Remember how exciting it was when Lance Armstrong was winning all those Tour de Frances? That guy was like Pringles with those races, once he popped he couldn’t stop. Then, as we probably should have seen coming, it turned out he was cheating hard. That was pretty darn disappointing. Strangely though, now that I’ve seen this infographic explaining what “doping” actually is, I’ve got a new found respect for the guy, and for all other dirty cheater cyclists. Because here’s the thing, they are putting themselves through some crazy, crazy nonsense to get that extra edge.
Who knew that giving yourself a blood transfusion juices you up? (Cyclists, obviously.) These people are regularly drawing pints of their own blood and storing them for weeks just for the privilege of putting it back in again. Straight up drinking testosterone sounds gross but at least you don’t have to use a needle.
Sleeping in an altitude tent is also pretty surprising. My friend who lives in Denver boasted to me that she can drink low-landers under the table, but I didn’t know high altitudes gave you other super powers, too.
And here’s a different kind of doping – hacking the brain with prescription drugs.