True. Basically, it’s as bad as we ever could’ve imagined. 99% of the pro peloton was doped to the gills on shit that was killing them in some cases and the people that were supposed to regulate the sport and protect against such things were actively assisting it.
WWF on bikes
Yep and yep. As someone who grew up watching that shit, have I simply returned to my eight year old TV favorite?
Is this a reflection of the slow breakdown of societal cooperation that can be seen in a number of public sectors such as politics, law enforcement, intelligence, energy production, geopolitical relationships, sports, etc? Ethics are costly in the 21st century and it seems that few want to buy.
Being a sell-out used to be a bad thing.
That’s like saying musicians shouldn’t take drugs. This shit was never fair. It’s never going to be fair. As long as they’re not doing stupid shit like giving themselves heart attacks because their alarm didn’t go off at 3 AM I really DGAF. It’s just entertainment.
[quote=ryanoceros]
Being a sell-out used to be a bad thing.[/quote]
How is this the same as musicians taking drugs? Are you saying that those who don’t aren’t as successful musicians? Or is it that those who use are much easier to exploit by big media companies for profit?
Just entertainment, eh? Would you tell that to a young Zabriskie sitting in a coffee shop with Johan and Michael Berry being peer pressured to dope? Cycling draws in the young, makes them dream, gives them hope.
Would you tell that to a young African or Colombian wishing to escape from the economic limitations of the third world? Cycling is going global.
And because things will never be fair, we should just give up, not care, and do nothing?
I wish it weren’t the case, but professional cyclists have always been done drugs to get an edge. I won’t be surprised if that practice continues for another hundred years.
Yeah, we’re all pretty powerless to change it. The only things I see that we have power to do are the following:
-Pay attention to where we spend our cycling dollars. Big fan of watching pirate feeds and using cyclingtorrents.nl. Spending money on those products either not tied to pro sports directly, buy NOS and used parts, etc.
-Support local racing as much as possible. Be straight up with those with potential that it is a dirty, mostly bullshit sport and it’s probably better to have a day job.
-Practice ethics in your everyday life and be a good example to others.
-Promote good examples of sportpersonship.
-Fuck USAC.
-Donate time, money, parts, tools, etc. to the local non-profits that promote cycling as a way of life. Like this one DBR is part of today:
http://loveutgiveut.razoo.com/story/Ogden-Bicycle-Collective-Renovation
Olympians in ancient Greece took whatever crazy shit they thought could give them an edge. If winning gets you money/fame/pussy, ambitious people will do whatever it takes. Which is why pro sports where pure athletic ability is decisive (as opposed to technique/focus etc) are unlikely to ever be “clean”.
It seems to me that cycling has a doping problem that is different than some other sports. There are plenty of cycling heroes from the past who doped when rules were more relaxed or testing not as good and they are still heroes.
In my experience being involved in swimming for a long time, to me a cheat is a cheat. I can’t think of any big names in the sport who have been caught doping and come back a hero.
I agree with ryanoceros, gotta break the cycle atmo
The tolerance for doping is even greater in American pro sports. They don’t even bother to do serious testing.
Shot put/discus/hammer throw and weightlifting are pretty openly dopey too. In TV broadcasts of some sports, doping bans are discussed much like injuries. “His two years are up so he’s back for the world champs” or “He’s the favourite for the event because his main rival got banned three months ago”. Perpahs cycling is the biggest shitshow but there is stiff competition for that distinction. E.g. the entire country of Turkey got banned from weightlifting competitions for a while because so many of their athletes got caught.
Game theory definitely applies. A sort of prisoner’s dilemma.
We can’t toss out all efforts to improve the situation simply because it’s a futile effort to make it completely clean. What’s that saying, don’t sacrifice the good enough for the perfect? It would seem that’s what the UCI did, and reaped the rewards. Along with the massive amount of work it is now taking to get things even remotely back to a semi-reputable place. Recent news just reaffirms we have a LONG road ahead.
Oh sure I’m not advocating a free for all. It would probably make sense to fire everyone high up in UCI and start over - there is no way this could have happened without them knowing about it and tolerating it. Also get rid of some of the coaches/doctors. Cycling will never be fully clean but maybe it will be clean enough that exceptionally talented/dedicated people will have a chance to get somewhere without doping. I’ve never been inside pro sports so I don’t even know if that’s realistic.
