I was at a get together that had a number of racers at it. One guy, who I honestly don't really know (he's a regular racer but it was the first time I'd seen him "on purpose" outside of a bike race) asked me about EPO. It ends up he bought a lot of it but has never used it. Or that's what he told me anyway. He's a Cat 3. I have no idea why he asked me all those questions. I hadn't seen, nor have I seen, any kind of substantial change in his performance, not any more than what appears on the surface (meaning if he gained a lot of weight he got worse, if he lost a lot of weight he got better, but he didn't go from being pack fill to lapping the field in every race).
While working registration at a race this year I was asked, pretty aggressively, if there'd be testing at a RR. It was the New England and CT championships and USADA had appeared the prior year I think. I don't know for sure if they did (I didn't see anything because registration was in a different location) but that's what someone told me. I don't know the rider at all but he was registering for either the 50+ or 60+. I have no idea if he actually raced.
I don't think a lot of people dope, like "I'm trying to dope" doping, not taking stuff that claims to boost EPO levels naturally or whatever. However I think there is a significant but small number of people that do dope.
Honestly, if I looked at my own riding in 2010, I'd think I was doping. I was so much better than literally the 12-14 years prior. I was skinnier by a ton, I could finish some tough races, and I could play while I raced. So it's tough to say, "okay, someone's doping" just by looking at their racing. You'd have to look at historical stuff, etc. So my 2010 year was phenomenal and I was 155 lbs (vs 190 lbs at the start of 2009) but only had a 220w FTP, give or take. If my FTP was suddenly 300w then that would ring a lot of alarm bells. If I was a lot skinnier, like 130 lbs - 155 was about 13% body fat - then that could mean something. But 155 lbs was as light as I could get at the time, and I couldn't lose weight during racing season. I still had a paunch, still didn't quite fit a medium jersey, but hell, I was a lot better than I was at 185-210 lbs.
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"...during the Lance years, being fit became the No. 1 thing. Totally the only thing. It’s a big part of what we do, but fitness is not the only thing. There’s skills, there’s tactics … there’s all kinds of stuff..." Tim Johnson