# Back in the day



## thighmaster (Feb 2, 2006)

I started in this sport in the late 70's. I went to Europe in the Army-- just to race in europe. It worked out well and I did a handfull of lower category stuff. Even then, the word was "dopage". I understood little, but you heard the word and the laughs and it seemed part of the cultrure. When you put something colored (energy drinks were unheard of until about 82, well atleast for cycling anyway) you heard "dopage" followed by laughs. That signals everyone knows, no one cares. It sounds minor until you talk to enough people and find out the only way to be a pro is to dope. When a word becomes a joke, it's pervasive. Fast foreword to now, and naiive me finally sees it all. I had friends who went to Europe and South America and said the same thing. When announced no doping control, racers scurried for the extra stuff. Good guys who couldn't keep up, and were then told, "walk in to the drug store, get a prescription, and walk out with steroids". If you want on a team in Spain, you need to go on the Vitamin program. On and on, over an over. You didn't get that from the slow regular guys, just the good ones moving up.

Now even the local guys are juiced and cuaght. Local Dewey Dickey banned for life, only a couple to be Joe Pap busted. Adam Bergman, jelly belly, caught EPO. When you ask they laugh as well, like "idiot thats what we all do to be good.
My friend Dave does the Nature Valley Grand Prix, points out all the Testosterone patches visible through shorts, pills needles on and on.

Why post this, well I guess I finally get it. Every pro (at 99.9% i'll say everyone) is or was or some part of the training cycle is doped. 
I could go on and on with little drug related anecdotes from the hundreds I've met in this sport who all mysteriously say the same thing over and over and over again. 

If you made it this far through the post, good for you. I'm old and mostly over it.


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## moskowe (Mar 14, 2011)

You're doing it wrong. Like everyone in this forum, you're supposed to focus on destroying Armstrong, and then putting your head back in the sand...

I think you're portrayal is definitely exaggerated, but overall I agree with you.


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## DrSmile (Jul 22, 2006)

My dad quit European _amateur_ cycling in 1980 because he refused to shove caffeine suppositories up his keister. I was 10 at the time, and his explanation pretty much wiped away any delusions I had about the purity of the sport (and thanks dad for explaining it to me so graphically at my tender age!).


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## thighmaster (Feb 2, 2006)

Here's the deal. I'm nobody, how can every conection in cycling I have be involved or personally know someone involved. Every american outside of Lemond (the.01% I eluded to) is on the dope list. 
In 83 I bought a bike from Gunther Haritz in Leiman Germany (Raleigh Pro, German pursuit gold medalist and pusuit world champion) from yet another string of doped germans--Ulrich and T-mobile, their doctor was implicated in the doping of those guys and that team. 
Greg Lemond, local to us, and this no way implicates Greg, calls a few low profile euro teams and gives a couple of locals a shot in Europe, they came back stating, if you don't take the Vitamin shot your not welcome on the team.

Joe Parkin another local ex euro pro _Belgian Team Tulip, wrote the book A Dog in the Hat, stated the exact same thing. 


Again, I'm no one and my stories which collaborates the story of all these guys and more leave no other explaination. You want more stories, I got em. It's endless, oh and German hero at the time Diietrich Thurau, yep drugs.


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## mmoose (Apr 2, 2004)

Sorry that you are disillusioned. Glad that you're over it. Wish pro cycling wasn't this way, but it's part of the package...I can still enjoy the spectacle without hero worship.


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## moskowe (Mar 14, 2011)

On the other hand, the simple fact that there were athletes like Bassons and Moncoutie who were gitfed enough to make it all the way to the top clean, even in the heart of the EPO era, should tell you that there must be quite a handful of clean riders out there. The probelm is that we have become so paranoid and untrusting that they will never be acknowledged.


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## thighmaster (Feb 2, 2006)

DrSmile said:


> My dad quit European _amateur_ cycling in 1980 because he refused to shove caffeine suppositories up his keister. I was 10 at the time, and his explanation pretty much wiped away any delusions I had about the purity of the sport (and thanks dad for explaining it to me so graphically at my tender age!).


It's funny you mention that, local shock radio got cyclist Andrea Peron on their morning talk show back in the 90's and ripped him because cyclists back then were riding with tea bags up their butts. He too was implicated in other things, imagine that.


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## aclinjury (Sep 12, 2011)

Thank you for the stories. I enjoy reading these sort of mini stories from the past because it gives me a sense of understanding from those eras.


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## thighmaster (Feb 2, 2006)

It was bad shoes that you had to nail the cleat in and wool, which was hot and made me itch. I think, and I could be wrong, but drugs were more like speed and pain reduction, (is it any different?) and of course cortisone. It was a neat time though, because here we had very little info (no web) and it was quite mysterious. I trained with guys in Germany and they laughed at me for adding a second bottle, and adding an acient energy drink called Isostar. We ate raw jello powder and wondered if adult diapers would be good to keep your junk warm. There was so little here or there--just wool and suck it up. One bottle and a banana, so there have been lots of changes to make us better as well.


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## thighmaster (Feb 2, 2006)

mmoose said:


> Sorry that you are disillusioned. Glad that you're over it. Wish pro cycling wasn't this way, but it's part of the package...I can still enjoy the spectacle without hero worship.