Dunno if it’s actually relevant, but there was a big uproar in the classical music world a few years back when a survey revealed that something like 3/4 of musicians in professional orchestras take beta blockers to keep the heart rate under control and control stage fright. Some people were all outraged that musicians were using “performance-enhancing drugs” and shit. Then it was pointed out that, until the advent of beta blockers, the normal way to control stress was to take a swig or seven of scotch right before going on stage. Most old-school musicians I know are alcoholics or have struggled with alcoholism because they started drinking heavily to cope with performance anxiety. I used to drink to calm my nerves before orchestra concerts with big clarinet solos. There are several great works of Western art music that I’ve performed too drunk to remember. I would probably have taken beta blockers if I had known about them and could have gotten my hands on them. Would’ve been nice for my senior recital for sure. Probably would have worked better than the big bowl I smoked during the intermission.
Is that the same? Where’s the line?
Wow, didn’t know that. Doesn’t alcohol fuck up your coordination?
I did hear a fairly credible story about a pentathlonist from back in the day. Pentathlonists have a pistol shooting event and they obviously struggle with nerves/heart rate (all their other events require a totally different disposition). Quite a few of them were in the habit of downing a shot or two right before shooting. One time a guy drank his ~1dl of vodka, and then it was announced that the shooting is delayed for some technical reason. It fucked up his well rehearsed schedule and he was hopelessly drunk by the time he had to do his shooting.
Re: beta blockers, a former competitive shooter I know tried them for competition nerves at some point in the 80s/90s. Didn’t work for her at all. She says they calmed her down alright, but she got too nonchalant: “Oh, that’s a 9. Whatever. Oh look, another 9. Well, that’s life.”
The correct quantity can inhibit anxiety without compromising motor control. It can and has been used to improve performance on certain manual tasks.
Beta blockers sound like the solution we’re looking for! 
[quote=ryanoceros]How is this the same as musicians taking drugs? Are you saying that those who don’t aren’t as successful musicians? Or is it that those who use are much easier to exploit by big media companies for profit?
Just entertainment, eh? Would you tell that to a young Zabriskie sitting in a coffee shop with Johan and Michael Berry being peer pressured to dope? Cycling draws in the young, makes them dream, gives them hope.
Would you tell that to a young African or Colombian wishing to escape from the economic limitations of the third world? Cycling is going global.
And because things will never be fair, we should just give up, not care, and do nothing?[/quote]
It isn’t exactly the same, but it is close.
They’ve done whatever needed to be done to either get ahead or just survive for over a century. The first events were insane endurance runs that we don’t even see today–akin to a mix of the X-games and the circus. It didn’t start off as a sport the way we think of sports today, but more akin to stuff like mountaineering where you’re just trying to survive. This shit ain’t healthy even without the drugs. A good program will actually help your body cope with the stress. It sucks but you can always do something other than ride a bike for a living.
As ATMO has been saying, get rid of the grand tours (and imoatmo most of the “monuments”) and you might have a sport where people won’t take drugs because at least they won’t be basically necessary to get through a season.
PS this is a really cool documentary that ends in the most hilarious way possible vis a vis the present of cycling. Three hours of awesome.
The correct quantity can inhibit anxiety without compromising motor control. It can and has been used to improve performance on certain manual tasks.[/quote]
You’re definitely impairing your fine motor skills, you just have to get your technique locked down to the point where 7/10ths is enough to impress the audience. Most professional orchestral musicians have their technique down cold to the point where if they are significantly impaired, they are still playing at a high enough level that 99% of listeners will never notice the difference. Not saying I’m at that level, just what I’ve observed amongst the old-guard type of players I have worked with and studied with.
FWIW, I stopped drinking before playing. I was starting to connect them pretty strongly in my mind and I saw how a lot of my favorite people to drink and hang with (old musician dudes) had serious problems that had, in many cases, destroyed relationships, marriages and lives because alcohol was completely intertwined with the thing they loved to do more than anything in the world (that also happened to be what they did for a living).
So yeah, beta blockers are probably a healthier alternative.
Anyway…I think I’ve gotten off-topic here.