Roche's C.E.R.A.; Blood fuel for Champs!

[Flyer]

More annoying names to mention:

The sad fact is that the medicines mean more to results than do the athlete. There are many talented athletes, but only a few effective doping techniques. Thus, these Italian doctors have found a lucrative niche business.

This drug began Clinical Phase III trials in 2004.

C.E.R.A. "Continuous Erythropoietin Activator'

A new super EPO booster drug, More potent, faster acting and longer lasting.

Just what the sports medicine doctor ordered.

Read about it. It's more effective on performance than is a new Pinarello Magma FS

http://www.roche.com/inv-update-2003-12-08c

http://www.roche.com/inv-update-2004-11-01d


Danilo Di Luca wanted his 'go-fast-juice' by the 2004 TDF at the very latest---then got uninvited by those hypocrites (businessmen) who run that circus.

Lance stays in, and a Tour of Lombardy winner gets the sack. Go figure how doping affects even the very appearance of performance.

Insofar as testing---this one ought to be more slippery than araNESP given it's longer lasting effects on front-end loaded dosages.

Amgen has DynEPO which competes with this idea.

 

[Flyer]

That's CERA,


Continuous Erythropoiesis Receptor Activator


Sick anemics do one injection every three weeks.

Lord knows what doses/frequency a professional stage racer would do?
Doses are adjusted based upon weight and other factors--such as # of years of EPO abuse.

 

[Laggard]

Shut up, Flyer.

 

[Flyer]

Yet another cerebral poster! Slow but sure?

CERA boosts endurance and sustainable power. Sadly it cannot cure ignorance or apathy.

I am told there are other drugs for those behaviors.
Certainly alcohol goes well with watching pro sport.

I wonder how Nectar controls the CERA supply or can you just mix it up in the field?

Shut up, Flyer.

 

[Laggard]

Shut up, Flyer.

 

[bspeedy00]

Shut up flyer

 

[Flyer]

Winning at all costs must STOP!

So too must whining at all costs!


http://www.legalball.com/Cycling-News.html

HBOC, CERA and other blood manipulations is unacceptable for racing bicycles.

Those who defend such practices are no fans.

 

[lumpy]

So Flyer, if you were a top level competitor and knew your opponents were doping, and saw the difference it makes, would you dope?
If you do you're a cheater, if you don't, you aren't competitive and loose your line of work.

Pandoras box is open and there is no going back.

 

[Flyer]

That's a very simple question for me.

No, I would chose to pass on the anemia and insulin and growth hormones. I might be forced to use some trauma medicines in stage racing (corticosteroids & sleeping pills and caffeine/stimulant) or DNF.

But, my less than positive answer would doom me to a non-professional life in bike racing. That's that.

Most people at CAT 1 level with a District or National Title are not going to walk away without giving it a go. Many people with less time/emotion invested might try it w/o dope, then quickly wash out demoralized. (I know plenty of these guys)

I appreciate the question. But for a amateur cyclist wanting to go pro--such questions are seldom posed or framed in this frank and unambiguous manner.

It's more in the way of: Here is the training plan for January. Be sure to do it--all of it.

If you are fatiqued then you need to look after yourself. You are not an amateur anymore. See the trainer or go see the doctor.

If you can't keep pace on the tempo rides we'll have to cut you. You'll never be able to do the intensity drills at such a slow conditioning progress rate.

What do you mean your knee hurt? You must ride that big gear all day on the climbs--else you'll get gapped off.

Them's the rules. Not everyone can be a pro.

Great post!!!

So Flyer, if you were a top level competitor and knew your opponents were doping, and saw the difference it makes, would you dope?
If you do you're a cheater, if you don't, you aren't competitive and loose your line of work.

Pandoras box is open and there is no going back.

 

[Laggard]

Shut up, Flyer.

 

[limerickman]

So Flyer, if you were a top level competitor and knew your opponents were doping, and saw the difference it makes, would you dope?
If you do you're a cheater, if you don't, you aren't competitive and loose your line of work.

Pandoras box is open and there is no going back.

Good question.

I was fortunate to cycle, as an amateur, along with guys who went on to the
professional ranks.
Guys like Martin Earley, Stephen Roche, Paul Kimmage.
I was a moderately successful cyclist - lucky to be part of a team of very talented cyclists.

