• The Cycling News forum is still looking to add volunteer moderators with. If you're interested in helping keep our discussions on track, send a direct message to @SHaines here on the forum, or use the Contact Us form to message the Community Team.

    In the meanwhile, please use the Report option if you see a post that doesn't fit within the forum rules.

    Thanks!

dolophonic said:
http://blog.oregonlive.com/horner/2009/08/tour_of_spain_diary_ready_to_c.html

I know Chris Horner is a popular rider but this article seemed a little odd.
After i got my meds i found that missing 150 watts....
Good read ..

It's a blog. It went on a bit but it made sense. He's got exercise induced asthma - bummer.

There are some boundaries around drugs to be healthy and drugs to enhance performance...but that's what the exemption system is designed to determine. Most of the time it's a no brainer - this looks like one of those.
 
I have never found it all that strange that a fairly large percentage of pro cyclists suffer from exercize induced asthma at some point in their career. With the quantity of air of questionable origin that a racing cyclist regularly sucks through his system I don't find that sort of diagnosis at all hard to believe. It's not like the group is culled from anything but the 98 lb weakling segment of society in the first place.
 
I actually do find it strange. For several reasons.

First, most of these riders are in their 20's and 30's. Next, while they exercise a lot, the air outside is actually cleaner than the air outside. This is true almost everywhere in the world, with exceptions to cities like Mexico City, Sao Paolo, Lima, etc. Most of their time is spent riding in the country and mountains, where the air is at it's cleanest. Chris also lives outside of Bend Oregon, where the air is some of the cleanest in the world.

Asthma also affects about 7% of the population. Less than 1/4 of those need medical help daily. Most asthma suffers get attacks that happen once in a while. This is when they need the inhaler or medical assistance. Most asthma sufferers are also not fully fit, super healthy individuals.

As a result, something that afflicts probably less than 1% of the population, and maybe .1% of healthy, fit, young men, somehow affects a much higher percentage of cyclists because they "exercise outside a lot".

Our sport is riddled with doping. Only a fool would deny such a thing. Athletes will do every last thing they can to get an edge, and many would jack themselves up to hct's near 60 if they could get a TUE to do so.

And finally, Chris rides for a team that is highly suspect of having a systematic doping program in place, with a leader (JB) and lead rider (LA) who view doping as a non-issue in our sport, and one that doesn't need to be dealt with as a problem.
 
Mar 13, 2009
16,854
1
0
Visit site
gotta be a nod and a wink.

Horner always had a dry sense of humour.

Shout out to my boyz, she'll be goin' right this Vuelta, gonna climb high into the top ten on classement, just like my ol' USPS boy, Tommy D.
 
Alpe d'Huez said:
I actually do find it strange...

As a result, something that afflicts probably less than 1% of the population, and maybe .1% of healthy, fit, young men, somehow affects a much higher percentage of cyclists because they "exercise outside a lot"...

Is it possible that highly trained athletes are more likely to be diagnosed, also be more motivated and have the medical support to do something about it? Well I guess probably yes - would that skew the data? Dunno.

And I am not denying the possibiltiy that the exemption system is abused - it probably is - and probably not by everyone.

Is it being abused by Chris - like all the doping noise - you never really know - but the story in the blog rang true for me.
 
Alpe d'Huez said:
I can hear 'em now.

Neener, neener. You fell for it. :p

I know! I know! - I am a sucker for a sob story.

It's funny in another thread I just posted I am being labled a cynic for exploring that when cyclists have a 'bad day' it's code for their PED program is out of wack. The irony.

Maybe I am both sucker and a cynic - perhaps that's what being human is? Now I've gone all Nietzsche :rolleyes:
 
Mar 18, 2009
2,442
0
0
Visit site
180mmCrank said:
I know! I know! - I am a sucker for a sob story.

It's funny in another thread I just posted I am being labled a cynic for exploring that when cyclists have a 'bad day' it's code for their PED program is out of wack. The irony.

Maybe I am both sucker and a cynic - perhaps that's what being human is? Now I've gone all Nietzsche :rolleyes:

My head hurts! :D
 
Alpe d'Huez said:
I actually do find it strange. For several reasons.

First, most of these riders are in their 20's and 30's. Next, while they exercise a lot, the air outside is actually cleaner than the air outside. This is true almost everywhere in the world, with exceptions to cities like Mexico City, Sao Paolo, Lima, etc. Most of their time is spent riding in the country and mountains, where the air is at it's cleanest. Chris also lives outside of Bend Oregon, where the air is some of the cleanest in the world.

Asthma also affects about 7% of the population. Less than 1/4 of those need medical help daily. Most asthma suffers get attacks that happen once in a while. This is when they need the inhaler or medical assistance. Most asthma sufferers are also not fully fit, super healthy individuals.

As a result, something that afflicts probably less than 1% of the population, and maybe .1% of healthy, fit, young men, somehow affects a much higher percentage of cyclists because they "exercise outside a lot".

Our sport is riddled with doping. Only a fool would deny such a thing. Athletes will do every last thing they can to get an edge, and many would jack themselves up to hct's near 60 if they could get a TUE to do so.

And finally, Chris rides for a team that is highly suspect of having a systematic doping program in place, with a leader (JB) and lead rider (LA) who view doping as a non-issue in our sport, and one that doesn't need to be dealt with as a problem.

Some interesting thoughts on the subject espoused here, and while I don't disagree with any facts, I will take issue with a few points of opinion.

Regarding the percentages of exercised induced asthma among elite athletes, I too used to find the statistics to be suspicious. Like many here, I raced in my youth and was reasonably competitive cyclist, rower, and Nordic skier, but ultimately was confronted with the reality of my talent and my physical limitations. The interesting thing to me is that the differences in my physiology and that of the people who could consistently ride me off their wheel did not seem overtly apparent. It boiled down to either an ability on their part to process oxygen that much better than I, or a will to suffer that much more in pursuit of their goal.