That's me too, just getting it out there, as it's hard to find the same enjoyment, and of course this is every sport and everything. To go back to the movie Breaking Away, the Italians won by cheating and the old man did as a used car salesman. To sort of quote "Everyone cheats I guess I just never knew"


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## burgrat (Nov 18, 2005)

DrSmile said:


> My dad quit European _amateur_ cycling in 1980 because he refused to shove caffeine suppositories up his keister. I was 10 at the time, and his explanation pretty much wiped away any delusions I had about the purity of the sport (and thanks dad for explaining it to me so graphically at my tender age!).


I immediately thought of Pulp Fiction!

View attachment 273018


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## DrSmile (Jul 22, 2006)

burgrat said:


> I immediately thought of Pulp Fiction!
> 
> View attachment 273018


Lol I wish I got a watch out of it!


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## Local Hero (Jul 8, 2010)

I never heard of Dewey Dickey before this thread. 

After reading up on the guy, I feel for him. He had applied for a TUE and it was approved for three years. The TUE expired and he was applying for a new one when USADA showed up to test him. A week later USADA approved the new TUE. 

Dewey | Steve Tilford


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## kbiker3111 (Nov 7, 2006)

Local Hero said:


> I never heard of Dewey Dickey before this thread.
> 
> After reading up on the guy, I feel for him. He had applied for a TUE and it was approved for three years. The TUE expired and he was applying for a new one when USADA showed up to test him. A week later USADA approved the new TUE.
> 
> Dewey | Steve Tilford


Don't cry for Dewey. It wasn't his first offense and they guy was pretty well known as a doper (I think they targeted him from the Papp list). He would destroy competition in the P/1/2 races at Snake Alley or the 1/2s at Joe Martin, but he wouldn't dare enter a race where he might need to pee in a cup.


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## moskowe (Mar 14, 2011)

Yeah his story is pretty fishy. So his TUE wasn't yet approved but he actually refused to take the test. If the only doping agent he had in him was the one covered by the TUE, he could have taken the test, gotten his new TUE a week later, and then successfully discuss avoiding suspension because it was obvious he was taking the drugs for the right reasons.

It rather sounds like he had something else he didn't want them to find out, and he used the TUE as a cover story for being caught. Either that, or he's a very stupid person and for some reason refused to get tested knowing perfectly that it would get him insta-banned for life.


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## bmxhacksaw (Mar 26, 2008)

I was doping and racing back in the '80s. Only I was BMX racing and taking bong hits in between motos. Ah the good ol' days. Did you know that when you ride your bike frying on acid that is always feels like your back tire is going flat?


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## Eretz (Jul 21, 2012)

DrSmile said:


> My dad quit European _amateur_ cycling in 1980 because he refused to shove caffeine suppositories up his keister. I was 10 at the time, and his explanation pretty much wiped away any delusions I had about the purity of the sport (and thanks dad for explaining it to me so graphically at my tender age!).


I forgot about those days. I raced and reached Cat2 in france and went to school there for a bit. During early spring we'd show up at François Bellocq's "bureau" where he'd have his assistant [Michel] take your blood and an ekg printout. He'd have you ride 2 hours [no water] with other cyclists doing the same tests and then pull blood and do an ekg print out once more. Before riding with a club [obtaining my license] I was at his bureau every day, 5 days a week, just to ride with some really good cyclists. He was a really nice man and his wife was a sweet heart.

I really have nothing to say about the sport or behind the scenes. I met a lot of really great riders and road some spectacular scenery. I was always going to be average. My love for the sport after a day of training was sliding on a pair of sneakers in street clothes and riding the entire city until dusk just loving my bicycle. Pretty much what I do now.

Here's Dr. François Bellocq's book and papers - his research. He was the second person I met in france as a young adult and he got me on a good team too.

I don't have much to say.

cyclisme-dopage.com - Portrait de Franois Bellocq

english version


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## thighmaster (Feb 2, 2006)

moskowe said:


> Yeah his story is pretty fishy. So his TUE wasn't yet approved but he actually refused to take the test. If the only doping agent he had in him was the one covered by the TUE, he could have taken the test, gotten his new TUE a week later, and then successfully discuss avoiding suspension because it was obvious he was taking the drugs for the right reasons.
> 
> It rather sounds like he had something else he didn't want them to find out, and he used the TUE as a cover story for being caught. Either that, or he's a very stupid person and for some reason refused to get tested knowing perfectly that it would get him insta-banned for life.


He knew he was caught. He was one of the few Joe Papp guys who used his actuall name and address for receiveing EPO. I've talked with him personally. He was good, doped and got really good, and still got pounded by the really good and doped. No pity, it's the machine. 

One story and it relates to how do they all pass a drug tests. Some male cyclist have come up pregnant as a gal provided urine, but the best is to just pay off the urine collector. He pees in the cup. As I was in the Army and hash usage was rampant, no one ever got caught. Little did they know the administer of the tests was peeing in all the cups. He even offered to pee in mine for a beer, I declined as I hadn't smoked anything.
Sean Kelly once got his urine from his driver, who happend to take a stimulant to stay awake while driving, and came up possitive.


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