Cycling must 'dare to change'

On Thursday, 2 June 2011 07:15:33 UTC-7, Brad Anders wrote:
On Jun 1, 9:38*pm, Zenon wrote:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/today/hi/today...00/9490860.stm

IMO, the change that needs to be made is to recognize that you're not
going to stop drug cheating through draconian measures. Read the
recent report on the "Global War on Drugs"

http://www.theatlanticwire.com/natio...failure/38399/

Pretty high-level, rather conservative group that came to this
conclusion. It's no different in sport, worse, perhaps. Legalization
and medical monitoring of the majority of drugs used in cycling is a
better solution than continuing to stick our heads in the sand and
believe this sport (or any) can be made "clean".

The difference between the GWOD and doping in the ProTour is that nobody is afraid a pot-head will steal their job. Coke-head? Maybe*....

*In the hypothetical (or not) case of a drug that actually enhanced at-work performance in normal non-entertainment jobs, most work is not a zero-sum game. If Joe the janitor can clean 10% better on Placebotex, then the place he's cleaning is 10% cleaner (or Joe can finish work 10% sooner). It's a net benefit for the world, because the work is done more productively. If a drug makes pro cyclists 10% faster, the racing isn't really 10% better. The race is ultimately a zero-sum game, in that no matter what else happens, one racer wins, the rest lose, and you can't really improve the entertainment value of the racing using drugs**

**you may arguably be able to improve the entertainment value of other forms of entertainment using drugs. I'm not sure "Rocky Balboa" would have been as good if 60-something Stallone hadn't been UTTERLY RIPPED during filming..

On Jun 2, 9:01*pm, Ryan Cousineau wrote:
On Thursday, 2 June 2011 07:15:33 UTC-7, Brad Anders *wrote:
On Jun 1, 9:38*pm, Zenon wrote:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/today/hi/today...00/9490860.stm

IMO, the change that needs to be made is to recognize that you're not
going to stop drug cheating through draconian measures. Read the
recent report on the "Global War on Drugs"

http://www.theatlanticwire.com/natio...gs-still-failu...

Pretty high-level, rather conservative group that came to this
conclusion. It's no different in sport, worse, perhaps. Legalization
and medical monitoring of the majority of drugs used in cycling is a
better solution than continuing to stick our heads in the sand and
believe this sport (or any) can be made "clean".

The difference between the GWOD and doping in the ProTour is that nobody is afraid a pot-head will steal their job. Coke-head? Maybe*....

*In the hypothetical (or not) case of a drug that actually enhanced at-work performance in normal non-entertainment jobs, most work is not a zero-sum game. If Joe the janitor can clean 10% better on Placebotex, then the place he's cleaning is 10% cleaner (or Joe can finish work 10% sooner). It's a net benefit for the world, because the work is done more productively. If a drug makes pro cyclists 10% faster, the racing isn't really 10% better. The race is ultimately a zero-sum game, in that no matter what else happens, one racer wins, the rest lose, and you can't really improve the entertainment value of the racing using drugs**

**you may arguably be able to improve the entertainment value of other forms of entertainment using drugs. I'm not sure "Rocky Balboa" would have been as good if 60-something Stallone hadn't been UTTERLY RIPPED during filming.

*** which brings up the salient point of why bike racing doesn't allow
LSD. It certainly wouldn't be performance enhancing, but it would
elevate the entertainment value considerably. Anyone - anyone at all
- can ride a bike on a paved surface, but it takes a special sort that
can ride a bike on a road made up of writhing serpents.

R

but it takes a special sort that
can ride a bike on a road made up of writhing serpents.

R

This is a bad idea. Can you imagine the fights that would ensue after
each race ? Charges laid upon the winning rider that HE WASN'T
DOPING ?

"Hey Zabriskie I know you weren't doping because you didn't even
flinch when that 32 foot purple gorilla came at you from the side."

"WTF are you talking about ? I was trying to out sprint the zombie
gang that was trying to eat me. Besides those giant turtles were
protecting me.from the monkeys"

The UCI will ultimately decide the winner based on the funniest post
race news conference and flashbacks will result in relegation 100% of
the time.