One Cyclist's Personal Drug Test

With the help of a doctor, an amateur cyclist in his late-40s tried out a variety of banned performance-enhancing drugs used in endurance sports. Here's his story.

"Inside the doctor's waiting room, I'd squeezed in next to the World's Largest Man and a woman who I thought might be an actress—though I couldn't be certain, since she was wearing a hat and sunglasses indoors. The jumbo guy was somebody I was pretty sure spent Sunday afternoons chasing quarterbacks on television. Such people were, I would come to realize, the core of Dr. Jones's business: athletes and attractive women of all ages. Plus rich guys over 50. And the odd Playmate or two. Oh, and me."

This piece is so thorough and long that the writer, Stuart Stevens, must've still been on the juice when he wrote it. Just kidding, but it's interesting that he liked the effect of human growth hormone:

"For me, it would be a quality-of-life question, not a performance issue. If the HGH weren't so expensive, I'd probably continue with it."