Velonews had this article today about some just regular masters racer from Michigan, Neal Schubel, that was busted from EPO use. My assumption is that he was involved with the Joe Papp internet deal, but I really don’t know. Man, if you look at the guys results here, he must of been drinking the stuff and not injecting it. I’m not sure why he would be using EPO? Maybe the guy was just interested in seeing how fast he could go if he “prepared” like the PROs do. I don’t know. If this is the Joe Papp deal, it’s too bad that they can catch the little masters racer and the guys that are on PRO teams get away through arbitration.
Neal posted his explanation here on facebook. Sounds pretty reasonable. I guess he probably should of relinquished his license at the time of his little test. And the numbers done lie.
“I’m taking this new Chinese “vitamin” that allows me to commute to work 8 minutes faster And I can keep up with the guys on the weekend group ride.”
I think he was better in 2008. EPO isn’t gonna teach anyone pack skills and it isn’t gonna teach anyone how to draft. Also it isn’t going to teach anyone to have the balls to go off the front for a solo effort. I gotta wonder why they even tested a guy with these poor results. Why would anybody be suspicious? Maybe they are just trying to throw a scare into any Master’s who may be cheating but haven’t been caught. I’m sure the testing is far too expensive to do a lot of testing on Master’s that are racing for medals and $50.00 prizes.
If you can afford a bike worth 5 racks – you can afford a good doctor and drugs too. But – if this is the best this guy could do on drugs – perhaps bike racing really wasn’t something for him to begin with?
Why would they pick a USAC licenced masters racer for a drug test? I dont think he competed in a race grade higher than a “D”. He raced less from 2006 to present than most do in just one spring. Im guessing he possibly had a UCI license or had applied for one.?? Was it a random test?
They didn’t urine/drug test this guy. He was caught because he bought EPO off the internet and then when confronted with the evidence, he fessed up.
And he didn’t even race any Master’s Nats during that time period. Why bother?
In my opinion Joe Papp must have been selling sugar pills because all of the riders caught in the Joe Papps scandal weren’t all that good.
Yeah it is almost to weird. Makes me think he was buying it for someone else.
There are some PRO racers in the US that are gonna beat the rap because their girfriend/spouse was buying illegals for them.
There’s an “explanation” posted on his Facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/home.php#!/profile.php?id=100001853479021
I dont know Neal’s weight but 332 watts for 30mn sounds pretty dang good to me. Maybe he lacked some pack skills. I know people doing a lot less watts then that and getting results.
Steve – look at his wife’s results.
Supercharged
http://www.usacycling.org/results/index.php?compid=179648
It was the wife! he was supplying his wife Susan with EPO… packfill had the right idea; it was for his spouse– and jef too (thanks for the link)