I have stayed in touch with the sport, and it’s especially filthy amongst the age-groupers. They have no financial motivation not to cheat: They are already well-off and won’t lose a penny of sponsorship money if they get caught.

Furthermore, many come from the world of business, where cheating is a fact of life. You do a certain thing, if you get caught, you hire lawyers and fight and/or bargain your way to the least unfavourable outcome.

What is the difference between offshoring your tax avoidance and visiting a shady doctor for a prescription? This is especially true when it reaches a certain tipping point where “everybody cheats.”

Like many things in life, there are two sets of rules: One for those with a lot of money, who sit on the board of their local club and/or sponsor the racing scene, and another for those who ride purely for fun.

For a certain type of middle-aged type-a male, it is about being the “Alpha” in the scene, and that means winning your age group at all costs, having your business’s name splashed over everything in sight, and that means being a part of the power elite within the sport itself.

I’m no longer a part of the multi-sport scene, I switched to mountain biking, where I thought I’d find a laid-back outdoorsy California vibe.

It is there, if you look past the guys with a “quiver” of six or seven carbon-fibre bikes :-)

It's not definite from your phrasing, but based on the parallel to sports I'm assuming you view this attitude negatively. Have you managed to find a business niche that isn't prey to this? Have you found a way to make peace with this without feeling that you've given up your sense of morality? This is something I struggle with.

This is interesting, because it tells me that no matter how crooked the business sector, there is some company so awful that that puts all the others to shame. And there is another out at the other end that has good people trying to do good things.

If you're looking for a job, you can only work for one company, so that provides some hope: You just need to find that positive outlier. And if they are also successful and not crippled by attempts to stay sane in an insane world, you'll be fine.

It's much the same as with startups. Lots are absolute nonsense, conceived with the purpose of extracting money from a gullible market for investments in hot technology.

But you don't have to work for or with any of them, you just have to find the people who are genuinely trying to make the world a better place in a way that fits with what you have to offer.

as far as i can tell this is permanently gone from california. we are now all hyper-capitalists living in a weird socialist-leaning statist bureaucracy.

i grew up here but i'm thinking of moving somewhere else. the problem is there are only 3 states on the west coast and washington is basically turning into california 2.0

For those down-thread wondering if this is a witch-hunt, I've followed it in detail and if you know the sport the evidence of cheating is very clear. She has been singled out in the sense there are other cheats out there (I've seen it myself) but her high profile fairly reflects the callibre of events she's won (ITU long course).

I'll probably get back into it because there is lots I miss about training, I just needed a break and have been enjoying the ultra scene for now.

If this was a computer game, people would deem you a "casual".

From a sports perspective all of the age groupers have my deep respect. Again, most of them are nice guys. But this sport also attracts people I do not like. Too loud, too much bragging, too stylish.

An anecdote: I went to see my buddy run a 50 miler in the Charlottesville VA area a few weeks ago. I remember being told how great the race was a few years ago - cheap, fun, great afterparty. This year, entry fees were much higher, the post-race spread was more or less nonexistent... signs of nickel-and-diming everywhere.

I suspect that's fairly common now- RD's looking to make a profit through their racing companies.

At spirit, ultrarunning is the polar opposite of tri- laid back, get it done fast or slow, have a beer after (or during...), most importantly, stop and help others, thank volunteers midrace, etc. That has been my experience thus far.

But money's seeping into the sport through sponsorships and purses, so let's not be naive - cheating is probably already happening (haven't seen it firsthand so I can't say it definitively), and it's to the point that influential voices in the sport are trying to figure out what to do about it.

[0] http://www.irunfar.com/2015/12/doping-and-the-effect-on-ultr... [1] http://running.competitor.com/2015/12/news/ultrarunning-at-a...

(I can't find the fairly provocative piece from mid-2015 nor can I remember who wrote it, help anyone?)

I've LOVED it. The majority of the ultra runners are kooky/cool/fun and interesting people. I was pleasantly surprised to find people of ALL body types and ages finishing 50 and 100 mile races as well. Here is a great article about Mirna Valerio, a 250lb ultrarunner:

http://www.runnersworld.com/runners-stories/ultra

Harrier Hash is another very fun running club to check out.

I would say a good way to get started is to check out volunteering at some races, see if you like the vibe. There are some aid stations at Western States every year that are a lot of fun.

The PCTR races are fun and low key and a good way to start out in the sport. My best advice to to stay within yourself and have fun with the training and the races. Listen to your body and if it needs a break give it a break, build up to ultra miles slowly, your body will think you for it.

http://www.irishtriathlon.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/iro...

Famously, Mary Decker Slaney was busted for having an illegal T/E ratio. She disputed it by claiming that contraceptive drugs altered her hormones, but the IAAF upheld her ban.

This of course also helps with the narrative of "I won because I trained super hard", some people are genetically blessed to be able to absorb large training volumes without getting injured or burning out, for the others there are plenty of things one can use to achieve similar effects

This is also why unfortunately some coaches seem to go through athletes quite a bit until they find some that can take the workload, and focus on those, not so good though for the ones that ended up getting injured and out of the sport though.

I do think the news tend to portray doping too much as "race day doping" when the biggest gains are made in the offseason, and this is why there are rules like offseason testing where athletes have to inform the anti-doping agencies where they are at all times, and why it raises a lot of questions when some countries don't seem to have effective offseason anti-doping controls.

Every time I've heard that in the past, the sport has been completely filthy.

I used to feel sorry for doctors who paid a lot of malpractice insurance, and wanted to give them tort reform. I thought they deserved protection.

But when doctors sell out for money, I could care less about helping them out. It's not so much that they are dispensing HGH, steroids, etc., I imagine the doses are low, and the wealthy patient sees nothing, but placebo effects.

It's the money part. I really don't like doctors whom sell out for money.