Testing The System

Did anyone catch this story a couple weeks ago?

http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-scotland-32983932

A cyclist decided to test out the drug test system by taking EPO on a careful regime, noticing his body's improvement, and getting regular screenings done to see whether he would trigger any red flags. He managed to improve his riding times pretty notably without setting off any warnings. It makes you wonder how many cyclists are doing this without even raising suspicion.

I also found it interesting how guilty he felt even though he made a point not to race during the time when he was being influenced by the performance enhancers.

 

Well, yeah, but I was surprised at how easy it was. At least when we were learning about Lance Armstrong's doping there were complicated maneuvers involving smuggling blood in dog kennels and large networks of people smuggling contraband. This just seemed so simple and straightforward, but also subtle enough that it would be nearly impossible to catch. It probably doesn't give the same level of benefit, but the lower risk of getting caught is probably worth it.

 

Yes, I had been told how Armstrong did it years ago. He was ahead of his time in doping technology. I am sure the science has advanced now but I do not have the sources of information I had at one time.

 

LOL at Lance being the seeming scapegoat for Blood dopers world wide. What he did was chicken shit compared to the guys in the 90's prior to the 50% HCT limit...

... Yet people still hold guys like Pantani that was often over 50% HCT (and fell foul of the 50% rule when it was implemented) in high regard. Once he couldn't cheat so much and had to stay under 50% his career turned to shit.

Lance got his "doping technology" from Ferrari and it was available to any of Ferrari's customers. Anyone remember Mapei taking first, second and third places for three years at Roubaix at the end of the 90's? They drank Ferrari's orange juice. Gweiss was another infamously strong team. same juice.It was also available to teams looked after by Ferrari's mentor, Conconni (of the fabled Conconi test) on teams like Carrera in the 80s and 90s.

IMHO, the big differentiator between Lance and his peers was his willingness to put in progressively massive amounts of training. The fabled 12 hour hard rides in the big hills around LA and Colorado for a couple of weeks. It's the massive blocks of work like this that are the feature of training that teams like Team Sky do for their chosen leaders in the mountain on Tenerife

 

I found this story to be quite interesting. I cannot believe anyone would go that far to use enhancement drugs. I think this is cheating. I do not believe cheaters are winners in any way. I find it interesting to know that someone would test the limits. At least he did not race while conducting his experiment.