By
Chuck
Coyle
"and
I
am
killing
your
brain
just
like
poisonous
mushroom….."
-Vanilla
Ice
Drugs
in
cycling
and
for
that
matter
drugs
in
all
of
sports
have
been
a
problem
that
has
been
going
on
ever
since
athletes
figured
out
that
they
could
go
faster,
jump
higher
and
outlast
the
competition
through
means
not
within
the
realm
of
true
sportsmanship.
Generally
speaking
I
believe
that
the
US
peloton
is
a
very
clean
bunch
of
riders.
Yes,
there
will
always
be
those
who
think
that
the
only
way
to
succeed
or
even
do
well
is
to
cheat
but
those
people
are
unavoidable
and
have
a
tendency
to
weed
themselves
out
through
natural
selection.
There
are
certain
riders
in
the
US
who
are
commonly
known
to
rely
heavily
on
doping;
no
I
am
not
going
to
mention
any
names
although
I
would
love
to!
But
those
riders
tend
not
to
get
picked
up
by
good
teams
anyway
because
everyone
knows
that
they
pose
a
serious
risk.
By
being
a
risk
I
mean
if
the
rider
gets
busted
at
dope
control
the
team
looks
bad
and
will
take
on
a
lot
of
heat,
the
team
will
even
look
a
bit
shady
to
start
with
if
they
have
to
rely
on
‘questionable’
riders
to
get
the
job
done.
Even
the
small
group
of
riders
who
do
use
drugs
in
the
US
have
a
tendency
not
to
hit
the
hard
stuff
like
EPO;
they
will
generally
use
the
basic,
more
easily
tested
for,
products.
The
extreme
ones
will
use
steroids
but
most
will
use
the
standard
over
the
counter
GNC
stimulants
such
as
Ephedrine.
From
my
experience
the
craziest
most
people
I
know
tend
to
get
is
either
slamming
a
can
of
Red
Bull
(my
personal
favorite)
or
chugging
a
double
espresso
from
Starbucks
a
half
hour
before
the
gun
goes
off.
Recently
I
have
talked
to
friends
and
teammates
about
their
view
of
drugs
in
the
US
and
I
received
some
mixed
reviews.
One
friend
thinks
that
EPO
has
finally
hit
the
US
and
he
even
named
some
people
who
supposedly
"deal"
it
and
also
he
also
said
that
is
the
only
reason
why
a
couple
certain
guys
have
been
doing
so
well
this
year.
I
am
very
aware
of
how
well
the
rumor
mill
works
in
this
sport
and
tend
not
to
believe
everything
I
hear
but
it
is
true
that
most
stories
have
some
thread
of
truth
mixed
in
with
them.
Call
me
naïve
but
I
believe
that
cycling
as
a
whole
is
one
of
the
cleanest
of
professional
sports
in
the
world
and
continues
to
get
cleaner.
This
is
one
of
the
reasons
why
that
over
the
last
few
years
American
riders
have
been
doing
better
than
ever
in
Europe.
I
am
not
saying
that
riders
from
North
America
are
morally
better
people
and
that
is
our
reason
for
not
doing
drugs
but
it
is
due
more
to
the
fact
that
we
do
not
have
easy
access
to
the
hard
doping
products
that
are
more
readily
available
in
Europe.
Even
if
I
wanted
to
dope
I
do
not
know
where
I
would
go
to
get
some
EPO
or
a
test
tube
filled
with
Nandro.
Two
years
ago
a
few
friends
of
mine
spent
the
summer
racing
in
Belgium.
They
returned
with
stories
of
dirty
syringes
and
guys
partaking
in
the
infamous
‘Belgian
Cocktail’.
They
were
shocked
at
how
readily
accessible
doping
product
were
and
how
many
guys
made
the
choice
to
use
them.
It
must
be
a
hard
situation
to
be
in
knowing
that
such
a
large
percentage
of
the
field
are
aided
by
drugs
when
you
are
trying
to
be
competitive
and
stay
clean
at
the
same
time.
Another
friend
of
mine
(who
now
rides
for
a
top
US
team)
once
told
me
a
story
from
when
he
was
racing
for
a
European
team.
