RAISING THE BAR.....

Current mood: KEEP IT TIGHT!!!
Category: KEEP IT TIGHT!!! Music

Anyone who chooses not to wear the rose tints, knows most professional sports are.so doped up, you could call them a heavily armed speedboat leaving Columbia QUICK SHARP!!! under the blanket of night.....

However, one sport that's been seen to make a big effort to admit to it's junky problems and come clean, is cycling...

Yes boss, after more or less every decent professional of the last 10 years has been found guilty (or at the very least, been heavily implicated in at least one drugs scandal) the sport has instigated rigorous year round testing procedures and is now believed by many, to be relatively clean

But I'm not so sure..

No boss, as the goalposts move, so does the pitch, therefore as old drugs are being tested out of feasability, new, unknown and untestable brews are now being utilised..

One such drug, that apparently has the potnential to raise more than just suspicions, is Viagra

Riders using Viagra for altitude?

By Laura Weislo

(Stolen from www.cyclingnews.com)

The story of Gerolsteiner rider Andrea Moletta's father being detained by the Italian anti-doping police in a car with a large amount of Viagra might have simply been the source of many dirty jokes had it not led to his son's withdrawal from the Giro d'Italia.

Natalino Moletta was stopped by the Italian Guardia Finanza as one of three passengers in a vehicle travelling from Padua to the Giro d'Italia which reportedly contained 82 packages of Viagra, along with a disposable syringe hidden in a tube of toothpaste and a refrigerator with other unidentified products. The search was reportedly part of a wider investigation into doping at gyms in Padua, but reports also indicated the car, and thus the products on board, were headed to the Giro d'Italia.

Viagra, or sildenafil, is normally used to treat erectile dysfunction, but a 2006 study published by the Journal of Applied Physiology (JoAP) and reported in Science Daily claimed that the drug can significantly enhance performance at altitude in some cyclists.

WADA's spokesman Frédéric Donzé confirmed that Viagra is not banned in competition, but said that the agency is looking into the matter. "WADA is aware of the high altitude study presented in Science Daily. WADA monitors this substance, as it does with many other substances, and is currently funding a research project on the performance-enhancing potential of Sildenafil at various altitudes."

But is Viagra a performance enhancing drug outside of the bedroom? The JoAP study tested ten trained cyclists at sea level and in an altitude chamber simulating 12,700 feet (3870 m) above sea level (or about 1,200 metres above the Giro d'Italia's Cima Coppi). The results were remarkable: while no benefit was gained at sea level, the Viagra group improved its performance over a six kilometre time trial at altitude by 15% over the group given a placebo.

However, the average numbers were deceiving, because the Viagra group was split into "responders" and "non-responders". Four of the subjects had shown a more marked decrease in performance at altitude than the others with placebo, and when they took Viagra, the difference went away.

Another study from a group in Belgium from 2007 tested the drug on "healthy subjects" before and after acclimatization to altitude (5,000m) and saw the performance benefit of Viagra vanish once the subjects were adapted to the low oxygen environment.

The impact of altitude on exercise capacity varies widely from person to person, depending on physiology and acclimatization. Some adapt quickly at high altitude, while others can have severe reactions such as mountain sickness or pulmonary edema - which typically show up above 2,400m.

Whether or not the drug can give a benefit to riders at altitudes below this level remains to be seen. With Monday's mountain time trial from San Vigilio di Marebbe to Plan de Corones heading from 1,200 up to 2,273 metres above sea level, will we see riders popping Viagra to get up for the race? If they do - and if the drug is not banned by WADA, and only the riders who have the unfortunate physiology to have their blood vessels seize up in hypoxic conditions can get a benefit - is it doping?

Well, I'm a fan of doping in sport and am happy to see riders using Viagra or whatever helps them reach new and previously unattainable sporting feats.

But the thing that troubles me here is that cyclists only wear thin lycra shorts?!?

Yes boss, there's no padding in a cycling outfit and little enough (in terms of state of arousal) is left to the imagination as it is, let alone when Viagra is added into the equation....?!?

So, does this mean the riders are going to be riding up the mountains carrying large (or small) bulges in their pants as standard??

Will the racing still be suitable for the viewing public, children in particular???

And if Viagra is banned, will anyone with a visible hardon, risk a lengthy suspension???