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It makes you wonder

1K views 17 replies 11 participants last post by  zero85ZEN 
#1 ·
I am sure we all agree that Dr. Fuentes is not the only Dr Feelgood in the Pro Peloton. There are probably a few more like him in Spain, even more in Italy, a few in Belgium....the Belgium guys are usually veterinarians, hey "if it make the cow big it will make you ride fast". There used to be one in France, but he took the month of August off one year and did not come back.

Now, lets just say you are one of those Doctors. Life is good, you are making lots of pesos, franks, lire, marks (Yeah, I know, they all make Euros now). You open the daily paper and there is Dr. Fuentes on the cover....he is going to Jail....Yes jail, the place where you do not pick up the soap in case you become someones prison b**ch. Jail is a place you do not want to go. How do you feel when you read that newspaper?

I will tell you how you feel. You feel like that time you found the biggest hill in town and went down it on your bike to see how fast you can go. You are flying, it is like magic. almost 100kph, and suddenly you hit this big rock, in the middle of the road, that came from nowhere. Looks like you are going to crash, break some bones, loose lots of skin, you are more scared then you have been in your life.....this is how you feel.

What do you do? You call all your clients and say "sorry boys, can't stand the heat. I am getting out of the kitchen" Of course you say this, because you alway speak in code.

4 weeks later a bunch of these clients, guys who have won big in the past, won stages, stood on podiums, kissed the girl and got the flowers....ride like dogs in the first TT of the tour.

It makes you wonder.
 
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#3 ·
Good Going....

Your just saying what many people are thinking. This is some Strange Tour... Everyone is using the first half of the season to pick favourites. Maybe when the dope was around? Now, all doctors have closed their doors and many are suffering because of it. I'm not sure if Levi lost 6min just because of some drugs? I don't think that doping has that big of an impact. Maybe their was rumor his team was going to pull him and he didnt sleep the night before and suffered all night long and then the following day. Who knows!
Don't worry about some dudes in here that will pee all over your thoughts... and pick things apart.
I was thinking the exact same things you wrote about, and everyday Paul and Phil keep saying this is some strange tour. This kind of thinking is probably everywhere.
:thumbsup:
 
#4 ·
First Fuentes isn't going to jail because they aren't going to be able to convict him of anything, and second if history is any guide at all the rest of the medical competition, rather than having a sick feeling in their stomach, is thrilled to death at all the new business that is heading their direction.

As to why the Tour is so goofy, it's simply because the course is completely unchallenging, the top 5 guys from last year are gone, and we never watched numbers 6-20 closely enough to see them flounder their way through the race in detail before. Now we are and not surprisingly it's just like watching JV basketball.

I don't think the level of doping has really changed at all other than a few guys with their supply lines temporarily interrupted and fear of raids making them more cautious.
 
#6 ·
I would be hard presed to believe that riders and teams are not two or three times as careful now, then before Opercion Puerto came out. you know that there were a lot of dudes going through the kitchen cabinet and scouring the house to make sure that they did not have a shread of eveidence around. you also have to think that with Liberty pulling out so quickly that it may be a better course for teams to lay low on the dope, especially when the spotlights are on during the tour. On the bright side, you have a lot of riders who have not experienced this kind of pressure and expectations during the Lance era. some guys crack before they even turn a pedal.
 
#7 ·
On the bright side, you have a lot of riders who have not experienced this kind of pressure and expectations during the Lance era.

Thank God Lance isnt in this tour because it would be terribly boring... Or to say Ullrich or Basso.

Cant wait till Wednesday to see who the new age climbers are.
 
#9 ·
asawlrider123456789 said:
i just thought that was what this thread was about
Guy does well = on dope
Guy does poorly = not enough dope

that is the equation many here use......actual evidence not required in the RBR court of doping Inquisition....

If everyone has to be below HCT=50, it's a level playing field......
 
#10 ·
BigFatOne said:
Places 10-100 are filled with guys who rode poorly
10-100+ were filled with guys who weren't fast enough to win. Just to finish the Tour is an achievment. Some riders are there just to work for their sprinter/climber/GC contender. They are riding their arses off back and forth to the car, getting bottles, capes, food etc. The likes of Levi, Floyd & George don't do that. They're conserving energy for the overall or their own objectives. Cycling is one of the last bastions of serfdom. Stars race from A to B and don't deviate for anyone else. Domestiques ride in the service of the stars at their beck and call. Where do you think the name comes from?
 
#13 ·
AJL said:
I would think that for elite endurance athletes, that HCT levels will be in a fairly narrow range (maybe +/-3 @ 1 sigma). If one has a low HCT, that person will never make it to the pro level.
Boonon's is 31, Lance's natural level is 41.....of course somehow around tour time he is able to get it up to 48.5.

I have read a number of studies about altitude tents and none have shown that kind of increase, I wonder how he does it?

NTP
 
#15 ·
I don't think this is true...

AJL said:
I would think that for elite endurance athletes, that HCT levels will be in a fairly narrow range (maybe +/-3 @ 1 sigma). If one has a low HCT, that person will never make it to the pro level.
It seems that there are fairly wide ranges in biological measures of talent/fitness that don't track to sustainable power output.

V02max, resting HR, maxHR, working HR, hematocrit, muscle fiber distribution, etc. can vary pretty significantly in top athletes. Apparently, there is more than one way to skin a cat.

So if you've got two guys who have about the same sustainable PO, but (as in BianchGirl's example) one has a HC of 31 and the other 41, it seems that raising both guys' HC to 50 would benefit one more than another.

Don't have any proof of that, though. I've been wanting to dose my wife (HC=38) with some EPO to see if it makes her faster, but for some reason she doesn't want to subject herself to my poorly thought out medical experiments :rolleyes:
 
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