offered by EPO, for example, can make the difference between winning and losing. What it doesn't do is substitute for consistent training or make it hurt less (well, maybe a little less.)
When I watched Lance in The Armstrong Lie there was a moment when the facade cracked. I believe he was recalling a performance when he was racing "clean" and knowing that none of that matters anymore. He is tainted and no one will ever believe anything he says, even if it is the truth.
I despise what LA did to cycling, but his greatest sin was the way he treated his teammates, friends, and others. He is a bully and an egomaniac. Imagine if, after winning a couple of Tours he said, "Wait a minute - I want to win but I want to win clean. This has to stop." He might have been the only person at that time who could have stepped up and made a difference. That makes him a coward as well.
Doping seems a bit like a black hole - sucking the beautiful sport of cycling into its maw. If this is a story, how does it end? How can it end?
Cyclists have doped from day one. After 120 years of doping I seriously doubt there will be major changes in the pattern. The technology will probably change, but human nature?
The lure of the $5 medal is strong. Toss a few million dollars on top of the medal and...
The lure of the $5 medal is strong. Toss a few million dollars on top of the medal and...
I have lost the $5 lure, since it no longer pays for a new tube.
What keeps me going is maintaining that lean % of body fat.
See, it happens to all of us once we stop riding competitively, we get a new tube around the waste and the legs go thin.
Scroll down to pic 9.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2535970/Shirtless-Lance-Armstrong-enjoys-Hawaii-vacation-bikini-clad-girlfriend-children-previous-marriage.html
What keeps me going is maintaining that lean % of body fat.
See, it happens to all of us once we stop riding competitively, we get a new tube around the waste and the legs go thin.
Scroll down to pic 9.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2535970/Shirtless-Lance-Armstrong-enjoys-Hawaii-vacation-bikini-clad-girlfriend-children-previous-marriage.html
Quote by Dan:
"But wait, these things are worth $5?"
Only if you have an accompanying framed copy of your old license, bib number and official finish line photo with at least one hand in the air.
At your estate auction...6 months after you've shuffled off to that great Cat. 4 crit at the Pearly Gates...your grieving widow will be thankful for the $1 bid that box of dusty trophies, ribbons and plaques brought.
I won TWO $20 primes (can I get a hallelujah?) at a local crit before detonating to a back-course exit. My most profitable 'career' day evar? The U.S. promoter of the Para-Olympics came to announce another local crit and offered me a carton of Marlboros (he knew me from racing the Para-Olympics and I did just show up to the starting line with a cig and a smirk) if I won a chase group prime. I attacked on the back straight and cruised to the flawless victory prime win. The payout turned out to be the usual $20 bill. That covered the entry, IIRC.
I guess I should have went the LeDuc Training Plan. I may have even earned enough to have to declare my winnings on the 1040 and been able to deduct my travel expenses.
I still don't begrudge Dave, or anyone else, their wins. I would, however, appreciate it if he showed up one day and pulled his cleats out of my backside!
Hey...I'll trade you a custom fired second place plaque (awesome white tile mounted on genuine varnished oak wood!) from the East Liverpool Pottery Road Race for your Bear Mountain fake bronze medal! We'll both look like pro's that traveled far and wide to score glorious finishes at exotic locations!
"But wait, these things are worth $5?"
Only if you have an accompanying framed copy of your old license, bib number and official finish line photo with at least one hand in the air.
At your estate auction...6 months after you've shuffled off to that great Cat. 4 crit at the Pearly Gates...your grieving widow will be thankful for the $1 bid that box of dusty trophies, ribbons and plaques brought.
I won TWO $20 primes (can I get a hallelujah?) at a local crit before detonating to a back-course exit. My most profitable 'career' day evar? The U.S. promoter of the Para-Olympics came to announce another local crit and offered me a carton of Marlboros (he knew me from racing the Para-Olympics and I did just show up to the starting line with a cig and a smirk) if I won a chase group prime. I attacked on the back straight and cruised to the flawless victory prime win. The payout turned out to be the usual $20 bill. That covered the entry, IIRC.
I guess I should have went the LeDuc Training Plan. I may have even earned enough to have to declare my winnings on the 1040 and been able to deduct my travel expenses.
I still don't begrudge Dave, or anyone else, their wins. I would, however, appreciate it if he showed up one day and pulled his cleats out of my backside!
Hey...I'll trade you a custom fired second place plaque (awesome white tile mounted on genuine varnished oak wood!) from the East Liverpool Pottery Road Race for your Bear Mountain fake bronze medal! We'll both look like pro's that traveled far and wide to score glorious finishes at exotic locations!
LOL Gotta love that wear and tear on the Bear Mountain medal.Originally Posted by danfoz
Seriously.
But wait, these things are worth $5?
That brings my career winning total to 10 bucks.... Woopdeedoo! Hopefully I can make it to $15 before I'm done here.
Yeah, living at the bottom of various toolboxes over the years I've given them about as much respect as Rodney DangerfieldOriginally Posted by WillemJM
LOL Gotta love that wear and tear on the Bear Mountain medal.
And Bob, to my credit they're both silver's. The Spring Series medal I didn't know about till way after the race. The 3's were passing us at the end of our bell lap and their pace car announced on the bullhorn for us to move over, and I was like **** that and punched it as hard as I could. Lord knows how the marshals deciphered the clusterfuck across the finish line but as I was saying goodbye to my buds getting ready to ride off into the sunset one of them announced "Hey you, with the American Flyer, come get your medal!". But I would have indeed failed a drug test that day... right next to Cheech and Chong.
There's no license for the Bear Mountain race. It was my first race, on a "public" license. I was 15 years old, racing with the men. My body hadn't yet realized it wasn't supposed to do the things I made it do that day, a day which sealed my fate as a bike racer for life, and they'll have to pry that one from my cold dead hands.
Quote by Dan:
"Lord knows how the marshals deciphered the clusterfuck across the finish line...!"
Yeah...been in the middle of those and the 'discussions' afterwards that sorted things out. Move over, my ass! That's my ticket out of this bunch of wheelsuckahs!
"But I would have indeed failed a drug test that day... right next to Cheech and Chong."
Remember the scene in "Up In Smoke" where the Chebbie was filled up with thick smoke?
Picture two USCF refs holding up a field of 200 already lined up riders for five minutes while a certain team van screeched to a stop in a parking lot...doors flying open as smoke rolled out and a spastic Chinese fire drill of wheels being slammed into frames, tires being pumped and numbers being hurriedly pinned on took place in full view of the entire field...yeah. We lived the dream!
Somewhere...there's a bunch of racers that still shake their heads as they remember that scene.
"Lord knows how the marshals deciphered the clusterfuck across the finish line...!"
Yeah...been in the middle of those and the 'discussions' afterwards that sorted things out. Move over, my ass! That's my ticket out of this bunch of wheelsuckahs!
"But I would have indeed failed a drug test that day... right next to Cheech and Chong."
Remember the scene in "Up In Smoke" where the Chebbie was filled up with thick smoke?
Picture two USCF refs holding up a field of 200 already lined up riders for five minutes while a certain team van screeched to a stop in a parking lot...doors flying open as smoke rolled out and a spastic Chinese fire drill of wheels being slammed into frames, tires being pumped and numbers being hurriedly pinned on took place in full view of the entire field...yeah. We lived the dream!
Somewhere...there's a bunch of racers that still shake their heads as they remember that scene.
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