Tag Archives: cycling

Great article on doping in cycling (by a “regular” guy, not a pro)

Personal stuff, , , ,

VeloNews published an article well-worth reading about a Cat5/Cat4/Cat3 42-year-old who needed “assistance” to achieve his dreams on a bike. A guy who would never be competing at the highest levels, and yet was willing to spend untold thousands of dollars on equipment & training & yes, $1000/month on doping products. HGH & EPO.

Read the article here My response below-

It’s like a modern-day version of Paul Kimmage’s “Rough Ride” (an extraordinary read even if you can’t stand the way Kimmage has conducted his anti-drug crusade in the years since). It differs primarily in motivation; Kimmage simply wanted to keep up, while Anthony might claim that but sounds more like the type of guy who’s infatuated with his ability to out-smart the next guy, the sort of person who would have been an Enron and discovered hey, look at what happens if I control this variable… I can get rich!

So an extraordinary article, well-written, but I’m not as ready to cut slack to guys like Anthony as some others here. What he did in cycling is likely indicative of his actions elsewhere in life. Some go to jail, some get fined, all he got for this particular transgression was a two-year ban from his current obsession. He’s likely got others. –Mike–.

Done with benchmarks, time to improve!

Personal stuff, Ride reports (not Tu/Th), , ,

First Sunday ride after returning from France, so what better to do than ride again the last Sunday ride we did before leaving? And, actually, the Wednesday prior to that.

Today’s ride, with Kevin-

Last ride prior to leaving for France (Bike Friday “test” ride), also with Kevin. The Bike Fridays seem to run about 10% slower on the climbs, but it’s not entirely a fair test we also loaded them down a bit with racks & bags (on my bike anyway).

Exact-same ride a few days earlier, on my Madone (like today). Just me that day; July 4th and Kevin was off paint-balling.

Obviously, I have a whole lot of comparative data! Weeks, months, years, even decades of the regular Tuesday/Thursday-morning ride, and then quite a few like this, often called the “Coastal Classic”. And, over the years, I’ve watched myself get steadily slower, at least past 50. I’d actually done pretty well in the run-up to 50, working hard to be in as good, if not better shape at 50 than I was at 35, and pretty much succeeded at it. But since then it’s been downhill, and not in a good way. My breathing issues have caught up to me, but soon that will be a thing of the past (once all testing is finished and they figure out the best therapy, as in drug, to open up my airways).

I’ve got enough benchmarks of the “old” me. Soon it will be time to start posting identical rides with a new trend. Faster times up the hills. Can’t wait!