Dan Staite

OffTheBackAdam

The list of "PEDs" is full of products with dubious PE effects, also, you can get caught out (As did that Scottish slaalom skiier at the Olympics, some years back) by a proprierty medicine having a different formulation in one country to another.
Amateur cycling is no stranger to deliberate use of PEDs, rumours abounded about a previous "25" champion several decades ago.

andy_wrx

I'd be amazed if every asthmatic cat4 with a ventolin inhaler has bothered to get a TUE from his doctor and BC, as salbutamol is on the list ?

Most wouldn't realise, and besides what does a TUE cost ?
- there's enough people already complaining about the cost of a medical cert when they want to do the etape...

Clearly taking EPO and a masking agent is in another league altogether to over-the-counter hayfever remedies or routine minor-ailment prescribed drugs

jibberjim

andy_wrx wrote:

I'd be amazed if every asthmatic cat4 with a ventolin inhaler has bothered to get a TUE from his doctor and BC, as salbutamol is on the list ?

They won't have, but then of course they have no need of doing so, if you're not on the testing panel (ie very elite) then TUE's only need to be provided within 5 days of the test. If you're going to have a go at the 4th cats, read what they actually have to do - their obligations are not to dope, and to be available to tests, not much else.

rick_chasey

Pfft, if I ever race, I'll take my anti-hayfever.

I like keeping myself, bike, and other riders snott free.

I think even my competitors would rather I was on the stuff that dribbling liquid snot all over the course.

SteveR_100Milers

I'd like to know that if I have a lung transplant and my VO2 max doubles will I get banned :

- If I had to do it for health reasons (cf Armstrong and EPO)
- If I did it knowingly and only to improve my performance.

therein lies the problem of drugs and amateur racing, albeit a rather dramatic example. There is a difference between sniffing a nasal spray to stop your nose running, and sniffing a whole box of them when you are perfectly well. We are using a physiological testing regime to analyse a competitors state of mind, and there will always be a huge grey area ethically as to what is OK (even if technically illegal) and what is not OK (despite being technically legal perhaps).

SteveR_100Milers

andy_wrx wrote:

I'd be amazed if every asthmatic cat4 with a ventolin inhaler has bothered to get a TUE from his doctor and BC, as salbutamol is on the list ?

Most wouldn't realise, and besides what does a TUE cost ?
- there's enough people already complaining about the cost of a medical cert when they want to do the etape...

Clearly taking EPO and a masking agent is in another league altogether to over-the-counter hayfever remedies or routine minor-ailment prescribed drugs

And that for me is the litmus test, certainly for amateur racing anyway. If you can purchase something legally over the counter then it should be legal, performance enhancing or not. Caffeine, Vitamin B, pasta, SIS gel, bananas are all performance enhancing and as far as I know all in stock at my local Tescos.

Homer J

sampurnell wrote:

I play second team rugby - does this mean i should 'roid up?

fooking joke, who dopes for a hobby.
idiot. :evil:

Go to any gym and you will see a lot of people "doping" for a hobby.

jimmythecuckoo

I see he posted on VR over the weekend and on the Concept rowing one claiming "this will be ammunition for when I return".

Pross

Shame he couldn't find some ammunition before rather than resorting to full scale cheating. Maybe he should have upset a few people on forums and got abuse to give him the motivation to win with his natural talent

jimmythecuckoo

I definitely feel less sorry for him now having read his comments.

Come clean man.

ju5t1n

Homer J wrote:

sampurnell wrote:

I play second team rugby - does this mean i should 'roid up?

fooking joke, who dopes for a hobby.
idiot. :evil:

Go to any gym and you will see a lot of people "doping" for a hobby.

...and upwards of one million every weekend in Britain’s nightclubs

jimmythecuckoo

that isn't performance enhancing. Have you seen how they dance?

Homer J

jimmythecuckoo wrote:

that isn't performance enhancing. Have you seen how they dance?

I don't need drugs to dance badly although 5 pints of stella and i think i'm john travolta

Yellow Peril

Yes there are lots of people who use steroids in gym. However, for the majority of those it is all about image and posing about.

I believe there is a difference between that and drug taking i order to be beat your fellow competitor in competition.

If anyone still believes that Dan Staite got what he deserved with a 2 year ban then they should consider his comments reproduced on this thread from the Concept rowing website.

This guy has shown no remorse and failed to assist the authorities with their invesigations. From the picture of the man painted by some of the rowing posters he is probably vain enough to spend the next couple of years doping so that he can hit the ground running in competition when his ban ends.

BikingBernie

Remember the 'rumours' that Staite was busted because John Herety was pissed that he was giving his riders in the Rapha team a hard time. Despite this not been mentioned in the main-stream cycling press, it seems that this, or something much like it, was the reason why he was busted, not BC's 'comprehensive testing program'.

UK Anti-Doping confirmed this morning that the suspension of cyclist Dan Staite, reported on road.cc last week, resulted from information provided by “an outside source.”

