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It's real doping, with real benefits. This isn't a recreational drug we're talking about. Further, they took it because they believed it would enhance their performance. This is embarrassing. Don't try to equivocate or rationalize it.

Please articulate this one... First off, I'm not saying the testing wasn't real, I'm saying supplements such as these fall more in a grey area than EPO. EG - I could order them online right now, or go to a health food store and likely find something with them in it - and buy it without a license or a doctor on US soil. Sorry, but that's not the same as a pharmaceutical. Second, I'm suggesting doping is very vaguely defined in enduro. The EWS itself has only a few hundred words in the rule book (at the end) on...

Also of note is that Higenamine was not added to the WADA list until 2017. That pic from Coral, Chile is from 2016 and at the time would have been fully acceptable... Just an example of how "easy" it can be to be ingesting the wrong things.

Wow, that's a terrible take. Beyond terrible, actually. This was real testing, by a real governing body. Sanctions will come, and they'll be justified.

There is no back stop date, could be for just one year.... Also whatever happened to the rider that was banned right in the infancy of the EWS, I see they are back racing....

Further to the statement from the EWS we published earlier on in the thread, the EWS would like to clarify that the AFLD was requested by the EWS to come in and carry out the testing.

There are dozens of supplements/drugs that are legal in most countries that are banned by WADA/USADA, so I doubt that will change anything. And as the JD Swanguan sanction states, the penalty for his positive test was reduced since it could have had a "credible non-doping explanation". Cannabinoids are listed as Specified Substances because they could be susceptible to a credible non-doping explanation, and therefore use of those substances can result in a reduced sanction.--- USADA

I got 3 thumbs down on my post, so, very unpopular opinion haha. In other news, I noticed what convenient timing that the EWS website is down for maintenance.

I don't think they're handing out lifetime bans for much of anything, let alone pot. https://www.usada.org/us-cycling-athlete-swanguen-accepts-sanction-for-…

I was reminded today of the EWS principles aka, rules, tldr: if you’ve been caught cheating, ever, you ain’t racing

There are plenty of reasons pro riders cheat that aren't about profits or ego. Sure, they're competitive and everyone wants glory, but they're also competing for the chance to maintain a rad lifestyle. There are only so many spots available, and podiums become magnitudes harder to find once you're pulling shifts at Trader Joe's to pay rent.

Blanket statement here, but you had a high growth area in cycling and racing that was unmonitored for YEARS. I personally do not believe for a second that the sport was clean in the early days up until the association with UCI started recently. There was too much of an incentive and almost zero negative consequence for these riders. All it takes is one rider doing it to make everyone else feel like they have to in order to keep up. I do believe that it is getting cleaned up because there is not enough money in Enduro/EWS racing to...

Stiks probably has a better sense of the financial stakes at play, but if getting access to some drugs cost even a couple thousand for a rider to hit some bonuses that are worth 10K, 20K, etc. I wouldn't be surprised if some riders did it.

I wasn't meaning the field was a full EWS race. My point was to highlight the endurance top-level pro DH riders have. Folks seem to think DH is all jumps and tech. The top guys can put down some mileage at a serious pace when needed as well!

In addition to saying he 'lost fitness' at the DH races and didn't like how little he got to ride, Martin also mentioned that he felt enduro racing made him a better bike rider. I can see how for some the semi-blind, fully-pinned nature of EWS racing might actually translate into a sharpening of handling skills that could be beneficial in DH. Clearly it works for Martin, and I'd love to see both Sam and Richie have a go at some World Cup DH racing again.

NSMB was the first mountain bike related site I came across at 14 years old. It opened up a whole new world for me to look at as a kid growing up on the east coast of Canada with our limited trails at the time. Although my visits to NSMB slowed for a while, I find their articles increasingly relevant to me as a more mature rider. Keep it up Cam