dooner90

Hey everyone,

I'm a somewhat younger rider who's just getting into the sport. Before I ever picked up a road bike I knew that premiere cyclists of the past have used steroids. What's the general consensus on this subject? Do cyclists still use these products at the top levels of the game, or was there a big backlash against it after the fallout with Armstrong back in the day? I'd be really interest to see a comparative graph with data showing how much performance differs from cyclists who use steroids vs. cyclists who don't use them; in short, I'd like some raw info on the performance enhancing effects.

I'll commit this thread to steroids in general. Share any perspectives, thoughts, incites, or personal stories. Thanks for your time.

sdmc530

Subscribed......should be locked shortly. Drugs and sports never mix.

Seattle Forrest

I take steroids for cat 6 racing on multi use trails. One time this student beat me on his way commuting to class, and I vowed never to lose to a Fred again. So I started juicing. The next time I saw that guy, I knocked him off his bike and stomped his wheel in a fit of roid rage. What are we talking about again?

Pirkaus

Don't do today, what you will regret tomorrow. Hard work, and good nutrition, will get you to your peak, but being blessed with good genetics wouldn't hurt. This documentary is on Netflix, it has some interesting information on the whole PDE cheating scene.
[img]webkit-fake-url://8ba7e94a-a61f-4b6a-90fa-f20df532b0d7/imagejpeg[/img]

luevelvet

It all comes down to which substance folks decide to take for their particular sport. In cycling EPO is popular since it increases aerobic performance and can be difficult to test for at times. Watch the documentary named Icarus to learn more about how not good this all is.

Also no one likes a cheater in any sport. In combat sports PED use can make the difference in brain damage. In cycling EPO can (and has) caused early deaths and heart problems. But in other sports it may not be the worst thing ever. Bodybuilding (is that a “sport”?) comes to mind.

Theres also contrasting ideas regarding steroid use outside of sport. There are benefits to small doses of TRT etc. Watch Bigger, Stronger, Faster on one of the streaming services for their take on it.

I know this a controversial topic but it’s one that creeps in to almost every sport out there. I’m also an MMA fan and of course it’s a huge part of that culture as well.

indyfabz

Rather than steroids, allow me to recommend Brawndo. It's got what plants crave.

MoAlpha

Doesn't do **** for poison ivy.

indyfabz

Even if you don't have lunch there, take a walk trough the Reading Terminal Market across from the Convention Center.

MoAlpha

Great suggestion; I've never seen it and I will do if I have time. Need to do a bit of business and be back in DC in time for dinner with long-suffering spouse, who is leaving for the antipodes on Tues.

WhyFi

Oh, no need to worry about that part.

OBoile

People have been cheating long before Lance, and I don't doubt they will continue to do so as long as we have organized competitions.

As for if steroids in particular are being used currently, I have no idea. They definitely would help with recovery and muscle retention while dieting. But, I'm not sure how easy it is to beat the testing.

As others have said, EPO is the big one for endurance sports. It has a much larger, more direct, effect on performance.

The health risks of steroids are generally overstated. That's not to say they aren't real, but a very significant number of people taking them illegally aren't exactly following a doctor's advice with respect to dosage and frequency. A lot of people take far, far more than they should and/or are also taking a bunch of other stuff at the same time. "Roid rage" is also generally a myth. Steroids will make you a bit more confident/assertive/aggressive, but the difference is pretty small in the vast majority of cases. Most people likely wouldn't notice the change in personality.

MoAlpha

In my opinion, any physician who advises a healthy person to take more than zero milligrams of an anabolic (or catabolic, for that matter) steroid every infinity days should have their ticket pulled.

OBoile

I tend to agree, but I'm not naive enough to think that "team doctors" aren't doing this for a lot of top athletes. A lot of Olympians are following a drug program designed by a doctor as opposed to a high school kid who's getting them from some guy at his gym.

I also think some doctors figure, if the person is going to do them either way, it's better for them to be doing it under a doctor's supervision than on their own. Sort of like the logic for supporting "safe injection sites" for drug users. Again, I'm don't really agree with this, but the argument isn't entirely without merit.