The national anti-doping agency said in a statement that after corroborating the allegations and conducting its own research, it decided to specifically target the rider, which led to a urine sample taken from the Cycles Dauphin rider in March at the National B event, the Roy Thame Cup, testing positive for EPO and an aromatase inhibitor.

http://road.cc/content/news/21016-uk-an ... -after-tip

No mention of the 'tip off' here of course...

http://www.cyclingweekly.co.uk/news/lat ... r-epo.html

Or here...

http://www.bikeradar.com/news/article/b ... ears-27208

Or here...

http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/british ... -two-years

Homer J

^ I remember that, kind of odd

bonger

FransJacques wrote:

What a loser he is, wWould love to meet him and tell him that to his face. I know a few of the hard working, 50-hours-a -eek stressful-job-holding racers who train in their precious spare time who've beaten him, just makes him look so sad.

At least become a real pro and THEN dope, that's the usual modus operadus.

Stupidity knows no bounds.

I would think it's best to dope first, it makes it easier to become a pro.

Lillywhite

BikingBernie wrote:

Remember the 'rumours' that Staite was busted because John Herety was pissed that he was giving his riders in the Rapha team a hard time.

I believe Staite used to race in one of Herety's teams so he would have been aware of Staite's general ability.

Very usual for someone of Staite's ability to have made the progress in achieving race results given he's now in his late 30's.

Recall speaking to Staite on a few occasions, 10 or so years ago, whilst attending low level 1/2/3 category road races in the East Midlands to watch my son race and Staite was a useful competitor at that level but certainly no 'big hitter' and there were many riders in those races with far more talent and ability.

Pokerface

I'm a pretty poor Cat 4 racer. But have a disability (artificial leg). Last year I was riding in the BC National Disability Championships and managed to get 4th place.


I was 'randomly' selected for anti-doping. As it was a National Championship race - they had sent some Anti-Doping officers to the race.

I had never paid any thought to whether or not anything I was taking might be banned, etc. I was a little nervous about the whole thing as I take various supplements and hayfever meds, etc.

Anyway - took the test and several weeks later got a letter in the mail saying I had passed.


These days I race for the Irish National Team and have to pay much greater attention to what I take. I have a website I can check all my meds and supplements on to see if they are legal. (In and out of competition). It would suck to get tested at the World's and fail due to not paying attention....)

Bronzie

BikingBernie wrote:

Remember the 'rumours' that Staite was busted because John Herety was pissed that he was giving his riders in the Rapha team a hard time. Despite this not been mentioned in the main-stream cycling press, it seems that this, or something much like it, was the reason why he was busted, not BC's 'comprehensive testing program'.

I think it was unlikely to be Herety since the race organiser knew a full 2 weeks before the race (which was one of the first of the season) that the testers would be in attendance.

But yes, it's almost certain that someone got wind of Dan's doping and tipped off UKADA.

softlad

Serious question which some may take offence at, but I hope not:-

How many people reading this thread are now wondering how much better they might have gone in their local events if they were doped up..??

Be honest...??

(please don't confuse this question with an attempt to condone doping - it obviously isn't)

amaferanga

Well I would guess most people might wonder. In the same way that most people might wonder how much better they'd do if they trained more/smarter.

What do you expect to learn from people's answers? :?

softlad

amaferanga wrote:

What do you expect to learn from people's answers? :?

I thought the question was pretty clear..? I'm not conducting a scientific survey....

amaferanga

You're not asking if people would consider taking something, just if they wonder if they'd be better if they did so why on earth would anyone be offended by the question? :?

jimmythecuckoo

I would expect to go quicker of course.

But I wouldn't do it.

softlad

amaferanga wrote:

so why on earth would anyone be offended by the question? :?

Please spare me the incredulity...

Before now, it never occurred to me that there might be doping at amateur level, but one of the first things that crossed my mind was whether my average bunch finishes might have been translated into sprint wins, or race-winning solo breaks. I just wondered if anyone else had even considered what their results might have been like.

Of course the other legal and honest option is to eat less and train more, but that isn't the question....

jimmythecuckoo wrote:

But I wouldn't do it.

I'm not asking if you would do it - I'm asking if you had wondered "what if"...

Bronzie

softlad wrote:

I'm not asking if you would do it - I'm asking if you had wondered "what if"...

Yes of course, normally preceded by the question "I wonder how good I'd have been if I'd been born with even a hint of natural ability?"

Homer J

for sure i know i'd get better placings, but i'm not that bothered, and any win would feel a bit shallow to say the least.
Bronzie has good link(back a few pages) to someone who tested it on themselves

softlad

Homer J wrote:

for sure i know i'd get better placings, but i'm not that bothered, and any win would feel a bit shallow to say the least.
Bronzie has good link(back a few pages) to someone who tested it on themselves

I saw that - it was a fascinating read. If we accept that it has probably crossed every rational person's mind in the wake of this scandal (and at this level, I think it is utterly scandalous), I guess I'm just wondering what it takes for someone to cross the line from "what if?" to "where can I buy some?"

Tom Butcher

No I've never really pondered how well I'd go if I took PEDs.

Taking EPO to win amateur races just seems pathetic to me - it would cost you money even if you won and any sense of achievement would be tainted by the knowledge I'd only done it by cheating. I'm not particularly moralistic about these things - if I was a pro in the 70s no doubt I'd have popped pills in the knowledge 99% of my competition were doing the same. But in UK amateur racing taking EPO is like taking a machine gun to a fist fight - you'll probaby win but it proves nothing.

What does it take for someone to use EPO for that level of racing ? I have no idea. By all accounts the guy has an ego on him - playing the amateur pyschologist maybe his sense of self worth is so tied up in athletic achievement that he simply couldn't accept being beaten.