Friday, November 7, 2008

I'm a doper. Again.

I did another cyclocross race last Saturday.  It was the second time in my life that I was a doper.  

I’ll tell you about that in a minute, bur first I need to ask you to do me a favor.  I’m going to be out of town all week, so can you please attend this open house for me?  It’s your opportunity to provide input on existing and potential bicycle corridors that connect communities throughout the state.

UDOT to host Bicycle Corridor Public Open House in Draper

(Salt Lake) -The Utah Department of Transportation (UDOT) will host a series of public open houses throughout the state to discuss existing and potential bicycle corridors. The Draper/Sandy open house will be held on Thursday, November 13, 2008, from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. at the Draper City Hall, Council Chambers, 1020 East Pioneer Road in Draper.        

In response to increasing demand for bicycle corridors in Utah, UDOT is preparing a statewide Bicycle Corridor Priority Plan. Key elements of the plan include: an assessment of current bicycle accommodations; a methodology for improving bicycle corridors; and public input and recommendations.

For more information, contact Amy Steinbrech at 801.364.0088 ext. 115 (amy@wfandco.com) or visit the UDOT Web site at www.udot.utah.gov.


Viagra
So apparently the latest performance enhancing drug of choice for endurance athletes is Viagra.  I know this not because I pay attention to stuff like this, but because my buddy Leif, who studies this sort of stuff at the University of Utah, tells me so.  

Last Friday, Leif and I did a quick Halloween ride on the Bonneville Shoreline Trail.  We were riding past Red Butte—he was dinging his bell the whole way—when he asked me if I’d like to participate in a study he was doing.  

He wanted me to take 50 mg (half a pill) of Viagra before my race the next day, and fill out a survey describing any perceived effects.  

I consented, but only for the cause of science.  

So the race went pretty well for me.  I popped the pill about an hour before the start, warmed up as usual, then lined up on the back row where I belong.  For the record, Viagra is not currently a banned substance by the World Anti Doping Agency.  

Cyclocross may not be the best venue for me to test a drug.  The race course wasn’t overly technical, but I still suffered in the place where it was.   Part of the course was on the motocross course at Rocky Mountain Raceway, complete with whoops, tabletop jumps and high-banked corners.   Maybe a high octane beverage would have made me faster, the kind they advertise there at the Raceway.  

I suppose what I’m saying is that it’s not my fitness that holds me back in cyclocross, it my bike handling skills.  So a performance enhancing drug probably isn’t going to help me that much in this discipline.  In spite of this, I did finish better than I did the week before—14th this time—and I did feel a little stronger, but I attribute that more to this being my second race of the season.  I always feel a little better after the first race.  I did my best to tell Leif that when I filled out the survey.  

So when it comes to performance enhancement, I guess its back to flax seeds and maple syrup for me.  Viagra just doesn’t do it for me.  Yes, I realize that is a double entendre.  

Besides, if cyclists start using Viagra to get an unfair advantage it would be really easy to test for.  Picture this, scores of guys in skin tight spandex standing around after a race.  All it would take is one of the podium girls bending over to pick something up.  Every doper in the crowd would be HARD to miss.  



1 comment:

  1. I think the drug must have had some effect. From what it sounds like, you were pretty SOFT (in italics) last week.

    ReplyDelete