He
was
not
the
strongest
guy
on
the
squad
and
generally
acted
as
a
loyal
domestique
(man,
do
I
know
that
feeling).
During
one
race
he
found
himself
in
the
5-man
race-winning
break
with
his
team
leader.
With
30k
to
go
his
team
leader
crashed
out
of
the
race
and
he
suddenly
became
the
go-to
guy.
His
director
came
up
in
the
follow
car
and
gave
him
a
‘special’
bottle.
My
friend
said
it
was
like
drinking
liquid
gold
and
after
finishing
the
bottle
he
had
never
felt
so
good
or
so
fast.
He
started
working
way
too
hard,
covering
even
the
smallest
and
move
and
attacking
at
every
opportunity.
His
director
was
yelling
at
him,
trying
to
get
him
just
to
sit
in
and
wait
for
the
last
1k
to
make
his
big
move
but
he
felt
so
good
that
he
could
not
help
himself.
At
the
end
of
the
day
he
ended
up
getting
3rd
which
is
not
too
good
considering
how
great
he
felt
but
what
is
really
amazing
is
what
happened
to
him
the
next
day.
He
said
that
when
he
woke
up
he
felt
like
a
train
had
hit
him;
He
had
a
migraine
headache
and
his
legs
hurt
so
bad
he
was
forced
to
walk
down
the
stairs
backwards.
To
this
day
he
does
not
know
what
was
in
that
‘special’
bottle
but
he
found
out
quickly
that
doping
was
not
going
to
be
for
him.
Another
contributing
factor
for
so
many
guys’
choosing
not
to
use
drugs
is
that
in
the
US
right
now
it
is
hip
not
to
dope.
The
people
who
are
most
respected
are
the
guys
who
are
‘all
natural’.
Everyone
seems
to
be
more
into
eating
the
right
combination
of
protein,
fats
&
carbohydrates
then
they
are
about
their
connection
getting
them
"on
the
program"
for
a
big
race.
Guys
(and
gals)
are
also
proving
that
you
can
be
a
top
athlete
and
live
a
clean,
healthy
and
more
importantly
a
long
life.
I
know
for
a
fact
that
US
cyclocross
superstar
Marc
Gullickson
(Mongoose)
as
well
as
his
teammate
Todd
Wells
are
clean
racers
who
are
getting
it
done
with
the
best
‘crossers
in
the
world.
I
have
spent
enough
time
with
both
of
them
to
know
that
hard
work
is
what
it
really
takes
to
be
the
best,
it
is
not
something
that
they
inject
where
the
sun
don’t
shine.
That
is
also
how
the
best
guys
can
stay
good
for
so
long,
they
don’t
have
the
huge
valleys
that
dopers
seem
to
have
when
in
between
drug
cycles.
That
is
how
guys
like
Marc
Gullickson,
Travis
Brown
(Trek
MTB
Team),
and
John
Lieswyn
(7-Up/Nutra
Fig)
can
be
so
consistently
good
for
so
long.
The
guys
who
are
known
to
dope
have
these
bad
spells
that
are
incredible.
When
they
are
not
going
well
I
would
be
surprised
if
they
could
finish
a
small
local
Cat
4/5
race.
Then
one
month
later
you
will
see
them
in
a
small
break
in
an
NRC
crit
keeping
the
pace
at
33mph.
These
guys
are
easy
to
spot
when
they
are
on
the
juice
because
if
you
get
a
good
look
at
their
eyes
at
the
start
line
their
pupils
are
as
big
as
dinner
plates!
I
have
never
raced
in
Europe
so
I
do
not
want
to
claim
that
I
know
what
is
going
on
inside
their
peloton.
I
am
also
certain
that
there
are
plenty
of
clean
Euro
Pro’s.
What
I
do
know
is
that
there
will
always
be
cheaters
but
the
USCF
and
the
UCI
are
both
striving
to
clean
up
the
sport
and
keep
the
playing
field
nice
and
level.
Hopefully
I
will
someday
be
able
to
write
about
my
first
hand
experiences
with
the
European
peloton.
Until
that
day…
Ride
it
like
you
stole
it!
Thanks
for
Reading!
Chuck
Team
7UP
| 
