42 year-Old Cat 3 popped for 5 banned substances

[Mark McM]

Originally Posted by GregL

I watched Icarus for the first time while riding the trainer this winter. You're certainly correct, doping exists across all facets of humanity. Some dope to stoke their egos, some dope as part of a state-sponsored program to win Olympic medals. The root cause in both cases is the innate human desire to dominate.

^^^^^^^^^^^^^ This.

Getting ahead (and staying ahead) through cheating and other deceptions is nothing new, and especially so in sports. For example, the New York Yacht Club's string of America's Cup (yacht racing) wins from 1857 to 1983 has been referred to as the longest continuous cheating streak in sports, due to their duplicitous actions and deceptions to retain the cup. Doping is just a recent innovation in sports cheating.

For those interesting in cheating by amateur competitors in other sports, you might want to take a look at the https://www.marathoninvestigation.com/ website. The maintainer of this website has taken as his mission to expose the various ways that ordinary amateur competitors from all walks of life have taken to gain sporting results (more often for personal glory than for material reward). Everything from course cutting to paying someone else to run in your place, people will go to great lengths just to be able to boast of their "achievements" on their instagram accounts.

[Mark McM]

Originally Posted by redir

Hmmmmm. Attendance at bike races in general have been way down the last few years. Correlation?

That may be a small part, but not the main reason. Many have referred to the ebb and flow of bike race participation in the early 21st century as "The Lance Affect". Bike racing was just a small niche sport until a certain Texan began featuring prominently in the media. As this Texan's fame grew and spread, participation in bike racing soared. When he retired and the media stopped paying attention to bike racing, participation began to drop. When the Texan decided to come back out of retirement and gained media attention again, participation started to rise again. And then finally, after the Texan became thoroughly discredited and the media began to vilify him (and other bike racers associated with him), participation dropped through the floor.

Just be clear, I'm not pinning the rise and fall of bike racing's popularity directly on the Texan himself - the cause was the amount and type of media attention surrounding the Texan. And no small part of that was how the media spun the story, as a heroic cancer survivor beating the odds. It wouldn't be a stretch to say that if the Texan hadn't developed cancer, there wouldn't have been such a surge in the popularity of bike racing in the US.

[93KgBike]

Originally Posted by GregL

I watched Icarus for the first time while riding the trainer this winter. You're certainly correct, doping exists across all facets of humanity. Some dope to stoke their egos, some dope as part of a state-sponsored program to win Olympic medals. The root cause in both cases is the innate human desire to dominate. As to fixing it, I have no clue on the macro level. At the micro level, I prefer honesty and integrity. It's part of my life at home, at work, and at play. I can't fix the entire world, but within my circle of family, co-workers, and friends, I try to the best of my abilities to lead by example and NOT cheat. Maybe that's how you "fix the world?"

Greg

I agree that if each of us individually took personal responsibility for being wise, there would be wisdom. But how far has the needle moved given that most major religion, progressive philosophy and political science advocates as much?

“I have seen wicked men and fools, a great many of both; and I believe they both get paid in the end; but the fools first.." - Robert Louis Stevenson

[simonov]

Originally Posted by redir

Hmmmmm. Attendance at bike races in general have been way down the last few years. Correlation?

It is for me. My interest in racing diminished significantly as I noticed increasing amounts of doping. It stopped be as much fun and without the fun the risk stopped being worth it.

[Mark McM]

Originally Posted by simonov

It is for me. My interest in racing diminished significantly as I noticed increasing amounts of doping. It stopped be as much fun and without the fun the risk stopped being worth it.

You stopped watching cycling in the early '90s? That's when doping started to really take off, and it peaked in the late '90s (remember when Bjarne Riis was called "Mr. 60%"?). Due to the Festina Affair and WADA, doping had dropped off a bit during the Armstrong era, and then dropped off further by the early 2010's.

[redir]

Ah yes I was thinking mostly of dopers who were afraid to get caught but yes doping affects us all including those who become disgruntled with the sport due to the dopers.

[simonov]

Originally Posted by Mark McM

You stopped watching cycling in the early '90s? That's when doping started to really take off, and it peaked in the late '90s (remember when Bjarne Riis was called "Mr. 60%"?). Due to the Festina Affair and WADA, doping had dropped off a bit during the Armstrong era, and then dropped off further by the early 2010's.

I'm not an idiot. Of course cheating occurs at those levels of the sport. But when you start seeing it increasing in the local masters and cat 2/3 fields, it takes the fun out of it. There were always guys doping, but I raced on and off for a long while (and probably will again at some point) and it definitely became more common.