early '90's , there i was training like mad, eating way too much pasta, shaving legs, developing a ridiculous tan line,

all for nothing.

all because my doctor/friends never told me about EPO..HGH etc etc...

look at me now, lame ass job, hairy legs, a steel frame...and depression....

i could have won the tour.......sigh.......

early '90's , there i was training like mad, eating way too much pasta, shaving legs, developing a ridiculous tan line,

all for nothing.

all because my doctor/friends never told me about EPO..HGH etc etc...

look at me now, lame ass job, hairy legs, a steel frame...and depression....

i could have won the tour.......sigh.......


Atleast you still have a steel frame....

c-dog

I believe Basso, Zabel, etc. will be fighting depression as well, so maybe you did EPO and did not know it.

maybe you should have just attempted to use EPO and not used it. that way you might have won at least the giro.

Well, good thing you didn't obtain the EPO yourself and self-administer like the dozen or so Dutch amateurs who died from heart attacks because their blood was so thick it developed clots.

you would have thought the dutch would have used epo to fix their dikes instead......

There's a great moment in the Red Zinger/Coors Classic DVD (Riding the High Country #1, from 1981) where a doctor is treating one of the women racers for bronchitis and he tells her "this medicine will not affect your performance. In fact it will make you perform better." Of course, he means that it will clear up her infection, but it sure sounds funny.

Well, good thing you didn't obtain the EPO yourself and self-administer like the dozen or so Dutch amateurs who died from heart attacks because their blood was so thick it developed clots.

You got a source for that?

google it..... there were 3, i think, that died from too high of a hematocrit.

You got a source for that?


I was wrong. There wasn't a dozen or so amateur cyclists dieing from heart attacks as a result of blood clots from EPO use. There are literally 50, maybe more pro and amateurs. Articles are widely disseminated across the internet and there isn't a single article that I can find that reports any hard numbers because the deaths span many countries.

A quick search on Google returned many pages. Here is one UK news source citing, at minimum, 8 reported deaths alone in one year due to high profile pro cyclists. Note: these are only the reported deaths. There was an article from many years back stating a handful of Dutch amateurs died of heart attacks. That is in one country alone. How many cases go unreported in the amateur ranks in other countries?

http://sport.guardian.co.uk/cycling/story/0,10482,1149111,00.html

You could start doping now. What the heck? Dope up and train up for, say the USA Cycling's Cyclocross Nationals, win it and no dope control. Okay, I don't know that that is true, perhaps they have dope controls, but I doubt they do in the Master's 40-45. At least they didn't test me afterwards. Then again, I finished in the 90's somewhere.

Seriously, I hope that you were kidding about the depression. If not, I wish you well from someone who's been there before myself. Ride lots. Endorphans help.

BT

I was wrong. There wasn't a dozen or so amateur cyclists dieing from heart attacks as a result of blood clots from EPO use. There are literally 50, maybe more pro and amateurs. Articles are widely disseminated across the internet and there isn't a single article that I can find that reports any hard numbers because the deaths span many countries.

A quick search on Google returned many pages. Here is one UK news source citing, at minimum, 8 reported deaths alone in one year due to high profile pro cyclists. Note: these are only the reported deaths. There was an article from many years back stating a handful of Dutch amateurs died of heart attacks. That is in one country alone. How many cases go unreported in the amateur ranks in other countries?

http://sport.guardian.co.uk/cycling/story/0,10482,1149111,00.html

All I see is speculation they died of EPO related heart attacks, are you sure they didn't just die of sudden cardiac arrest? It happens to between 50 and 100 young athletes each year in the US alone.

http://www.postgradmed.com/issues/2000/10_00/drezner.htm

Also, I highly doubt that Pantani and Jimenez, both mentioned in the article, died from high hematocrit blood clots unless they were shooting up EPO just for sh*ts and giggles..

All I see is speculation they died of EPO related heart attacks, are you sure they didn't just die of sudden cardiac arrest? It happens to between 50 and 100 young athletes each year in the US alone.

http://www.postgradmed.com/issues/2000/10_00/drezner.htm

Also, I highly doubt that Pantani and Jimenez, both mentioned in the article, died from high hematocrit blood clots unless they were shooting up EPO just for sh*ts and giggles..

Ref(1) – Tainted Glory – Doping and Athletic Performance. Noakes, TD. NEJM. 351:9. Aug.26. 200

Why is EPO dangerous?

The reason that EPO, and transfusion blood doping, is dangerous is because of increased blood viscosity. Basically, whole blood consists of red blood cells and plasma (water, proteins, etc.). The percentage of whole blood that is occupied by the red blood cells is referred to as, the hematocrit. A low hematocrit means dilute (thin) blood, and a high hematocrit mean concentrated (thick) blood. Above a certain hematocrit level whole blood can sludge and clog capillaries. If this happens in the brain it results in a stroke. In the heart, a heart attack. Unfortunately, this has happened to several elite athletes who have used EPO.

EPO use is especially dangerous to athletes who exercise over prolonged periods. A well-conditioned endurance athlete is more dehydration resistant than a sedentary individual. The body accomplishes this by several methods, but one key component is to “hold on” to more water at rest. Circulating whole blood is one location in which this occurs and, thus, can function as a water reservoir. During demanding exercise, as fluid losses mount, water is shifted out of the blood stream (hematocrit rises). If one is already starting with an artificially elevated hematocrit then you can begin to see the problem -- it is a short trip to the critical “sludge zone”.

Additional dangers of EPO include sudden death during sleep, which has killed approximately 18 pro cyclists in the past fifteen years, and the development of antibodies directed against EPO. In this later circumstance the individual develops anemia as a result of the body’s reaction against repeated EPO injections.

So much for the 'anti-dopers' having their heads in the sand. Oh but of course the 'pro-dopers' will institute 'safe controls'. What a joke?!

thank you kindly, riding does help. alot.

the tough part is that, as we all know, wearing spandex is a privelage not a right....

i'vr been watching the 2006 tour dvd the last couple days, very interseting watching now that we know about the aftermath.

why was landis drinking so much water????

early '90's , there i was training like mad, eating way too much pasta, shaving legs, developing a ridiculous tan line,

all for nothing.

all because my doctor/friends never told me about EPO..HGH etc etc...

look at me now, lame ass job, hairy legs, a steel frame...and depression....

i could have won the tour.......sigh.......

And you could have shortened your life.

In addition to the reported and/or suspicious deaths among young cyclists, I wonder how sustained EPO, steroid and HGH use will impact the lifespan of cyclists that now are in their 30s and 40s. How many of them will make it to 60 or 70?