[Closed] Why aren't DHers doping?

Yes, they are tested and supplied with all the same regulations as other uci athletes. The only one caught with thc was missy utah that was commercial quantities...

A winning DH run is more about precision than risk.
and more about skill than strength.

Can't say THC has ever made me take a risk I wouldn't have straight. unless you count scoffing something out of date from the fridge.

They are dopey enough already?

Gary Houseman was stripped of his first and only WC win in 2003 at Grouse Mtn when tested positive for THC.

Can't say THC has ever made me take a risk I wouldn't have straight.

Amateur. 😉

hahaha

Dude the weed didn't make you do it.

nobody should think 'their' sport can't be improved by drugs, they all can. if you are stronger or have greater stamina than the next athlete your skills, decisionmaking are going to be superior because you have physical superiority and less fatigue makes you better at making decisions; EPO and steroids, HGH benefited football and tennis despite the pundits banging on about 'naturally gifted players rise to the top' blah blah

As a non- olympic discipline is there as much (or even any) out of competition testing where the athletes need to update there wherabouts every day?

Doping in sport has been done to death. Surely we'd all rather hear some of Alpin's drug fueled risk taking stories.

I've heard that most of the clayspades lot are high as **** when they are riding.

On topic: Less downhillers have been caught because the sport attracts people that are better human beings than roadie scum. 😀

Also, I've always thought that roadyism attracts proper psychopaths - weirdly DH doesn't seem to - risk takers with high levels of impulsiveness yes (so perhaps the odd sociopath) but not the cold dead eyed head cases that you get in the road disciplines.

Compared with road racing, there isn't much money in mountain biking, much less incentive to cheat and not attractive as a career for the very top level of athletes and coaches. Also, unless you're doing random tests during the off-season, you don't really know how much doping is going on.

Would THC be an advantage?

Only if your mate stood at the finish line, waving a packet of chocolate Hon-Nobs.

A winning DH run is more about precision than risk.
and more about skill than strength.

I thought doping was more about improving recovery time so you can train longer and more often.

Careful now you don't want 3 threads deleted this week due to drug talk 😐 😡

Would THC be an advantage?

Only if your mate stood at the finish line, waving a packet of chocolate Hon-Nobs.

Well played!

I would be shocked if none of them were doping. Weren't there rumours of doping in enduro?

Re. Thc. I can definitely imagine it could improve performance for some people. Assuming that the concept of 'flow' is important in dh , thc can improve that allegedly. Lots of reports of other extreme sports benefitting from it.

DH is a strength/endurance sport, so any of the same drugs you find in say, track athletes would work equally well. Off season is long, they're often in the middle of nowhere training. The pressure on the top 20 is immense. Wouldn't be at all surprised TBH

Are we forgetting Miles Rockwell and his hydro setup?

[url= http://ridemonkey.bikemag.com/threads/miles-rockwell-busted-for-growing-weed.85761/ ]LINK[/url]

From a 2009 interview-

Having retired from racing, Myles felt at a loss as to what to do next. Bike racing had been his job since he was 18. He'd made a good income from it, but his commitment to racing had been total and he had no backup plan. Unlike many of his peers, he had no interest in working in the bike industry.

But he isn't resentful. In fact, he enjoyed spending a year lazing around. But then his wife became pregnant and he had a young son and wife to support. After a spell in motorcycle maintenance, he started working as a carpenter, which he continues to this day.

Growing up in San Francisco's Bay Area, Myles, like many of the children of the hippie generation, liked smoking marijuana. In 2004, as a money saving exercise, he "decided to have a go at cultivating a private stash in a spare bedroom at home". Unfortunately, the police didn't see it as a hobby and he spent 30 nights in jail and had to attend a drug rehabilitation programme.

He describes it as his "lowest point", and says: "I was working 60-hour weeks doing hard graft as a carpenter, struggling to raise my child, and I just wanted to save some money. But the jail time, especially being treated like a criminal, made me re-assess my life.”

I've heard that most of the clayspades lot are high as **** when they are riding.

Come to Wharny and see for yourself.

What could DHers take to improve their chances of a podium?

I'd guess steroids and growth hormone, possibly testosterone? Most of it won't be race-day stuff - it'll be about accelerating recovery, building muscle mass and getting over injury quicker.

Injury recovery will be the biggest area of doping risk for DH, getting back into top condition is hard and that's when people take risks

@docgeoffyjones - was replying to Alpin's theory that THC lowers risk adversion. (I don't think it does). THC does reduce cognitive functioning though.

