orcanova

Wow...

Its got to have at least some aphrodisiac qualities to it... definitely marketable material for some trendy nightclub....

wtex

I thought HGH was all that, but it has a weird side effect, something like causing a thyroid condition or cataracts, can't remember exactly what it was, but not pleasant.

Booger

You should see his fish tank. Makes cycling seem cheap.

schnee

gotta love those headless bombers

mattm

the doper did a 31 hour 600k, not all that special - the local fast randonneurs do it in about 24 hours, even over mountains..

and 71 hours is a good PBP time, but many others have done it in under 50 hours! i'd expect him to be setting records if he's taking all the enhancers..

he became a slightly-above-average randonneur. sounds like the drugs didn't do all that much for him after all.

Slackerprince

You need better coffee.


S.

Zinn-X

so what was your PBP time?

ravenmore

Dude is pushing 50 also.

ConstantRider

That article is weirdly vague about answering its central premise. At one point, the author writes, "So I wondered, Do performance drugs make you just 1 percent faster and stronger? Or 10 percent? Are the enhancements so subtle that only elite athletes gain an edge, or are they powerful enough that an everyday wannabe like me would notice a dramatic change?"

Then, he fails to include the info that would actually quantify whatever performance gains he had. For example, he says he completed the Solvang Double in "what for [him] was a fast and hard pace [of] 11.5 hours..." but he doesn't say if he'd actually ever done that particular double before, and if he did, what his time was.

With PBP, it was the same -- he'd never done it before, so how can he really determine what effect the drugs were having? To muddy things even further, he did PBP on a tandem, with a guy (Bob Breedlove) who'd once held the PBP record for tandems. The fact that the article's author felt "shockingly strong" during the ride may have had more to do with his choice of riding partner than his choice of drugs.

Kurt Erlenbach

I got Aranesp (Amgen's best EPO) while taking chemo, and I can swear that the stuff is absolute magic juice. Takes you from feeling like crap back into the land of the living. I expect that for an endurance cyclist, it can make a good day into a great one.

Booger

You ever save any for...not quite medicinal use?

dgasmd

Cycling IS very cheap compared to reef tanks!! By the way, you are seriously creapping me out. Do I know you by another name? PM me!

Fat Boy

From what I understand, if you want a nice little boost cycling, good ol' testosterone is a cheap, effective dope. Most guys can double their 'normal' level and still be in the 'normal' range. For cycling you'd use a way lower dose than weight lifting, so you don't get the estrogen problems that those guys have.

I've never done any of this stuff, but it isn't tough to get ahold of. I'm sure it has a strong enough effect that it makes a difference. If I look at myself on a strong day vs. myself on a bad day, there's a big difference. I can only guess that your 'bad' days are strong and your 'strong' days are knockouts.

carlfreddy

You're kidding right?

He did it on a tandem.

ravenmore

I took it to mean that he was just wondering about the doping experience than actually wanting to do a clinical quantification of performance enhancements. I do wish he'd tried to give us some hard numbers though. a power tap would've been awesome in this little experiment.

ravenmore

Gawd you're not lying about the reef tanks. I used to have 3. Down to 1 that needs some work actually.

Tunnelrat81

What struck me is thas Hematocrit levels were around 43 and he "EPO'd" up to around 50. How may riders did they single out before the Tour this year as having higher than average but still "just" below the legal limit?

I've heard it said on here that EPO can only be detected via Hematocrit levels...and if this is true, we're still dealing with a Pro field of dopers....just dopers who are smart and consistent enough to keep it just under 50.

Not the kind of "clean" cycling that the anti doping folks would have us believe.

-Jeremy

mattm

we'll find out in 2011, when the next one happens.

ravenmore

No, I think there is a test for EPO. I've also heard there is a pretty easy way to defeat it too though.

newspeed

That was an extremely fascinating read. Thanks for the link and to the author for being a guinea pig.