So what's he on now, lads?

afx237vi

yelkcerps wrote:

afx237vi wrote:

yelkcerps wrote:

Some of you lot are off your minds! The lad gets dope tested more than anyone on the planet. He's nearly 38 and putting up a bloody good effort. Give him a break and stop kidding yourselves. Just enjoy the race for goodness sakes!

According to who? Oh, right... Lance Armstrong.

:roll: Where does all this resentment and bitterness come from? I could understand it if you were a beaten pro rider but come on.....get real, I think he has had a fair few tests and why would ne make it up?

I could just repeat what Peakraider said.

Re: the "most tested athlete" claim, you can see how many times he was tested by USADA on their website and compare him to other athletes:

http://www.usantidoping.org/what/stats/history.aspx

I've chosen 2005 as a comparison year, simply because that's the last complete year before his retirement, and picked names that are (relatively) high profile in their chosen sport.

Michael Phelps - 10
Natalie Coughlin - 7
Sanya Richards - 6
Maurice Greene - 5
Justin Gatlin - 5
Allyson Felix - 4
Juan Jose Haedo - 4
Lance Armstrong - 3
Floyd Landis - 3

That's just the names I've heard of from swimming, track and field and cycling. There are literally hundreds of athletes that were tested more than Armstrong.

OK, those numbers are only from USADA. We don't know how many times he was tested by the UCI, but all those other athletes are tested by their own sports federations too.

TarmacExpert

afx237vi wrote:

Re: the "most tested athlete" claim, you can see how many times he was tested by USADA on their website and compare him to other athletes:

http://www.usantidoping.org/what/stats/history.aspx

I've chosen 2005 as a comparison year, simply because that's the last complete year before his retirement, and picked names that are (relatively) high profile in their chosen sport.

Michael Phelps - 10
Natalie Coughlin - 7
Sanya Richards - 6
Maurice Greene - 5
Justin Gatlin - 5
Allyson Felix - 4
Juan Jose Haedo - 4
Lance Armstrong - 3
Floyd Landis - 3

That's just the names I've heard of from swimming, track and field and cycling. There are literally hundreds of athletes that were tested more than Armstrong.

OK, those numbers are only from USADA. We don't know how many times he was tested by the UCI, but all those other athletes are tested by their own sports federations too.

I think this requires a bit more info so people can understand why the swimmers are tested more. The swimming governing body, FINA, does its own testing, and the rule is that if a nation has 3 positive tests carried out by FINA, then the entire nation becomes suspended from competition. Thus the driver for USADA to do its own testing is that they absolutely must at all costs avoid having swimmers fail FINA tests. If someone is doping they need to catch them themselves, in which case the sanction of the entire nation being suspended from competition does not apply.

afx237vi

Interesting. Thanks for that. Can you imagine if the UCI did that? The Worlds would have a pretty small peloton

Anonymous

He's on a Trek, doh...

TheScouser on an Italian

Hi dmclite,Your Fucking Right.The statistics are bob on,I am 4' 10&1/2,built like a brick shit house and really,really,really grumpy.There is a lot to be said for all of you dreamers out there probably only ever getting your feet on the pedals of the exercise bike at the Gym or in the privacy of your own hidey hole.Why don't you change the hymn sheet and sing someone else down the swannie.

pottssteve

deejay wrote:

pottssteve wrote:

deejay,
malignancy is different from "cure". A malignant tumour is one which is dangerous. A benign tumour is one which is not an immediate threat (which is I think what you meant). Having been treated for a malignant tumour you would normanlly be "signed off" by the consultant after 10 years if there was no evidence of reoccurance.
Steve

Ok Steve, but if I understand your point then we still do not know the health of the man and if he is signed off or still being checked for benign cancer or even if it has turned Malignant again.

I got into this because I beg to differ with "pjh".
I maintain that he knows better Doctors than everyone else in cycling, if only through his livestrong foundation and for other reasons that I posted.

The question of did he or didn't he take EPO have raged through the Forums for several years and nobody can prove a thing except that someone said this and this expert said that.
My conclusion is he very well acquainted with the Medical Profession and more so than any other cyclist (unless the cyclist is in the profession) and there is far more to this subject than we know now.

I was wandering around the Continent for cycle racing and Business before the Bum even got here.
I witnessed him at close quarters and heard him Bragging like young Pups do and he never matched the talk before his cancer.

So I would ask the same question as you did with this Thread, and say
So What's He On Now. ????????

Hi deejay,
Sorry for the delayed reply, I was probably in bed by the time yo posted (TdF coverage finishes at midnight here).
I agree, unless Mr Armstrong wants to tell you about his treatment and follow-up you don't know what treatment, if any, he is on. My point is that he's unlikely to be having any attention with regard to his cancer after such a long time in remission. However, as the metastases affected his brain and lungs, and due to his chosen profession, I guess he may require monitoring.

For what it's worth I'm a 40 year old cancer survivor and I know I wouldn't be climbing that mountain at that rate!

However, I think we have the answer to my original question of what he's on; he's on Contador's team.

pjh

glad to have been of some service ... if only to re-introduce the word codswallop

My take (FWIW) is that someone can only be so lucky for so long! For LA to have been at the top for so long and never to have been officially tested positive just seems (in my opinion) to constitute a miracle (wait for the smart answers )

This is even more valid as an argument when you think of the legions of people who seem utterly fanatical about proving his guilt!