"I just completed Gran Turismo on the hardest setting"
We pose no threat on my settee
Ooh, the pizza's here, will someone let him in please?
"We didn't order chicken; not a problem, we'll pick it out"

What Bigdummny said.

Naive to assume it hasn't happened but I severely doubt that it's endemic.

I think its no surprise that the fitter guys are now winning more races than the guys with natural talent that don't train.

Just look at Danny Hart's results after he said he improved his diet and started training. Not accusing him of doping.

On topic: Less downhillers have been caught because the sport attracts people that are better human beings than roadie scum.

I thought it was because downhillers aren't mentally capable of following a doping program 😉

On a more serious point I'd be surprised it was 100% clean, it's a sport where strength and recovery play a big part.

Who's to say they aren't? Unless there's a regimen in place to continually test both in and out of competition then no sport can claim that it's drug free (or as close as).

Of course this is a double edged sword: without testing and finding the cheats a sport can't claim to be clean but if they test and find cheats then those outside the sport use those results as a reason to bash it.

Road cycling has grasped the nettle in a way few other sports have so it follows that they'll have a better chance of finding the cheats. I don't know how far down the racing categories drugs testing goes but given the discovery of cheating riders at relatively minor races I suspect that the aim is to tackle the problem at all levels and before riders rise to the professional ranks. The fact that cheating at such minor races gets the amount of publicity it does suggests that it is becoming rarer. It will never be zero, there will always be someone wanting to gain an edge and willing to do anything to get it.

I think parliament missed an opportunity recently when they decided not to make doping in sport a criminal offence in the way that it is in France. I can't see any practical reason why it shouldn't be so, there must have been some lobbying going on by various sports associations.

"I just completed Gran Turismo on the hardest setting"
We pose no threat on my settee
Ooh, the pizza's here, will someone let him in please?
"We didn't order chicken; not a problem, we'll pick it out"

Ahh, The Streets

[i]"Lets put on our classics and have a little dance shall we"[/i]

Maybe is partly about personality type. DHers always seem a bit more laidback generally than roadies. Roadies come across as more obsessive, strung out, win at any cost. It's why they're typically less likeable 😉

make doping in sport a criminal offence in the way that it is in France. I can't see any practical reason why it shouldn't be so

:/

Other than the people in charge of chosing which "drugz" are on the banned substance list being stupid. no. no reason at all.

So what drugs currently on the banned list shouldn't be there?

I'm assuming you're brighter than those making the choice.

I can tell you that Tahnee is smokin' hot.
8)

DH'ers taking PEDs? I'd be extraordinarily surprised if a decent percentage aren't. It must be a bit like tennis -
"There are no positive drugs test results in tennis"
"That's because no one gets tested." (apart from Martina Hingis)

alpin - Member

Would THC be an advantage?

It's banned in competition by WADA - considered performance enhancing in that it can ease anxiety, plus it being mostly illegal is a factor also.

Wouldn't be my choice for a DH run - mind would be wandering off thinking about all sorts.

DH'ers taking PEDs? I'd be extraordinarily surprised if a decent percentage aren't. It must be a bit like tennis

World Cup DHers are much lower paid than top level tennis players, got to factor that in.

chakaping - Member

World Cup DHers are much lower paid than top level tennis players, got to factor that in.

All the more incentive for a struggling privateer to push himself to a point where he can earn a few quid.

In any sport there'll be participants who are prepared to cheat to be the best regardless of the amount of money involved. If there's no organised and continuous testing, both in and out of competition, then that proportion will be larger as there's little or no chance of being caught taking PEDs and less chance of being punished.

All the more incentive for a struggling privateer to push himself to a point where he can earn a few quid.

Theoretically perhaps. And the fact that most positive tests in road cycling now seem to be on younger or older riders kind-of supports that motive.

However I would still expect a lower overall cash fund would generate less overall cheating.

And from a layman's perspective it seems there's less of a perception that "everyone else is probably at it anyway" in DH compared to tennis.

I remember an interview with Rachel atherton where she was making the point that you can only push so hard power wise to get to the first turn where your breaking and after that it’s about carrying speed . There was way more to it than that but the gist was that the benefits of drugs weren’t as much in downhill as other cycling disciplines.
I would be more concerned about enduro , 8 hour days on the bike in some races with 20 min stages to race imagine it would be possible to make some proper advantages with drugs . In fact one reasonably successful French racer has already been caught a few years ago .