In the course of a thirty year career in product development and sports marketing that has brought me into contact with many hundreds of world class athletes in track and field, cycling, professional team, and Olympic sports, I have come to the conclusion that in a higher percentage of these athletes, the key difference in their success is exactly that force of will, and ability to endure more pain to achieve their goal. The mere fact that these competitors are willing to go that much further, and tax their systems that much more on a regular basis, is a matter of psychological make up that transcends physical talent if only by the most fractional amount. It remains a consistent reason why many of them have attained a World Champion, or world record holder status

These days, as a Masters athlete in several different sports those same elements are even more obvious among us old guys with real jobs. There are still those individuals whose will to endure will take them farther than logic would dictate. My significant other is a former Collegiate National Champion, and Olympic rower, and consistent current Masters Regional and National Champion. She also has exercise induced asthma, as do many of the friends, team mates, and competitors I interact with on a regular basis. I find it hard to believe that these people's need to win, compromises their judgment to the point of using an inhaler as a means to do so, but rather as a means to an end, just to be able to compete.

For me it is not a huge leap to understand that athletes who demand more from their systems and physical abilities than the rest of us have damaged those systems in the process. The terms exercise induced asthma does not represent the oxymoron to me, that it does to those more predisposed to doping conspiracy theory.

The other comment that I would take issue with is that Chris Horner rides for a team that is widely suspected of maintaining a systematic doping program. Without getting into the matter of that being fact or not, the opinion that it is an established fact, or even a widely held suspicion, is actually only held by a smaller percentage of fans than athletes with TUE's for asthma. The fact that a small and vocal minority of the 6500 members of this site agree that it is so, does not constitute "widely held suspicion" on a global basis. In point of fact the widely held opinion globally among cycling "fans" is supportive of the fact that Lance Armstrong is the most tested athlete in the world and consistently is found to be clean. This is also held as a ringing endorsement of his team and their internal testing program.

This may fly in the face of what you believe, and indeed what is actual reality. But the international fan base for cycling includes countless millions who cannot identify all three podium finishers of the TDF, or name a single classic other than Paris Roubaix. It is worth remembering that the number of fans for whom these issues are even relevant is far fewer than the number of baseball fans who can quote the current batting averages for the entire NY Yankees starting lineup.
 
Jul 19, 2009
122
0
0
Visit site
180mmCrank said:
Is it possible that highly trained athletes are more likely to be diagnosed, also be more motivated and have the medical support to do something about it? Well I guess probably yes - would that skew the data? Dunno.

And I am not denying the possibiltiy that the exemption system is abused - it probably is - and probably not by everyone.

Is it being abused by Chris - like all the doping noise - you never really know - but the story in the blog rang true for me.

Yes. A lot of people probably have asthma but aren't symptomatic to the point that they go to a pulmonologist.

Case in point: I was "fine"-ish with a peak expiratory flow of 400-440. Not bad. I just had an albuterol inhaler, and I even got my Cat. 2 upgrade in spite of it.

When I got the full set of pulmonary function tests, it revealed that I am a severe asthmatic. Now that my asthma is under control, my PEF is 750.

Nobody blinked an eye when my peak flow was 400-440, because it's good enough for most people.
 
Jun 19, 2009
5,220
0
0
Visit site
VeloFidelis said:
Some interesting thoughts on the subject espoused here, and while I don't disagree with any facts, I will take issue with a few points of opinion.


These days, as a Masters athlete in several different sports those same elements are even more obvious among us old guys with real jobs. There are still those individuals whose will to endure will take them farther than logic would dictate. My significant other is a former Collegiate National Champion, and Olympic rower, and consistent current Masters Regional and National Champion. She also has exercise induced asthma, as do many of the friends, team mates, and competitors I interact with on a regular basis. I find it hard to believe that these people's need to win, compromises their judgment to the point of using an inhaler as a means to do so, but rather as a means to an end, just to be able to compete.

Don't mean to splice 'n dice your quote but there is another compelling factor: allergic reaction to pollen. For years I raced early Spring seasons in dry desert venues or in our relentless rain and felt fine. Schedule changes had me racing in the Pacific Nw in later spring when the pollen is raging. I couldn't understand why I was being dropped and felt like the flu set in. The same thing happened at the Cascade Classic (Bend) and was a scary reaction. Sudden blood pressure drop, racing pulse and no air to breathe. The locals explained the sage pollen takes everyone out that hasn't acclimated in Bend. I went to an allergist and he explained my early season reaction as well. It wasn't so much that I had excercise induced asthma; it was the amplified response to pollen that was new to my system. This all happened in my 40's. It also explained why I had "laryngitis" every spring as a kid.
These guys race in many environments and could have responses to alien stuff. Having said that; CH is on a team that you all have characterized as suspicious. You get no argument on that count.
 
Jul 7, 2009
209
0
0
Visit site
180mmCrank said:
It's funny in another thread I just posted I am being labled a cynic for exploring that when cyclists have a 'bad day' it's code for their PED program is out of wack.

On an unrelated note, I cannot recall how many times I heard "I am tranquil" when someone was being investigated, only to get nailed later. After a while, if I heard someone saying anything about being tranquil (or tranquillo), I thought - "OK then, you are guilty!" :D
 
Izoard said:
On an unrelated note, I cannot recall how many times I heard "I am tranquil" when someone was being investigated, only to get nailed later. After a while, if I heard someone saying anything about being tranquil (or tranquillo), I thought - "OK then, you are guilty!" :D
that does seem to be the translation:rolleyes: