Is this why you go so fast

[Brian S]

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/sports/w ... e13329812/

[Rolf]

I'm always surprised there isn't more chatter around the coffee table and on the forum about Victoria amateurs doping. I guess without enforcement, such gossip is constrained to potentially damaging and inherently unfair speculation. But I've had one local rider tell me that extending treatment for an iron deficiency and other health issues allowed him to cross (in my uninformed opinion) the fuzzy line into blood doping.

Like the article says, it all comes down to why you ride. And if you've paid thousands of bucks to ride 13 lbs of 95% carbon fibre, where else do you turn for those "marginal gains" that Sky has made sound so cool?

Too bad Cycling Canada didn't respond to requests for an interview. A bit of ostrich action there; this is clearly their bailiwick.

If you enjoyed the writing in this article, Richard Poplak has done a good number of other cycling related pieces, including this fantastic (and prescient) essay on Ryder in Walrus mag in 2011 and a very recent ebook called Braking Bad: Chasing Lance Armstrong (available on iTunes for a couple bucks and readable in an afternoon - I thought it was totally worth it.)

[John D]

And if you've paid thousands of bucks to ride 13 lbs of 95% carbon fibre....

So that puts you in the clear, eh?

J.

[Rolf]

Yeah, I'm thinking of renaming my bicycle "My High Horse".

[John D]

<humming Bon Jovi>

"...on a steel horse I ride, I'm wanted, wanted, dead or alive."

[mshepard]

After the usual morning ride this morning the conversation turned to Victoria amateurs doping. I hung my head in shame. For a little over a year now I have been taking a magic elixer to help my aging body recover more quickly after the afternoon rides. I kept it well hidden in the back of the fridge, as I knew my wife would partake if she knew it was there. What am I to say? Without fail it made me feel better. On a couple of occasions I took double and even triple doses, usually with disasterous consequences, blurry vision, loss of balance, and I felt awful in the morning. Yet I kept taking it ride after ride. It makes me feel better just to write this note. My name is Mark Shepard and I take IPA .
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[John D]

Mark - I see the makings of a great tongue-in-cheek beer commercial here. Perhaps our Hoyne Brewing sponsor might be interested in having you flog their Devil's Dream IPA?

J.

[MDAWSON]

http://www.economist.com/news/science-a ... rsc=dg%7Cc