I’m a MOP at best athlete, so there is absolutely no reason for me to even think about doping. In one of the interviews with Landis and the SI lady, he mentions that the drugs alone are only $10K per year for a professional cyclist. The biggest cost is the advice, monitoring and storing of the different substances, etc. I wonder how rampant the PED use is among elite age groupers in all endurance sports since the testing isn’t as regular (if at all). For a lot of people in triathlon, $10K isn’t chump change, but it doesn’t really hurt that much either, if you could push your performance to a new level and be truly elite. I had no idea that this could be accomplished so inexpensively.
For 99.9 % of all people in the world, 10K is a lot of money. Including triathletes.
There seems to be an awful lot of nice bikes at the races I do for $10K to be “a lot” of money. I hope so anyway. I think there are “a lot” of people at the pointy end of the field that could find an extra $833 per month to improve their performace. You know, some people don’t worry about retirement, etc. and blow their extra money on their hobbies.
I thought that the PEDs were more expensive than this, that is all.
The stuff most amateurs are going to use doesn’t cost anywhere near $10k/year. Your run-of-the-mill steroids found in local gyms cost far less. They may not be as effective as EPO…but its still PEDs. And people predisposed to cheating will not make the distinctions…they’ll do what they can afford. If you’re an older guy, you might get socked $10k for “anti-aging” treatments…which some creative offices are able to bill to insurance.
Bottom line…the cost of cheating is not high enough to prevent the local amateur stud(s) from doing it. It comes down to individual character.
I think that there may be some doctors or pharmaceutical reps that get some of this stuff either at a huge discount or free. And, with no testing, they don’t have to be as precise and monitor their usage to make sure the levels aren’t out of whack, etc. Like I said, I’m just a MOP guy who was obviously naive to this whole process.
10K is if you need to avoid detection. I’m willing to bet it’s even lower when there’s no one watching you, since your drug schedule would be a lot more lax. A bit of HGH, some EPO, a little time reading abstracts off pubmed, and you’re off to the races. I don’t have the foggiest idea what kind of consumption is out there, but it would be fun if random drug testing were done on AG’ers. It’d either be rather embarrassing or entirely boring–not sure.
And I don’t think it has anything to do with placement–MOP vs FOP is indifferent. More to do with one’s willingness to exercise his/her credit card and a wholesome lack of perspective. Plenty of very pedestrian folks pay far too much for coaches that merely tell them what they already know: to get their fat asses on a bike and ride.
Well, the interview said that just the cost of the drugs were $10K. Granted this was for a professional cyclist. But, I agree with you. I think that untested folks could be a lot more relaxed with the protocal and get decent results.
I think there are some races now that test AGers, but I don’t think it’s a lot.
Yeah, I misread the quote Landis gave. I thought he was saying that a shoestring budget of 10k (including the bare minimum of medical advice, etc to avoid detection) was needed, not 10K for just the drugs and paraphernalia. Okay, I probably didn’t need to say “paraphernalia” but it was fun 
Anyways, your point is quite clearly made–it’s not out of question financially for AG’ers to be doped up the gills.
IMO - I believe the number of amateurs doping is pretty high… higher than most would think.
I’ve heard many people say that, but until this interview, I had no basis for cost, so that viewpoint is definitely believable.
I have no idea of the dosage used for performance enhancement, but I looked at the package insert for Epogen, and for renal failure it’s 50-100 units/kg 3x week. If the average competitive cyclist is 70kg, that’s a dose of 3500 units 3x week, or 156 doses per year. The cost for 4000 unit doses is $54.74 when purchased in 10 packs, so 156 doses is $8539 for a one-year supply.
Unlike most medicines, the cost doesn’t scale back dramatically on a per unit basis for higher doses. 40,000 unit doses are $538 each in bulk, or $84K per year at 3x week. Again, I have no clue what the dosage an athlete would use would be.
How about those commercials for LowT or whatever, can I get the insurance company to cover the cost of my increased “performance”?
I think it’s quite a bit cheaper if you don’t have to go through all of the hassle of trying to hide your usage.
And while, it’s clearly cheating for even amateur athletes to use them in our sports, here’s an interesting movie that makes a pretty reasonable case as to why for most people using stereoids for beauty is no more wrong or dangerous than cosmetic surgery.
if you mess around with EPO you DO need supervision. other stuff can work well for $300 a month without supervision. That said for those who are willing to risk their help I wouldnt touch that stuff or if you do seek a good doctor who will test you often.