WADA is funded by IOC

"Corruption and greed but don't be smokin' no weed"

Rugby League player [url= http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/rugby-league/42095344 ]banned for cocaine use[/url]

World Cup DHers are much lower paid than top level tennis players, got to factor that in

Aaron Gwinn estimated that his earnings (with sponsorship) was over a million dollars last year. Obviously that's 1. a lot less than the top tennis players, and 2. Very very few are earning that sort of money, and 3. I'm not suggesting for one minute the he's taking PEDS.

BUT, the incentive is clearly there, it's a livelihood, sponsors to please, the pressure to perform and get back to riding as soon as possible if you have a crash. I'm not naive enough to think the DH is any cleaner (or dirtier) than any other professional sport.

Exactly what aspect of "performance" do you want to enhance in DH? I'd have thought blocking the effects of outright fear might be the most obvious, as opposed to cardiovascular improvements from traditional cycling PED fayre. And obviously heavier riders go down hills faster, so perhaps bulking agents like anabolic steroids. Are pork pies PED's? 😉

Recovery agents and possibly supplements that aid that might also be used, but I can't think of much else of interest, and excepting contamination, these are routine at higher levels of competition.

3. I'm not suggesting for one minute the he's taking PEDS.

Jesus is his PED, and there’s no test for that

Oh.. .I think you'll find there is. 😉

Maybe there's more that can go wrong on an average DH run, and therefore the benefits of taking the drugs are diluted by chance that your outright fitness won't make the difference at the end of the day.

Also, could you argue that a DHer and their sponsor would be more likely to be shunned if they got caught doping? i.e. the 'omerta' that exists in road cycling doesn't exist in DH so you'd become a pariah much more easily?

Pretty sure Gee Atherton was already taking an unfair amount of flack simply for being fit and strong when people preferred to see the Stevie Smith style of fast but laid back, whips over jumps etc.

They are tested - even at British level. I remember the testers turning up at the British Champs at Innerleithen a few years ago, and testing the male and female winners and some randoms from the also rans.

The podiums were delayed for ages as the male winner who shall remain nameless was having trouble producing a sample. It was a hot day !

Testing at a race is the most obvious place you could ever do it though, and therefore easiest to get around. Would need to be random testing, bio-passports and all that stuff to start making it worthwhile

[img] [/img][b]
"Fooookin' 'ot that day! wunnit? Maaaate.. ehehhehehee" [/b]

It wouldn't surprise me if a top dh rider had doped, there's always one bell end, but I really can't see it being endemic. As people have said above, the advantages and rewards aren't worth it.
Now, BMX, 4x and enduro, that's a different matter. There has been various rumours about positive tests in enduro hushed up, and there's money in BMX.

I thought it was because downhillers aren't mentally capable of following a doping program

That too 😀

make doping in sport a criminal offence in the way that it is in France. I can't see any practical reason why it shouldn't be so

I'm going to betray my sheltered upbringing by asking what THC is.

Thoroughly Horrible Cake? - nope, that doesn't exist.

Actually speaking of hush ups I thought a well known french rider (not trying to insinuate, genuinely can't remember which one) HAD been caught doping in the early days of Enduro?

THC is the active ingredient in canabis

Karim Amour.

I thought Chris Ball had said there was a lifetime ban on dopers in the EWS, but he won the masters cat last year IIRC.

Current EWS 40+ world series champion. Karim Amour?

There's plenty to read online about it if you're interested.

<SNAP>

I wouldnt be suprised if there is doping. Its professional sport. Whether its done in training to help recovery and boost strength and power or on raceday to calm nerves and reduce stress.

The real problem for all sport is that doping control cant keep up. In my view all you can say now is that an athlete has passed doing control or failed. Unfortunatley passing is no guarantee they are clean.

I honestly don't know why anyone not competing even cares.

I'm sure i've read somewhere (maybe in a discussion about bryceland..) that the DH riders are only tested at events.

i.e. if you are clean on race day, then you're good to go.

I thought it was all about the social media profile these days, the more followers the more money form sponsors. You don't need to be winning races or even getting on the podium to be successful in that side of things so the incentive isn't quite there to dope for race results.

From DRUGS.COM

"As a rough guide: if you smoke the occasional joint, weed will stay in your system for up to 10 days. If you smoke regularly, up to 45 days and if you smoke constantly, 90 days.

As for being detectable in a drug test, well this depends on the type of drug test. A Urine test will detect up to a month prior, but a blood test will show positive if you've smoked any weed in the last 6 months.

Also important to note that marijuana/thc residue is stored in the fat cells, so if you're skinny or have a high metabolism, the time it takes to leave your system may be reduced."

HTH