Is anyone here as saddened as I regarding Jesus Manzano’s detailed allegations of doping in pro cycling?
I’d always suspected widespread problems but never the extraordinary abuse he put his body through.
See ‘Cycling News’ for more info.
Colin
The answer: two books.
“A Rough Ride” --Paul Kimmage and “Breaking the Chain” --Willy Voet
Once you read those two books, NOTHING in pro cycling will surprise you. Read and weep. Most high-level Euro Pro riders seem to put practically every substance known to man in and up every friggin’ orifice (and most make a few new ones with long needles). Sad, but true…
It’s know it’s sad, but I have always just assumed that every rider who has been in the pro peloton for more than 5 or 6 years has used something illegal at some point in their career.
Strangely, I’m more willing to give the benefit of the doubt to athletes in other sports like baseball, football, etc…
What do you mean by no control?
I probably feel that way partially because I played major college football and have played with many players who have played in the NFL, and while I have known some who used steroids, the vast majority didn’t and I didn’t know any who used HGH. Believe it or not, I played with guys who were 240-275 lb. in high school! A few months in college with us being force-fed huge meals including a mandatory midnight meal and the hours in the weightroom they forced on us and those same guys were 270-310. I gained 25 lbs in about 3 or 4 months on that routine. I also feel that the correlation between use and increased performance is not as great as with cycling. Obviously % of use in football varies with position. A linebacker or lineman would benefit more and were always more likely to use than a quarterback, recever, defensive back, etc…
Is this scientific or are my assumptions necessarily correct? Of course not.
Even feeling the way I do, I’m still a HUGE cycling fan.
'twas not me defending Lance.
about riders on the ‘juice’, read those books–they speak (and speak well) for themselves.
Read them. Then tell me they are sour grapes. I thought so too before I read them. But, WOW!, the stories they tell are unreal.
I think that nothing has substantially changed. What has changed is how clever people are at outsmarting the drug testing.
Yep, drug testing exams etc. would be quite interesting. It would be interesting to see the general public’s reaction as they realised how pervasive drugs really are. I’m not a great fan of performance enhancing drugs, but at this stage in the game I assume the worst with most sports.
Was it 100% before? Who knows? Is it 50% now? Who knows? It is just that the whole story is amazing and appalling.
No dispute with you about potential substance use before exams at any universities, candidates during presidential elections (even certain candidates from Texas years before elections), truckers doing 16 hrs on the road, ER doctors etc…
I wonder if testing is the solution. People are clever. And they are consistently outwitting the testers.
Where did the drugs in Ivy league universities before exams accusation come from? Was there for four years. Never saw or heard of anything like that, except for coffee. I finished near FOP, and I never once heard that those few that beat me on occasion might have been juiced. The few I knew well that did beat me did it the old fashioned way. They worked harder, were more organized, and showed up ready to play 100 days out of 100.