I do ask myself, if I had sufficient talent to go professional, would I have had the moral courage to say "no" to drugs.
The fact that I was never good enough to go professional, makes the question, in reality, redundant.

I would like to think that I would have had the moral courage to refuse but then I suppose, I'd be fired for poor results.

 

[Catabolic Jones]

I know some have greater moral fortitude than I do. I know that I would be able to resist NOW, but the ethical quandary has fortunately been erased by time; if, however, I had been pursuing this sport since I was 12, dedicated everything to it, and at 20 been told that without steroids, HGH, EPO, etc I wouldn't be able to fulfil my dream...Would I then have the intrepidity to alter my dream? No, I think I would have done it. Luckily I have the luxury of mediocre talent and a late start to make it all simple for me.

Really really serious doping probably didn't start until the 90's, and it will be interesting to see what happens to that era's crop of riders in about 10 years.

 

[wilmar13]

I know some have greater moral fortitude than I do. I know that I would be able to resist NOW, but the ethical quandary has fortunately been erased by time; if, however, I had been pursuing this sport since I was 12, dedicated everything to it, and at 20 been told that without steroids, HGH, EPO, etc I wouldn't be able to fulfil my dream...Would I then have the intrepidity to alter my dream? No, I think I would have done it. Luckily I have the luxury of mediocre talent and a late start to make it all simple for me.

Really really serious doping probably didn't start until the 90's, and it will be interesting to see what happens to that era's crop of riders in about 10 years.

Not me, I can say with utmost certainty that I am an ethical and moral person but... I would not hesitate to yield to what some people would call doping. I am not talking about putting anything in my body at any cost for a slight advantage(steroids, cocaine, etc.), but if I were a Pro (or had the genetics to become one), and I had a Dr. I trusted telling me "this is legal, because they haven't outlawed it yet, this is safe, blah blah blah", I would go for it. Be very careful and notice I am saying anything not illegal or known to be harmful, as in will not get busted for and will hopefully not have health problems as a result (or rather is not proven to have negative health ramifications). In other words you are just looking for that advantage while remaining within the confines of what is "legal". But isn't that the crux of competition? It is all about finding ways to make yourself better and to exploit your opponents weaknesses within the confines of what is deemed acceptable by some governing body.

I mean where do you draw the line with regards to what constitutes doping? Taking vitamins, using Cytomax (Gatorade, whatever), sleeping in a hyperbaric chamber, using the next breakthrough undetectable hematocrit booster ( to a "safe" level)? One could argue this is rationalization of doing what is wrong, but who defines right and wrong? I mean if you are within the confines of what the UCI has defined, are you really cheating? Or what about if you figure out a way to beat the tests? If a tree falls in a forest and no one sees it...

 

[wolfix]

Good question.

I was fortunate to cycle, as an amateur, along with guys who went on to the
professional ranks.
Guys like Martin Earley, Stephen Roche, Paul Kimmage.
I was a moderately successful cyclist - lucky to be part of a team of very talented cyclists.

I do ask myself, if I had sufficient talent to go professional, would I have had the moral courage to say "no" to drugs.
The fact that I was never good enough to go professional, makes the question, in reality, redundant.

I would like to think that I would have had the moral courage to refuse but then I suppose, I'd be fired for poor results.

My story is about the same as yours ..... Just a different country. I did face the drug issue...... Even though the drugs I faced were not doctor nor team supplied..... At that time I was a minor recreational drug user, but the drugs that occurred in cycling was the amphetimines..... [spelling ?]
I did try them in , but not during competion...... Just out on long training rides...... All I remember was I was terrified that my heart was going to explode. I was at a regional race and watched several riders inject themselves ...... With what , I do not know. This was 25 years ago. But yet , my team mate and close friend , who dominated the races he was in , was clean as you could get. I felt most of the top riders were also. Of course, of all these riders , none of them rode in Europe.... Just very good regional riders.....

 

[limerickman]

My story is about the same as yours ..... Just a different country. I did face the drug issue...... Even though the drugs I faced were not doctor nor team supplied..... At that time I was a minor recreational drug user, but the drugs that occurred in cycling was the amphetimines..... [spelling ?]
I did try them in , but not during competion...... Just out on long training rides...... All I remember was I was terrified that my heart was going to explode. I was at a regional race and watched several riders inject themselves ...... With what , I do not know. This was 25 years ago. But yet , my team mate and close friend , who dominated the races he was in , was clean as you could get. I felt most of the top riders were also. Of course, of all these riders , none of them rode in Europe.... Just very good regional riders.....

