This is one of those episodes where I know some of you will disagree, some will feel uncomfortable, and some will finally feel like somebody said what they have been thinking for years. We need to talk about doping at amateur level. Not the professional peloton — amateur. The local time trial scene. Masters racing. Sportive KOM hunters. The bloke at your club who came back from winter looking like a different human being.
Key Takeaways
It is happening. More than we admit. Testosterone replacement therapy clinics are booming. You can buy EPO online with less friction than ordering a pair of bib shorts. SARMs are marketed as supplements. And at amateur level, there is almost zero testing to catch any of it.
The absurdity of it is what gets me. These are not riders with contracts on the line. There is no prize money. There is no professional career at stake. The reward for cheating is a masters national jersey, a Strava segment, or a photo on Instagram. The risk is cardiovascular damage, hormonal disruption, and the slow erosion of a sport that is supposed to be built on honest effort.
And the riders getting hurt most are the clean ones. If you are lining up at a masters crit, training honestly, eating well, sleeping right, doing everything by the book — and the rider who beats you is on testosterone and a low-dose EPO protocol — how do you process that? You either accept it, pretend it is not happening, or walk away. None of those options is good enough.
The sport needs to get serious about this. Not with finger wagging and moral outrage, but with practical solutions. More testing at grassroots. Anonymous reporting channels. And honestly, a culture shift where clubs and communities stop turning a blind eye to results that do not add up.
We deserve a sport where the effort is real. That starts with being honest about the problem.
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