Sarah Tisdale

> On Fri, Apr 17, 2009 at 12:45 PM, Brady Brady wrote:
>> “If consenting adults want to use dangerous medical procedures to
>> abnormally improve their abilities why is that an issue?”
>>
>> It is an issue because—whether they like it or not—there are kids who
>> idolize these consenting adults.
>>
>> It is an issue because for every uber-doper, there is someone in the
>> peloton who has been suffering for years as a domestique, paying their dues
>> and playing it straight, just to have their one career SHOT at cracking a
>> top-20 finish.

I have wondered if we could segment bike racing in a similar way as
drag-racing or auto-racing. They create classes of competition with
strict rules about about what fuels, engines, and car types are
allowed (eg: formula-one, stock-car, nascar, super-modified,
alcohol-fueled, etc). Maybe some people would be interested in an
"anything goes" class of bike racing, while others would choose the
"drug-free" class of bike racing. Of course, some would try to cheat
and compete in a drug-free class while taking drugs. But if they were
caught, they could simply be bumped up to the "anything goes" class
instead of being completely kicked out of the sport.

Of course, the downsides are numerous. First and foremost, I suspect
the "anything goes" category would be the one that gets the most press
and attention, and you'd have kids idolizing the anything-goes racers.
Second, there might not be enough races/racers/sponsors to support
all the different classes.

>> On another note, It doesn’t look like Tyler’s current problem had anything
>> to do with all of this. Hopefully he will be able to get the help he needs.

Agreed.