MoAlpha

I understand what you're saying and believe it happens, but any doc who does it is treading on thin ice with their state board and the plaintiff bar.

cycledogg

Out with the bad blood, in with the new blood. That's how I do it.

cthenn

Ketones are the new steroids, and they're legal!

canklecat

Given the increasing emphasis on data and tools to record and evaluate performance, it's almost certain that someone, somewhere, has or is experimenting with controlled use of anabolic steroids and other PEDs to evaluate and chart the effects on athletic performance. It would only take an elite level athlete who's no longer actively competing, or taking a sabbatical from sanctioned competitions, to serve as a lab rat. We already know from various doping scandals that some nations have engaged in doping for its teams in international competition, so the infrastructure exists for qualified lab testing. But don't expect to see those results published anywhere in any legitimate medical or science journal. Hacked and leaked, sure.

Go back to the Floyd Landis case at the 2006 Tour de France. It's among the few cases where an athlete admitted to specifics about doping and the effects.

Short version:

• Without adequate juicing, Landis was physically exhausted and lost 10 minutes, and the yellow jersey, in Stage 16.
• With juice, the next day on another mountain stage Landis won Stage 17 and secured the TdF win with a long solo breakaway, basically turning a mountain stage into a time trial, along with solid performances in subsequent stages. One of the most spectacular come from behind victories in cycling history. Check out the videos on YouTube.

Yeah, that kinda got everyone's attention.

That's how much difference it makes.

Skip to 3:48 of this video of the press conference after Stage 16 and listen carefully to the reporters' questions and Floyd's response:
Reporter: ''Today had absolutely nothing to do with them monitoring you?"
Landis: ''No... today... was not a factor."
Reporter: ''Would you tell us if it was (a factor)?
Landis: ''No.'' (Nervous laughter.)
(Several reporters laugh. Obviously worst kept secret in the TdF.)

maartendc

Is this guy seriously considering taking steroids for cycling? Even as a "beginning rider"? I cannot believe what I am reading here.

MoAlpha

It's certainly most entertaining to assume so.

Carbonfiberboy 

Already been done, though not by an ex-pro. Even more interestingly IMO was that PEDs turned an average Joe cyclist into a very strong rider in 4 months. Plus 15-20 hours a week, of course. PEDs don't make you strong, they enable you to get better results if you do the work. Remember that doped Lance rode those Pyrenees passes in the cold spring rain.

The very informative and a cautionary tale is here: https://www.outsideonline.com/1924306/drug-test

dooner90

well you probably can't believe what you're reading because you're reading my post wrong.... I'm not considering taking steroids. I don't even suggest this in the OP.

I mentioned that I'm new to cycling -- not that I'm new to cycling and want to try steroids. You misread me.

tagaproject6

TimothyH

Just felt like posting this.

Marcus_Ti

The important things to note....PEDs cover a very wide range of things that do many things. From boosting strength to aiding recovery and so on, some are only useful in certain athletic contexts (like beta-blockers in shooting). Which leads to the funny problem that many many many OTC and prescription-only drugs are on the WADA banned substances list....because lots of modern drugs coincidentally also have secondary/tertiary effects beneficial to athletic performance.

The WADA banned PED list is huge...because they cover lots of sports, where an "unfair advantage" can be lots of things....like the aforesaid beta blockers in shooting, or enhanced recovery in cycling and so on.


A recent bit of hilarity was the World Bridge Champion was popped for doping. Yes, you read right. Bridge. The card game. Doping. See, the IOC and WADA sanction the tournament--so WADA rules apply, even if to card-game playing the drugs found don't actually do ANYTHING to enhance performance.

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/geir-he...ed-for-doping/

maartendc

Alright then.

Steroids are probably among the things that professional cyclists used to take. More importantly they used to take blood boosters such as EPO which give a boost in red blood cell count, very beneficial to endurance athletes. In more recent years, they went to blood transfusions even, reinjecting themselves with old blood that was extracted previously. Pretty gross stuff. There have been many books written about all of these practices in the 90s and 2000s.

Most of us who enjoy professional cycling racing choose to believe, or hope, that the sport is now much cleaner. At least any abuses are not as rampant as they used to be, controls are stricter and better. Athletes are tested during training as well, at random times. No sport will probably ever be 100% clean, but we can try.