Well, ok, not really. But despite our ethical views against doping both Sheldon and I have wondered over a beer or three just what it might be like.
Would we instantly feel like supermen and fly past our competition, ascending hills as if immune to gravity? Or would it be something more marginal… An increase based on our training volumes, finally beating those riders that tend to always edge us out?
I think I speak for both Sheldon and I when I say that it was always more of a conversational fantasy over beers rather than a curiosity founded in any type of reality. Whenever I actually think about something like that it kind of makes me a little queasy.
I just don’t think I could do it. It just wouldn’t feel natural. And realistically, at this point in my life, there’s absolutely no reason. I race for the sport and fun of it, any results I get are simply a bonus, not something I live and die by.
Well, it turns out that somebody else had similar thoughts, but actually decided to go through with it. The author takes you on an 8 month journey from a clean amateur cyclist training an average of 15-20 hours a week, to a chemically augmented version of himself.
I have to admit, I started reading the article with a somewhat bemused curiosity, but by the end I was feeling something very different. I’m not sure how to categorize it. Shock? Anger? Disgust? Perhaps some combination of them all. All I have to say is that never in my life will I start walking down that road.
It’s a bit of a longer read, but I think it’s very much worth the time. You can read the full article at one of my favourite blogs Cycling Tips.
Some of the more dramatic quotes from the article:
“I want to be leaner, stronger, with better endurance,” I told him. “I don’t want more mass.” I thought for a moment. “And seeing better…that sounds good, too.”
He looked up from taking notes and nodded. “I can help,” he said.
And so he did.
After a few weeks of the HGH, I began to notice subtle changes. My skin started getting… better. Sun blotches that I’d had on my arms for a year faded away. One morning I woke up and a scar on my forehead—which I’d gotten from a mountain-bike endo two years earlier—was more or less gone. Even though I was training like a madman, I looked more rested. Younger. A little fresher.
The last time I’d ridden 200 miles, I felt awful the next day, like I’d been hit by a truck. After the Solvang race I woke up and felt hardly a touch of soreness. I also felt like I could easily ride another 200, and I realized that I’d entered another world, the realm of instant recovery. I’ll be frank: It was a reassuring kind of world, and I could see why people might want to stay there.
A month later, when I added a basic anabolic steroid to the mix, I felt like I’d grabbed on to a car moving at 60 miles an hour. The effect was powerful, fast, and difficult to modulate.
THAT was a wicked article. Man, some of that stuff sounds totally insane. I can’t imagine how scary that would be to feel like you we being taken over like that.
I liked this:
“Like a lot of powerfully bad ideas, that one has a certain mad logic. But it would turn every sport into a test of how much damage an athlete was willing to risk to improve performance, and would basically force every serious athlete to cheat and risk his or her health. Athletic contests would have a strange life-or-death quality. If we don’t keep drugs out of these events, they become freak shows, the athletes like gladiators—with us playing the role of decadent Romans, urging them on.
Besides, on a fundamental level, drugs ruin the simple joy of competition. With drugs in the mix, it’s not about the athletes, it’s about the chemistry.”
Yup, truly insane.
What’s even more bonkers is that after publishing the article I had a small number of individuals come out of the woodwork and indicate that they took part in similar programs… Either of their own volition, or urged on by coaches/teammates.
For some reason I just thought that it was a very small contingent of people looking to increase their performance like that, but I think it’s a lot more prevalent, and in a lot more sports than you would think.
“But it would turn every sport into a test of how much damage an athlete was willing to risk”
Slightly related…. Watched downhill skiing lately? Men’s Half-Pipe? Boarder-Cross? etc. These kids are essentially sponsored to ruin their bodies, risk life and limb, by constantly hucking themselves off higher and crazier things, all so someone can shine a TV camera at them and sell advertising for some product. I thought the Pro-Tour was bad, but reading about all the IOC media rules and stuff right now makes me wonder how much sport is really left in this world, or if it’s all just about money now? :(
No thanks. Sounds crazy. I like racing for the pure joy and fun. It costs me WAY WAY WAY too much money, and I pay the price with both money and pain because I enjoy it.
But I can see why someone would do it when your livelihood is on the line.
For an article of a similar nature on steroids, check this out: http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2008/may/18/healthandwellbeing.features1
Great article, thanks for sharing this. Especially given the comments from Floyd Landis the other day. He’s probably telling a partial version of the truth, but he’s lied so much now, it just doesn’t matter what he says.
Regarding this article. I think I’ll take comfort in knowing every KM I’ve ever riden in my life is without the aid of any performance enhancing drug. I don’t even take pain killers. I recover by increasing my antioxidant intake to remove the free radicals hard training and racing produces. It’s not exotic like the drugs in this article, but you can look at yourself in the mirror and be proud that your performance is your own accomplishment.