is it possible without epo

[Kevin Rynne]

Something to think about, when racing did you ever come across anyone who seemed superhuman, unbeatable, miles ahead of the rest, but did not do any more training that the rest, and could not have possibly have been taking drugs! I have when racing as a junior, someone who used to train with us from a rival club, at that age in Ireland I doubt they were taking drugs to further their athletic ability. Yet he was able to beat his seniors and even beat a few that were pros in Europe. No drugs. That far ahead of everyone else!

Can the same be said for some pro's are some of them extraordinary talented / freaks of nature who can carry out superhuman type sporting feats?

[Grahame]

When I gave up serious mountainbike racing in 1994, one of the reasons was that there were some people who were improving by huuuge amounts between rounds of the NPS. I wouldn't like to draw conclusions, but there were no drug controls in place in the NPS at that time, and when they were introduced a couple of years later, some performance levels returned to their previous "norm".

I was never good enough to be offered any medical coaching, but I know of one or two who were. They declined the offers and we all gave up racing at about the same time.

[Grahame]

I'm also sure Boardman was clean for the same reasons. At the top of the mountainbiking tree in the '90s, it was clear that the David Bakers, Gary Foords, of the world were probably clean - some peaks and troughs, but broadly consistent results year on year, it was the rapidly improving riders that I had my suspicions about.