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In case one has ever wondered why the huge preponderance of drug use (particularly EPO) in endurance sports: Pre: EPO microdosing: I managed about 10-and-a-ha
by ghshephard 11y ago
In case one has ever wondered why the huge preponderance of drug use (particularly EPO) in endurance sports:
Pre: EPO microdosing:
I managed about 10-and-a-half minutes and a power output of 350 watts. ... score a 58 on the test, which compares favourably to the average person's 35 but rather pathetically against an elite athlete's 70+.
Post EPO microdosing:
I flew past my previous mark and hung on for more than 12 minutes and 375 watts. This gave me a score of 63, a 7% increase in seven weeks.
How on earth could clean athletes ever expect to compete, particularly given that the chances of getting caught are so slim.
- utefan001 11y agoIn cycling one key is drafting. We have a few guys where I live that do well in big national races. When they show up on the Saturday group ride, weaker riders can keep up thanks to the advantage of drafting. A rider has to be about 30% stronger than me to pull away when I am drafting him.
- nl 11y agoWhich is why Grand Tours are really a test of climbing and time trialing ability.
- mauricemir 11y agoAnd tactics knowing when to husband your teams strength and when to push to get your GC contenders time advantage.
- bmj 11y agoAnd surviving three weeks of racing, often over very difficult terrain. Your "average" pro cyclist (the domestiques) dope because that's the only way get through a grand tour. It's not about going faster, it's about survival.
- jusben1369 11y agoBut the EPO user gets to draft too. So this is not an answer to the question about how can a clean cyclist compete against a doping one.
- coob 11y agoI think it's honestly getting to the point where some signed/trusted biologically embedded blood analyser/spectrometer is going to be the only thing that catches cheats.