Well, do YOU take drugs for your cycling then?

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horizon
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Well, do YOU take drugs for your cycling then?

Post by horizon »

I'm just stirring things up here :D but I would like to know what people think:

I've heard of people taking Ibuprofen to get them through a cycle ride, inhalers to get up hills or caffeine pills to complete an Audax. I see this as bad if not worse than what our esteemed Olympians are accused of. How extensive is drug taking in everyday cycling? What are your views on this?
When the pestilence strikes from the East, go far and breathe the cold air deeply. Ignore the sage, stay not indoors. Ho Ri Zon 12th Century Chinese philosopher
Mike Sales
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Re: Well, do YOU take drugs for your cycling then?

Post by Mike Sales »

horizon wrote:I'm just stirring things up here :D but I would like to know what people think:

I've heard of people taking Ibuprofen to get them through a cycle ride, inhalers to get up hills or caffeine pills to complete an Audax. I see this as bad if not worse than what our esteemed Olympians are accused of. How extensive is drug taking in everyday cycling? What are your views on this?


I really cannot see your point.
I am on my second hip replacement. I often take Ibuprofen because cycling makes it ache. Should I get a therapeutic use exemption? If you are not using a medicine to gain an undeclared advantage in competition, then nobody is being cheated. It is about as reprehensible as cheating at patience.
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horizon
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Re: Well, do YOU take drugs for your cycling then?

Post by horizon »

Mike Sales wrote: Should I get a therapeutic use exemption?


I think you've got one and fair enough (amazing that you are still cycling BTW).

If you are not using a medicine to gain an undeclared advantage in competition, then nobody is being cheated.


I'm not sure that medicinal drugs should be used by healthy people to enable them to push their cycling (they are cheating themselves perhaps). But I am after views here - I have stated my position just for clarity but I am sure there is more to it.
When the pestilence strikes from the East, go far and breathe the cold air deeply. Ignore the sage, stay not indoors. Ho Ri Zon 12th Century Chinese philosopher
Bmd
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Re: Well, do YOU take drugs for your cycling then?

Post by Bmd »

I quite enjoy a medicinal beer on a touring ride!
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Re: Well, do YOU take drugs for your cycling then?

Post by mjr »

I think it's rife in amateur sport now and there's more chance of seeing the second coming than a drug tester at an evening ten or park crit.
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Cyril Haearn
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Re: Well, do YOU take drugs for your cycling then?

Post by Cyril Haearn »

horizon wrote:
Mike Sales wrote: Should I get a therapeutic use exemption?


I think you've got one and fair enough (amazing that you are still cycling BTW).

If you are not using a medicine to gain an undeclared advantage in competition, then nobody is being cheated.


I'm not sure that medicinal drugs should be used by healthy people to enable them to push their cycling
..
..

I am sure they should not
Maybe this thread should be in 'Fun & Games' :wink:
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Mike Sales
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Re: Well, do YOU take drugs for your cycling then?

Post by Mike Sales »

horizon wrote:
Mike Sales wrote: Should I get a therapeutic use exemption?


I think you've got one and fair enough (amazing that you are still cycling BTW).



Not really amazing; it is the cycling which does me so much good. Dr. Bike again. Or perhaps Physiotherapist Bike.
It's the same the whole world over
It's the poor what gets the blame
It's the rich what gets the pleasure
Isn't it a blooming shame?
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Re: Well, do YOU take drugs for your cycling then?

Post by Cyril Haearn »

Taeve Schur, the best DDR cyclist, said 'the crowd was my drug'
School children, workers, passers-by stood at the roadside and cheered him onm
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softlips
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Re: Well, do YOU take drugs for your cycling then?

Post by softlips »

I drink more coffee before club rides.

I try not to take ibruprofen at all these days, particularly if I know I’m going to be riding. There’s growing evidence of negative cardiac side effects. I’m back to paracetamol if I need an analgesic.
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Re: Well, do YOU take drugs for your cycling then?

Post by pjclinch »

horizon wrote:I'm just stirring things up here :D but I would like to know what people think:

I've heard of people taking Ibuprofen to get them through a cycle ride, inhalers to get up hills or caffeine pills to complete an Audax. I see this as bad if not worse than what our esteemed Olympians are accused of. How extensive is drug taking in everyday cycling? What are your views on this?


It depends who I'm competing against. If I'm taking a measure fully agreed by all in the competition as okay then it's okay. Given I don't do sport riding and thus the only person I'm competing against is myself, that measure of agreement is remarkably easy to come by!

(Drugs I take are caffeine (in coffee form) and Fisherman's Friends)

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djnotts
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Re: Well, do YOU take drugs for your cycling then?

Post by djnotts »

I use my COPD Inhalers whether I cycle or not. I always consume dangerously high amounts of espressos. And cakes. Before I became a recovering alcoholic I often took a 1/4 bottle of gin in the saddle pack - I don't think it improved my performance. Seeing as I do not compete with anyone, matters to no one.
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cycleruk
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Re: Well, do YOU take drugs for your cycling then?

Post by cycleruk »

No.
I take Ibuprofen if I pull a muscle.
Paracetamol. Anadin, Aspirin for other aches and pains.
You'll never know if you don't try it.
ScottishGeek
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Re: Well, do YOU take drugs for your cycling then?

Post by ScottishGeek »

Before particularly cold commutes I’m not averse to taking a puff on an inhaler to stave off the potential difficulties I have breathing at the top of the mid-ride ‘bump’. It get used so infrequently that I usually have difficulty finding where it is!

Do I use it as a performance advantage to get to work? Like heck I do :lol:
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Cunobelin
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Re: Well, do YOU take drugs for your cycling then?

Post by Cunobelin »

To me it comes back to the "moral issue"

Using a painkiller as ...... a painkiller is hardly unethical.

There are dozens of medicines that I can use legitimately for the correct medical purposes that have been abused by professionals.
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Re: Well, do YOU take drugs for your cycling then?

Post by Cyril Haearn »

Cunobelin wrote:To me it comes back to the "moral issue"

Using a painkiller as ...... a painkiller is hardly unethical.

There are dozens of medicines that I can use legitimately for the correct medical purposes that have been abused by professionals.

When do two (or dozens) of rights make a wrong?
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