The Practical Effect of Cycling’s Doping Scandals

One of my favorite bike racers, Alexandre Vinokourov, is winning the Vuelta. Vinokourov is a great joy to watch – an unpredictable, attacking racer with a flair for the dramatic. I had no idea he was winning. It’s not that I intentionally boycotted the Vuelta. I just got out of the daily habit of checking …

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Doping v. Real Medicine

There’s a fascinating anecdote in Peter Spotts’ Christian Science Monitor piece on athletes and doping. After publishing results of tests on a new compound that showed promise in growing extraordinary muscles in mice, University of Pennsylvania researchers were inundated with requests for information, but not from people in the medical community: After the university published …

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Testosterone Patches

Some useful background for those cycling fans in the audience trying to understand the context of Floyd’s test results. Turns out Malcolm Gladwell spent the necessary time getting on terms with the subject some years ago: Athletes have now switched from injection to transdermal testosterone patches, which administer a continuous low-level dose of the hormone, …

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How Floyd Might Have Done It

This was a joke. This apparently is not: Floyd Landis, who on Sunday became the third American cyclist to win the Tour de France, tested positive for a banned substance after winning Stage 17 of the race, his team announced Thursday.