This probably typifies it, riders in the Gran Fondo World Championships (the amateur world champs) who doped and got caught
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Im sure that’s why most people race. The people who dope…are they still having fun or are they living in Voidville? 
It took me about a decade of racing tris and probably six years of running before that to disassociate enjoyment from my results. I imagine it’s probably a process everyone goes through and some never get there. Those people (residing in the void) are the ones that quit and dive headlong into something else repeating the cycle… all IMO.
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Life lesson right there… When I was an ignorant kid I thought I knew everything. The more I learn the less I know.
BTW on MAMILS PEDDing their brains out where is the line drawn? I roll with a bunch of old boys for sportives. Their race feeding strategies boil down to Jelly Babbies and Ibuprofens.
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The same reason why people do anything that is wrong. The rush and satisfaction of the “reward” such as the stroking of one’s ego outweighs the rationality of the fact it was not truly earned.
Why do people cheat at golf? So they can tell people they are a 5 handicap when they take 5 mulligans, take gimmes and don’t count penalty strokes, mostly so people gush that you must be really good.
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Ebikes seem more likely to me than blood doping if they get small enough. Even 30 more watts would be very attractive to some given how hard we work to raise our ftp
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Thanks! Even as long as it took me to “let go”, it never crossed my mind to dope or cheat. Even at my meaningless level, I wanted every win, podium and those seemingly infinite fourth places to be legit.
Even the few Zwift events I’ve done, I’m sure people are cheating, but it’s become way more about having fun, being competitive without being an a-hole, and THEN hopefully about kicking a little ass along the way. I think if I doped, the first two would be out the window and I’m not willing to do that even as I’m certain others are.
I’m going to develop a perpetual eye roll/head shake tic if I keep reading this thread.
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A journalist and decent level (sub 11 hour ironman) triathlete/cyclist did exactly that a few years ago - How I became a drug cheat athlete to test the system - BBC News
Quick synopsis is that he got a 7% increase in VO2 Max in 7 weeks of training on EPO from an already decent base (4 months of 12 hours/week). And got 10 weeks worth of EPO for £300 off the internet. In other words it makes a pretty huge difference, it’s not hard to get hold of, and it costs about the same as having a coach. And this was micro-dosing at a level aimed to stay within blood passport parameters (he sent off a blood sample every week and didn’t trigger any red flags). Back in the heyday of EPO when there was no test and they were taking as much as they wanted it was reportedly worth up to a 20% advantage.
I’ve got absolutely no interest in cheating to win. For me exercise is a lifelong hobby, I get huge enjoyment from training and group rides, the racing is just the cherry on the cake, and the occasional win or podium is the speck of icing on top of the cherry! But I can see how somebody who is less scrupulous and looking for shortcuts could be extremely tempted by EPO.
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Or maybe not even shortcuts just hit the ceiling
Its a problem on 2 fronts.
There are amateurs that cheat.
Also, the list of banned substances is long and includes a whole host of drugs used by a wide swath of folks for common medical problems. In fact, most of the major doping chemicals used in cycling are legit prescription drugs. Everyone over 50 probably has at least 5 acquaintances who would fail an in competition drug test. If any one of them races bikes, they are a “doper” even if unintentionally.
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Ibuprofen is now part of my strategy too 
I would say he enjoys it. He never contests for the win, he just enjoys the process of racing. He is fully aware that he would be ridiculed if he were to talk openly about his situation and fight the vocal bunch that truly don’t care about situation, even though he’s not even close to beating them.
I think you might be underestimating people, most that I know would have a decent amount of empathy for his situation. For me this is what the TUE process should be there for, so that people who have a genuine medical condition can still race with no concerns. But my understanding is that it’s nigh on impossible to get a TUE approved unless you’re a pro, sounds like the system just isn’t geared up for amateurs. Has he tried getting a TUE?
No proof, but I’ve seen racers have incredibly hard to believe break through seasons. Like mid-pack one year, and on all the podiums the next year. Maybe the training was really good, but I even heard one of those riders say that they literally never did structured training, just rode a lot. Watched a master’s crit race unfold with the winner lapping the field. It’s all just filed under, “things that make you go hmmm…”
The thing about performance enhancing drugs that actually work; I’m not willing to put my general health at risk for amateur bike racing. For those of us who earn every stitch of fitness, this is another reason why results driven goals can be very unhealthy. There’s never going to be drug testing at these levels so we all just trust our competition to be fair.
I think my local race scene is generally clean, but there’s not enough on the line besides bragging rights with most of the outcomes.
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Geeze. I prefer not to think about competitors doping on my level, taking performance enhancing drugs, boosting T, etc. If I lose to that, so be it. I’m not getting paid for this, so why on earth risk my health!
I wouldn’t mind seeing more testing at local races just to assure a level playing field.
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I don’t really understand the reactions. Having low t and getting your levels back to “normal” isn’t really going to do anything miraculous for your FTP.
If someone has low T and takes TRT to get to “normal” range, let’s say 650, and competes with someone that has natural T levels of 750, what’s the advantage? The low T guy is still lower than the natural guy even with TRT.
Obviously if you go off the charts and start shooting for T levels many times the normal limit, that is going to give you a huge anabolic boost. But someone that goes from low to normal, I guess I don’t see how that is an advantage?
Yes, I understand it is not allowed under the rules. That I understand. But I’m saying practically, what advantage does a guy on TRT with a 650 T reading have on a guy that naturally has a 750 T reading?
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In my case, the “training was really good”, thank you TrainerRoad. I went from a 193 FTP mid pack racer in 2018, to winning the first 4 races in 2019, winning my MTB XC series and ending with an FTP of 300! Everyone was blown away with my progress as they used to easily drop me last year. I’m not sure if people think I doped over the winter, but if they did I guess I would take that as a compliment, lol.
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Keep in mind that there remains controversy what “normal” testosterone levels are, especially as men age. So correcting to a “normal” level must be taken with a grain of salt. Further, the pharmaceutical industry has a strong vested interest in pushing testosterone replacement and playing up “low T” and the needs to replace. It’s akin to what happened when narcotic prescriptions were being pushed by industry and “pain” became the fifth vital sign and needed to be treated with as much narcotic as possible.
Even if there is testing in amateur events, if it is only at the time of the event, then the drug test is really just an IQ test. Random out of competition testing is really going to be the only way to catch dopers. The UFC is a great example of this where drug use was rampant, but quickly changed when Jeff Novitzky came on-board and USADA took over testing.
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