Yeah, we must be around the same age because amphetamines were the thing when I was competing too.

Like you, I was scared stiff of taking anything.
I also did not agree with having to take stuff either.
I never took anything.

Two of my team mates died young - one of liver cancer, another of heart failure.
They took stuff.
I sometimes wonder did they put their system under too much pressure by taking stuff that they developed these health problems that later caused their deaths.

Like you, I know that the guys who were winning were clean at the time.

 

[lumpy]

I think the most unfortunate fact is that these drugs are incredibly easy to order from overseas and it's the kids that are getting them.

Look at the steroid usage in highschool - and most of them aren't serious athletes - just guys trying to look buffed. Just go to Mexico and you can get most anything - Walmart in Cancun sells veterinary steroids! Hell, you can make your own testosterone propionate from legally available products here in the USA! EPO is over the counter in India! Pandoras box is open and everyone is using.

If you're a junior racer with big dreams, you're naturally going to do everything you can to be stronger. It's a small step to shooting EPO or steroids. You can get it from a friend in gym class!

I guess my point is that if top level competitors want to do them, then let them under a doctors (and the sports regulating body) supervision. They're already all over the place and coming in daily from China.

I don't see how to remove them from sport. I think the only real solution is to control them. Test for set levels of the various performance improving drugs and penalize any competitor who exceeds the limit.

I remember the amphetemines and the idea they made you faster. Wasn't Eddie Mercx caught once with too much caffeine or something?

Anyway, that's my 2¢

 

[Flyer]

Eddie Merckx tested positive three separate times during his career. Three different brands of stimulant each time. Giro, Lombardy, and finally his Tour of Flanders.

Merckx denied using dope each and every time. He was in tears after his Giro disqualification, crying like a baby. He even sounded like Tyler Hamilton or do I have that reversed?

He said; 'I have always been an honest rider' 'I use my legs and nothing else'

We had to wait until 1988 when Eddie finally came clean with a confession.

It is this missing confession which sustains the Lance Armstrong's business franchise and myth.

Even if Lance's secured Ferrari doping dosages website were revealed, he needs only to deny it.

If American baseball players in all positions require steroids, imagine the impressive medical trauma chest for a grand tour european cyclist?

And still no testing for most of the drugs! When a cyclist tells you that they are tested like lab rats---they are, but by the covert drug researchers, NOT WADA. Lab rats are used for commercial purposes, not sport.

I think the most unfortunate fact is that these drugs are incredibly easy to order from overseas and it's the kids that are getting them.

Look at the steroid usage in highschool - and most of them aren't serious athletes - just guys trying to look buffed. Just go to Mexico and you can get most anything - Walmart in Cancun sells veterinary steroids! Hell, you can make your own testosterone propionate from legally available products here in the USA! EPO is over the counter in India! Pandoras box is open and everyone is using.

If you're a junior racer with big dreams, you're naturally going to do everything you can to be stronger. It's a small step to shooting EPO or steroids. You can get it from a friend in gym class!

I guess my point is that if top level competitors want to do them, then let them under a doctors (and the sports regulating body) supervision. They're already all over the place and coming in daily from China.

I don't see how to remove them from sport. I think the only real solution is to control them. Test for set levels of the various performance improving drugs and penalize any competitor who exceeds the limit.

I remember the amphetemines and the idea they made you faster. Wasn't Eddie Mercx caught once with too much caffeine or something?

Anyway, that's my 2¢

 

[House]

Could you please provide a link to the Merckx admission. I did a quick search and didn't find it. Thanks.

 

[Flyer]

Eddie Merckx went publicly positive three times:


1969 Giro: Reactivan (Amphetamines) 30 day suspension, abandoned with a tearful denial!

1973 Tour of Lombardy, Ephedrine (stimulant), DQ

1977 Fleche Wallone, Stimul (pemoline), DQ

You can add top Belgian sprinter/persuiter Freddy Maertens to the list and his seven public positives!
If you ever care to study our sport, you will then understand that doping and procycling are linked.

Always have, always will.

 

[House]

Could you please provide a link to the Merckx admission. I did a quick search and didn't find it. Thanks.

Once again I ask for a link to his admission that you keep talking about, not tests, but the words from him.