Comments on: My guilty secret http://blog.xcski.com/2007/06/19/my-guilty-secret Everything I used to bore people on newsgroups and mailing lists with, now in one inconvenient place. Fri, 16 May 2008 11:40:38 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.5.1 By: Rob G http://blog.xcski.com/2007/06/19/my-guilty-secret#comment-30709 Rob G Tue, 19 Jun 2007 17:37:48 +0000 http://blog.xcski.com/2007/06/19/my-guilty-secret#comment-30709 I hear ya Paul. Willing suspension of disbelief, that's what I subscribe to. It's still a great sport; it's got speed, drama, danger and incredible displays of aerobic ability. Some will dope, some will not. I still love it too, Paul. I read three cycling mags a month and I'm in as deep as I used to be with aviation. I'm not gonna let some cheaters ruin the overall enjoyment I have for bicycles and racing. I hear ya Paul. Willing suspension of disbelief, that’s what I subscribe to. It’s still a great sport; it’s got speed, drama, danger and incredible displays of aerobic ability. Some will dope, some will not. I still love it too, Paul. I read three cycling mags a month and I’m in as deep as I used to be with aviation. I’m not gonna let some cheaters ruin the overall enjoyment I have for bicycles and racing.

]]> By: Andrew Warinner http://blog.xcski.com/2007/06/19/my-guilty-secret#comment-30673 Andrew Warinner Tue, 19 Jun 2007 14:21:58 +0000 http://blog.xcski.com/2007/06/19/my-guilty-secret#comment-30673 <i>I think it would be better to level the playing field at a level that isn’t killing people.</i> Is there any evidence that current doping techniques are causing immediate health effects? When EPO first became popular, some number of athletes dropped dead because of overdosing but it has been awhile since I've heard of people dropping dead. Even if there are no short term effects, the long term effects of better performances through chemistry can be dire, witness the parade of East German athletes with serious health complications. But I don't think any athlete considers the long term effects. <i>It’s just as exciting to watch riders riding at 42km/hr as it is to watch them riding at 46km/hr.</i> I think the pressure to win isn't coming so much from the economic pressures (win races = more $$$) as from the athletes themselves. When you are at that level, you already proved you have an overdeveloped competitive urge. While economic benefits of winning are considerable, I think just winning is more important to them. As for Floyd, it wasn't the increasingly transparent denials that put me off, or even the probable doping, it was the whole misbegotten LeMond affair (not that Greg LeMond is not wacky all on his own) that killed whatever sympathy I had for Landis. I think it would be better to level the playing field at a level that isn’t killing people.

Is there any evidence that current doping techniques are causing immediate health effects? When EPO first became popular, some number of athletes dropped dead because of overdosing but it has been awhile since I’ve heard of people dropping dead.

Even if there are no short term effects, the long term effects of better performances through chemistry can be dire, witness the parade of East German athletes with serious health complications. But I don’t think any athlete considers the long term effects.

It’s just as exciting to watch riders riding at 42km/hr as it is to watch them riding at 46km/hr.

I think the pressure to win isn’t coming so much from the economic pressures (win races = more $$$) as from the athletes themselves. When you are at that level, you already proved you have an overdeveloped competitive urge. While economic benefits of winning are considerable, I think just winning is more important to them.

As for Floyd, it wasn’t the increasingly transparent denials that put me off, or even the probable doping, it was the whole misbegotten LeMond affair (not that Greg LeMond is not wacky all on his own) that killed whatever sympathy I had for Landis.

]]> By: Paul Tomblin http://blog.xcski.com/2007/06/19/my-guilty-secret#comment-30529 Paul Tomblin Tue, 19 Jun 2007 01:11:20 +0000 http://blog.xcski.com/2007/06/19/my-guilty-secret#comment-30529 Yeah, we had that discussion back in <a href="http://blog.xcski.com/2006/08/04/athletes-and-drugs" rel="nofollow">August 2006</a>. Athletes are killing themselves, and not always because they want to. I think it would be better to level the playing field at a level that isn't killing people. It's just as exciting to watch riders riding at 42km/hr as it is to watch them riding at 46km/hr. Yeah, we had that discussion back in August 2006. Athletes are killing themselves, and not always because they want to.

I think it would be better to level the playing field at a level that isn’t killing people. It’s just as exciting to watch riders riding at 42km/hr as it is to watch them riding at 46km/hr.

]]> By: ronebofh@livejournal http://blog.xcski.com/2007/06/19/my-guilty-secret#comment-30524 ronebofh@livejournal Tue, 19 Jun 2007 00:52:34 +0000 http://blog.xcski.com/2007/06/19/my-guilty-secret#comment-30524 Let me ask you this: if everyone is doing it, is it really cheating? I wonder how exactly our current anti-performance enhancing drugs culture came about. Is it a result of the East German teams plus the Cold War? We need to find out why "we" don't want athletes who "cheat", where the lines around "cheating" are drawn, and maybe whether they should be drawn at all. Also, compare how baseball players and cyclists are being treated compared to football players who have been caught with steroids and other PEDs. Let me ask you this: if everyone is doing it, is it really cheating?

I wonder how exactly our current anti-performance enhancing drugs culture came about. Is it a result of the East German teams plus the Cold War? We need to find out why “we” don’t want athletes who “cheat”, where the lines around “cheating” are drawn, and maybe whether they should be drawn at all. Also, compare how baseball players and cyclists are being treated compared to football players who have been caught with steroids and other PEDs.

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