Doping in XCO Mountain Biking: Now with Chicks!

[glassmoon]

http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/blaza-klemencic-tests-positive-for-epo/

 

[veganrob]

Gotta be joking about the Dawg, he is one of the worst bike handlers in the peloton.

 

[mikez]

Re:

I've often wondered about Enduros ... as the series is outside the UCI/IOC I'm not sure there is any testing?

It's legal in Colorado.

 

[Singer01]

Re: Re:

A country with a population of 8 million will have like 7 guys in the top 10.

It's probably the guys who weren't good enough for the ski team. You do know that almost all of Switzerland is within thirty minutes of some serious mountain.

any ideas why are GB (especially the women) so good at downhill MTB? it doesn't seem to be the most fertile place to develop. as stated upthread, i can't imagine doping has a 'huge' benefit in downhill.

 

[King Boonen]

Re: Re:

A country with a population of 8 million will have like 7 guys in the top 10.

It's probably the guys who weren't good enough for the ski team. You do know that almost all of Switzerland is within thirty minutes of some serious mountain.

any ideas why are GB (especially the women) so good at downhill MTB? it doesn't seem to be the most fertile place to develop. as stated upthread, i can't imagine doping has a 'huge' benefit in downhill.

If you rode our downhill tracks you would understand.

 

[Singer01]

Re: Re:

A country with a population of 8 million will have like 7 guys in the top 10.

It's probably the guys who weren't good enough for the ski team. You do know that almost all of Switzerland is within thirty minutes of some serious mountain.

any ideas why are GB (especially the women) so good at downhill MTB? it doesn't seem to be the most fertile place to develop. as stated upthread, i can't imagine doping has a 'huge' benefit in downhill.

If you rode our downhill tracks you would understand.

are they that difficult? or is it the weather. i have done a bit of mountain biking in the uk but i've got no frame of reference to compare it to the rest of the world.

 

[King Boonen]

Re: Re:

A country with a population of 8 million will have like 7 guys in the top 10.

It's probably the guys who weren't good enough for the ski team. You do know that almost all of Switzerland is within thirty minutes of some serious mountain.

any ideas why are GB (especially the women) so good at downhill MTB? it doesn't seem to be the most fertile place to develop. as stated upthread, i can't imagine doping has a 'huge' benefit in downhill.

If you rode our downhill tracks you would understand.

are they that difficult? or is it the weather. i have done a bit of mountain biking in the uk but i've got no frame of reference to compare it to the rest of the world.

Very steep, very technical, very slippy. They're not actually that hard to ride down, I do many on a 130-160mm hardtail, but they are very difficult to go down quickly.

There are of course lots of reasons:

We don't have big mountains so freeride, the big ticket these days, doesn't really work for us. It attracts a huge amount of the talent in the US/Canada and even Continental Europe, South America etc. I'm not saying Norbs et. al. could come in and win world cup downhills, they couldn't, but they certainly would have been contenders had they trained in it. If you can't do massive tricks, the only way to show you are better is to be quicker.

Our XC scene is small. It's pretty much limited to roadies in the winter, although it's getting better. DH is what most budding MTBers aspire to if they want to race in the UK (Enduro is having a negative impact here as well but Enduro is also turning into mini-DH). As such, those who ride mountain bikes will feel a pull towards that side of the sport.

Our weather is perfect for MTB. It's cold and wet but we don't get huge amounts of snow in a lot of the popular areas for riding. Of course, Fort William and Glen Coe are out in the winter, but North Wales, Southern Scotland, The Peak District, Surrey Hills, Sheffield etc. are pretty much rideable all year round.

We have very varied tracks. Roots, rocks, mud, streams, jumps. Pretty much anything you'll find around the world you'll find here in the UK, usually in the same location.

All in all it lends itself to a very good MTB scene. We also have two of the best known "older" guys on the current circuit, Steve Peat and Gee Atherton who have no doubt inspired a large number of the young racers coming through today, along with Rob Warner doing the commentary. Just look at the mens trade teams and you'll see British riders popping up everywhere.

MTB is also much bigger than most think. A recent study showed that MTB contributes more to the Scottish Economy than golf! Yes, the most famous Scottish sport in the world with an historic home and possibly the most famous course in existence contributes less to the Scottish economy than a sport most people think is just for kids.


In terms of women, Rachael Atherton grew up with two incredibly talented brothers who will have pushed her and pushed her. Female participation in MTB is ever worse than road riding so you can guarantee that being in that environment has helped her rise to the top of a very limited pool in the womens races but has also pushed her to be faster than a lot of the men. Rachael has no doubt been a massive inspiration to younger girls too.




Combine all of this and it's not massively surprising we produce many good DH riders. We don't necessarily produce a higher number of "the best" riders, but we do produce a fair share of the top riders.

Drugs could well come into it, Gee is absolutely ripped, but they are no where near the advantage they offer in other forms of cycle sport, as Gwin has so aptly shown.

 

[unamused]

Was Tomac a doper? He now trains his son Eli who races motocross and is known for his fitness because he works so hard with his dad

 

[King Boonen]

Re:

Was Tomac a doper? He now trains his son Eli who races motocross and is known for his fitness because he works so hard with his dad

I don't think so... He was before EPO, competed when MTB was in its infancy really and did best in the NORBA events (although he did do well in UCI events too). He rode on the road as well which would have been a big benefit fitness wise.

So... Can't say he wasn't but if he was it was pre-EPO and not really very obvious.

Can't comment much on Motocross, but if his son does a lot of MTB/Road riding and others don't then he'll have an edge on fitness. I literally have no idea what an average pro motocross riders fitness regime is though, this could be exceptional or completely standard.

 

[chuckmicD]

Re: Re:

Rachel will go down as the second-best female rider behind Anne Caro.

Some top guys and women must dope--what's odd is that dh especially is sort of marketed as a party sport, but there's no way you're qualifying top 20 in a UCI downhill race AND partying with your boys after a ride. At least not all the time. Same for the top enduro, xco, dual slalom, bmx, trials...

AIso I'm sure additional strength and endurance would go a long way in any of those disciplines...like you say, some of these dudes are freaking ripped and have legit training regiments. Extra muscle, hand-eye coordination, recovery would def come in handy---especially with long tracks and lots of training. ***...Mont Sainte Anne had over 100m of climbing this year in addition to the usual intense downhill run. Armpump, fatigue, heavy breathing...I think if you push your limits there's room for dope.

Not sure of big teams budgets but still seems unlikely to have a proper program. And the more lowly privateers...how much $ could they possibly have for doping? guess that would be case dependent.

MTB is big in the states too...enduro, xc, dh. Look at the money being put into mtb product development...it's not because there's no dough to be made! And we have lots of good riders too...just not like the British.