Doping

His point about Tramadol (legal and dangerous) vs. EPO (banned but can be used safely) confused me. I thought EPO made your blood go all gloopy.

Yeah, if not administered by your local professional doctor doper.

I thought EPO made your blood go all gloopy

Only if you overdo it, hence the original 50% HCT limit before they had an actual EPO test, which was as much a health measure as an anti-doping one.

Perhaps JTL's dehydration from drinking excuse was true after all as he fails another test:
http://m.torquayheraldexpress.co.uk/Cycle-race-ace-Jonathan-Tiernan-Locke-given-drink/story-26862519-detail/story.html

Well, now he has a legitimate reason for riding his bike...

He really is a cunt, isn't he?

Range Rover, personalised number plates and way over the limit. WAC.

JTC

I'll let you guess the 'C'.

^ I initially thought cunt, but of course cock rhymes so nicely done.

The vehicle – which has personalised number-plates – was seen to drive down Tavistock Place before pulling up

It's OK, he's clearly got another of those self-driving cars

First positive test of the Tour. Paolini's been partying:

http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/paolini-informed-of-cocaine-positive-at-tour-de-france

Pinot angry over late night dope controls
Read more at http://www.cyclingweekly.co.uk/racing/tour-de-france/julien-pinot-angry-over-late-night-dope-controls-at-tour-de-france-181749#B80Ie93LrizM5idP.99

Take the gasquet defence Luca!

Richard Gasquet, french tennis guy, famously got off a coke positive by claiming it got in his system from kissing a girl.

Luca, you silly twat

Race Radio said UCI only do nighttime testing of riders when there's deep suspicion of doping.

Nicely put! To the point!

EPO has too many side effects. Not my style. Would rather have ECA.

If you're talking about side-effects, Ephedrine was banned from supplements for a reason.

Indeed it was. It's one of the items you need for making methamphetamine. It's still supplied by doctors to people with obesity and asthma because it has almost zero side effects if used properly.

widely used by the gym crowd too, so it's ridiculously easy to get hold off,
I also agree with @Arawn that if you time the doses properly and don't bump the caffeine too high then it is fairly safe to use with almost zero sides.

clenbuterol on the other hand is harsh as hell and the body tremors it gives you can be pretty tough to live with, How Contador did any decent training whilst on the stuff is beyond me!

Very simple how he did that, it provides a lot of oxygen. It's just a very stupid way to get better.

I'm referring to the shakes and tremors that it gives the user. In my experience it can become difficult to write your name on a piece of paper, let alone train hard and effectively!

The other issue is the raise of resting heartbeat, meaning that high intensity work would be very difficult or uncomfortable to do without the HR going through the roof

@Juggle Well if it's that bad, you are probably right. I don't have any experience with that, I know the HR issue is already present in Ephedrine. Training with that is very difficult if you don't watch your HR. It's mostly for the off days.

Richard Gasquet, french tennis guy, famously got off a coke positive by claiming it got in his system from kissing a girl.

As I understand it, testing for cocaine is so sensitive that you can test positive from a lot less than kissing. Shaking hands with someone that has shaken hands with a user could easily give you a positive test.

A question I've had since watching the opening stage time trial - when Dennis smashed it and broke the record for fastest average speed in a TdF tt. The record he broke was Boardman's. Which, therefore, must have stood through the most aggressive period of doping and generally escalating records/achievements. Is the explanation simply that a) he was really good or b) the Lotus bike he used was exceptionally aero and possibly bike or position have subsequently been legislated against? Or is he in any way suspect? Genuine question, just seems surprising that this record would have stood the test of the doped-up flyers, when others (ascents of notable climbs etc) were being smashed all over the shop.

Very unlikely, IMHO, that Chris Boardman was doping. He retired early from cycling because he needed to take testosterone for a medical condition and the UCI wouldn't give him a TUE for it, and he wasn't prepared to race while doped.