UK Race Scene

[spredy]

I was doing a bit of Strava stalking of some UK based racers and stumbled across what to me look like absolutely monstrous power numbers and it got me wondering whether anyone knows anything about doping in the UK domestic scene?

Racing here seems quite bare bones with so many races local to me being closed down that I can't imagine there's a huge or comprehensive testing system.

Some of the numbers I saw were like 380 watts normalised for 3 hours 30 mins for a 74 kg rider with 140 bpm average. This lad was also knocking out over 540 watts for 5 minutes in training (7.5 watts per kg) as part of multiple reps.

These have to be close to world tour numbers and yet the bloke is not even pro conti, and appears to be pack fill in amateur racing? Any rumours, info or thoughts would be cool.

 

[samhocking]

You can't truly decided anything from Strava as it's so easy to offset power calibration beyond any doping is capable of. I think my power meter allows an offset of +/-20% for example.

 

[Barkintheeye]

I was doing a bit of Strava stalking of some UK based racers and stumbled across what to me look like absolutely monstrous power numbers and it got me wondering whether anyone knows anything about doping in the UK domestic scene?

Racing here seems quite bare bones with so many races local to me being closed down that I can't imagine there's a huge or comprehensive testing system.

Some of the numbers I saw were like 380 watts normalised for 3 hours 30 mins for a 74 kg rider with 140 bpm average. This lad was also knocking out over 540 watts for 5 minutes in training (7.5 watts per kg) as part of multiple reps.

These have to be close to world tour numbers and yet the bloke is not even pro conti, and appears to be pack fill in amateur racing? Any rumours, info or thoughts would be cool.

Errenous or ”fixed” power meter. Either way the figures mean nothing and should also be meaningless to the rider. Maybe he hopes that some pro conti scout will see the data and pick him out but I don’t think it will work.

 

[King Boonen]

I was doing a bit of Strava stalking of some UK based racers and stumbled across what to me look like absolutely monstrous power numbers and it got me wondering whether anyone knows anything about doping in the UK domestic scene?

Racing here seems quite bare bones with so many races local to me being closed down that I can't imagine there's a huge or comprehensive testing system.

Some of the numbers I saw were like 380 watts normalised for 3 hours 30 mins for a 74 kg rider with 140 bpm average. This lad was also knocking out over 540 watts for 5 minutes in training (7.5 watts per kg) as part of multiple reps.

These have to be close to world tour numbers and yet the bloke is not even pro conti, and appears to be pack fill in amateur racing? Any rumours, info or thoughts would be cool.

I've heard the same rumours of steroid use in cycling as I have in other sports, but never anything beyond that. The numbers aren't really helpful.

 

[MartinGT]

Ask Jon Tiernan Locke, it's clean as a whistle.

 

[Parker]

Ask Jon Tiernan Locke, it's clean as a whistle.

That was decade ago.

 

[VO2 Max]

I was doing a bit of Strava stalking of some UK based racers and stumbled across what to me look like absolutely monstrous power numbers and it got me wondering whether anyone knows anything about doping in the UK domestic scene?

Some of the numbers I saw were like 380 watts normalised for 3 hours 30 mins for a 74 kg rider with 140 bpm average. This lad was also knocking out over 540 watts for 5 minutes in training (7.5 watts per kg) as part of multiple reps.

'UK-based' and 'amateur racing' both cover quite a wide spectrum. There are plenty of timetrials and regional A RR's where you can guarantee there'll be no testing and that some people are experimenting a bit.

But equally, if that's for a 100 mile TT then - clean or otherwise - there's people you've never heard of doing numbers like that on plenty of weekends through the summer. bikecalculator.com reckons average 380w is 3hr23 for 160km which would just about make the podium here https://www.cyclingtimetrials.org.uk/race-results/19716#anchor
Even then, the average is likely to be quite a bit lower than the normalised over that distance - if the time was 3hr30 than it would have barely scraped the top 10. They're all total specialists who either don't care about RR'ing or can't perform in a bunch situation; the only UCI result PCS has for any of that top-10 is 77th place in a 1.2.