Photo by Luke Seemann
USADA sanctions Crater
2010
CyclingNews reports that the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency has sanctioned Andy Crater (Aerocat) for testing positive for “Carboxy THC, a metabolite of marijuana in the class of Cannabinoids” at August’s Tour of Elk Grove.
Crater received a suspended three-month suspension and must forfeit all results since the Tour of Elk Grove, where he placed 1st and 2nd in the Cat 1/2 criteriums. In the following weeks he also won a masters road race national championship and placed 2nd in the Cat 1/2 race at the Glencoe Grand Prix. (Congratulations, Rob Kelley (Bicycle Heaven): You just made the Glencoe podium.)
He earned some significant prizes for those results, including more than $700 at Glencoe. I’m curious whether that can or will be redistributed.
Though currently a resident of Asheville, N.C., Crater has been a prolific racer in the Midwest, racing with Milwaukee’s Wheel & Sprocket from 2005 to 2009.
This is not the first time a rider has been popped at the Tour of Elk Grove, one of the few races that can afford USADA testing. In 2007, overall winner Nathan O’Neill, then racing for Health Net, tested positive for phentermine.
Sep 9
2010
5:01 pm
Luke Seemann (XXX Racing-AthletiCo)
On the one hand, this is the first time a doper has affected me personally. The masters race at Glencoe would have played out much differently if Crater were not there. I suspect the sprint at the end of the 1/2’s would have unfolded differently as well—or perhaps the break would not have stayed away at all.
On the other hand, if we are to infer that this is all because he used marijuana, it’s hard to get all that upset. I’d expect such a rider to be slower, munchier and less capable of making good decisions. (Popular Science backs this up, noting there is cant evidence that THC can enhance performance outside of reducing stress.) If more of my opponents wanted to smoke up, God bless them. And if reducing stress is wrong, I don’t ever want to be right.