All this ... and yet STILL NO PROOF.

deejay

pottssteve wrote:

Hi deejay,
Sorry for the delayed reply, I was probably in bed by the time yo posted (TdF coverage finishes at midnight here).
I agree, unless Mr Armstrong wants to tell you about his treatment and follow-up you don't know what treatment, if any, he is on. My point is that he's unlikely to be having any attention with regard to his cancer after such a long time in remission. However, as the metastases affected his brain and lungs, and due to his chosen profession, I guess he may require monitoring.

For what it's worth I'm a 40 year old cancer survivor and I know I wouldn't be climbing that mountain at that rate!

However, I think we have the answer to my original question of what he's on; he's on Contador's team.

Like a Leech that attaches itself to suck the blood out. :roll:
But it's Vinokourov's team at the end of the month and a cigarette butt should get rid of the pest.
Armstrong still remains an Enigma to me, whatever.

Just one more question
Have you been signed off from your 10 year monitor. I hope so. ????
My wife some years ago had a lump removed from her Thyroid and was told it was Non-Malignant. Hence my ignorance about Benign. (she didn't want that either)

pottssteve

deejay wrote:

pottssteve wrote:

Hi deejay,
Sorry for the delayed reply, I was probably in bed by the time yo posted (TdF coverage finishes at midnight here).
I agree, unless Mr Armstrong wants to tell you about his treatment and follow-up you don't know what treatment, if any, he is on. My point is that he's unlikely to be having any attention with regard to his cancer after such a long time in remission. However, as the metastases affected his brain and lungs, and due to his chosen profession, I guess he may require monitoring.

For what it's worth I'm a 40 year old cancer survivor and I know I wouldn't be climbing that mountain at that rate!

However, I think we have the answer to my original question of what he's on; he's on Contador's team.

Like a Leech that attaches itself to suck the blood out. :roll:
But it's Vinokourov's team at the end of the month and a cigarette butt should get rid of the pest.
Armstrong still remains an Enigma to me, whatever.

Just one more question
Have you been signed off from your 10 year monitor. I hope so. ????
My wife some years ago had a lump removed from her Thyroid and was told it was Non-Malignant. Hence my ignorance about Benign. (she didn't want that either)

deejay,

I think your assessment of LA as a leech is a bit harsh. He has been working, and now that the reality of being 37 has set in, on the hill up to Verbier, I think he'll work for Contador. If he's not contributed anything else he's certainly given a lot of people chance to vent their anger, so maybe he's having a therapeutic effect? Perhaps the experience will make him a little more humble as well....

In answer to your question I had treatment in 1996 for testicular cancer with metastases on my spine. In 2003 my consultant signed me off early as I moved to New Zealand; he was confident that I was OK. Oddly, it was probably one of the best things that could have happened to me; I've achieved so much more post-cancer than pre-cancer. It's a corny cliche, but it's true that it brings into sharp focus how much time you've actually got, so you'd better get out there and make a difference.

Livestrong!
Steve

paulcuthbert

pottssteve wrote:

What's giving him the edge now, chaps?

He's on a bike, busting his ass 6 hours a day. What gives you the edge?

Face it. He's clean

pottssteve

paulcuthbert wrote:

pottssteve wrote:

What's giving him the edge now, chaps?

He's on a bike, busting his ass 6 hours a day. What gives you the edge?

Face it. He's clean

Hi paulcuthbert,

I take it you've not bothered to read the whole thread, but I wouldn't want you to get the wrong impression.

I posed the question as a response to people who had said he had doped his way to success, my point being that his current excellent performance indicates a natural ability rather than a chemically assisted one. It was meant to gently take the rise out of the posters who work themselves up into a lather about LA, and certainly not to accuse him of anything. As I posted above, I have first hand experience of cancer. I've also run LIVESTRONG events so I would probably be classed as a supporter.

Sorry if you got the wrong idea.
Steve

paulcuthbert

You're a hero

pottssteve

Hi paulcuthbert,

Thank you for your kind words, but no, I'm not.

Steve

Kléber

TarmacExpert wrote:

An interesting analysis here of climbing rates today:
http://www.sportsscientists.com/2009/07 ... ellow.html

Apparently Contador's climbing rate was the fastest in the entire history of the Tour. Armstrong's, on the other hand, was rather more ordinary.

Contador clocks 1900 VAM which is very impressive/suspicious but it was for 20 minutes, not 40-50 that you need for the likes of Alpe d'Huez or Hautacam etc. So the number is moderated by this a bit although it still gives plenty to debate.

paulcuthbert

pottssteve wrote:

Hi paulcuthbert,

Thank you for your kind words, but no, I'm not.

Steve

I'm sure to some, you are!

DaveyL

Kléber wrote:

TarmacExpert wrote:

An interesting analysis here of climbing rates today:
http://www.sportsscientists.com/2009/07 ... ellow.html

Apparently Contador's climbing rate was the fastest in the entire history of the Tour. Armstrong's, on the other hand, was rather more ordinary.

Contador clocks 1900 VAM which is very impressive/suspicious but it was for 20 minutes, not 40-50 that you need for the likes of Alpe d'Huez or Hautacam etc. So the number is moderated by this a bit although it still gives plenty to debate.

I would also like to know just how much his VAM is knocked by, by sheltering behind the pace setting at the start of the climb by Garmin and Saxo Bank. A VAM for his solo part of the climb would be useful.

At the end of the day knowing his Wattage would be more useful than his VAM. Ferrari reckonsit was about 417, I think. Not outlandish for a 20 min effort. For him.