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Adamastor said:
Maxiton said:Vive Le Tour (1962 Tour de France) Part 2
http://youtu.be/4B6ZycaBelU
1:43 "Now let's talk about doping. In cycling slang, doping is called "the charge," and "the charge" is killing the profession. Now every time someone quits he's under suspicion. This racer told us he must have eaten some bad fish. That same day, ten racers quit, and each said he'd eaten bad fish."
Just because it's worth watching from the beginning, here is the link to part 1
http://youtu.be/A3EHJjHP6yc
Adamastor said:
cineteq said:Wow, no wonder the doping culture is so ingrained. Nobody thinks he's doping.![]()
irongrl said:Thanks for the link. I enjoyed seeing what the tour was like 50 years ago. I take it the "charge" was amphetamines? Is that what was making them sick or was there some other kind of doping going on?
cineteq said:Wow, no wonder the doping culture is so ingrained. Nobody thinks he's doping.![]()
hiero2 said:Probably amphetamines. They also used painkillers. Often both. Earlier riders used cocaine - but I think that was passe' by then, and amphetamines were the choice.
Amphetamines make you more sensitive to the heat, I'm told. Less able to cool your body properly, so hot weather wasn't good for those who were "speeding".
I liked that line about the fish, too, but poor nutrition in the tours was also common enough. They were traveling, probably trying to find cheap hotels, looking for group rates, etc. Back then, water supplies were less standard than today. Part of the post-Depression post WW2 era has been the growing uniformity of municipal water. Today you can travel most of the world and drink the water. Back then, you might go from one town to another and find different bacteria in the water that your body was not accustomed to - and voila, diarrhea.
Oh - one other thing - it IS cool seeing racing 50 years ago!![]()
irongrl said:I also remember seeing somewhere that back then riders were discouraged from drinking too much water, I can't remember the reasoning, but that probably caused more heat related illness and dehydration too.