WODRASKA: Cyclists taking science, hopefully not steroids, By: Lya Wodraska

01/21/2007

Almost 20 of America's best young cyclists have spent the last few days in Salt Lake City, partaking in a training camp held at The Orthopedic Specialty Hospital in Murray.
    They were there because the facility is the new home of surgeon Eric Heiden and sports medicine researcher Massimo Testa, who has worked with numerous pro cyclists, including Levi Leipheimer.
    Anyone who previously never thought of sports as a science would have changed their minds after a visit. Cyclists pedaled away on stationary bikes as several trainers monitored their workouts by taking blood samples, charting heart rates, power outputs and the amount of oxygen used during the exercises in addition to other heart and body composition tests.
    Taken altogether, team directors can figure out an athlete's strengths and weaknesses and chart an exact training plan to boost performance.
    Watching the whole process was interesting and a little unnerving, too. These are the kind of scientific lengths athletes will go to to get an edge on their competitors. So why are we even slightly surprised to hear of athletes willing to go a little further and experiment with banned substances that promise the same purpose?
    Even here, on bikes going nowhere, there is an immense pressure to be the best, or at least close to it. It's just a training camp, but it's guaranteed none of these guys want to have

the lowest fitness numbers with USA Cycling officials scrutinizing the results.
    Cycling is by no means the only sport that tests its athletes, but right now it's arguably the most tarnished given Floyd Landis' positive test after winning the Tour de France, which followed on the heels of several teams being banned from starting the sport's most prestigious race.
    Nearly all of those athletes have been cleared to race again because the case has had various legal snags, but the damage has still been done to the general public with the impression that cycling is a drug-ridden sport.
    Watching the athletes work out, Steve Johnson, the CEO of USA Cycling, described the day that Landis tested positive as a "tragedy," but believes the sport is rebounding, at least stateside. As evidence, he points to a growing number of high quality races including the Tour of California and the Tour of Utah and to the large group of up-and-comers, such as the one in the training camp at TOSH.
    "Drug use is an issue for all pro sports," he said. "People are more aware of the issue in cycling, because we're being pro-active, but if you look for cheaters in any sport, you will find them."
    Among the battery of tests the training camp participants undergo, tests for banned substances aren't included since they are already on the random testing list for racers, Johnson said.
    Instead, he says they worry more about "recreational," drugs and has admitted racers have been sent home in the past for breaking the rules. "They are young men, after all," he said.
    Which gets us back to that worry. They are young and impressionable, so how are they going to say no to the pressures they'll face in Europe? Many have already dabbled in racing and say they have an idea of what awaits, but do they really?
    "There isn't a better time to be in cycling, because drug testing is being taken so seriously," said 21-year-old Zak Grabowski, a multi-time national junior champion. "It is a different world over there because cycling is part of the culture because it's a form of transportation, so kids ride earlier. There is no mystical thing that makes them better."
    No mysteries anymore; we're left with plain old science. And worries.