very interesting article here on The Outer Line, by Joe Harris and Steve Maxwell, head over to their site to check it out.

here’s a snippet:

“I had to do it just to survive” –Closely related to “everyone does it,” is this mantra – which perhaps comes the closest to being understandable or admissible.  This person feels like he has to dope just to keep his place in the peloton, essentially bolstering his “skill set” so that he can remain employed in the industry.  This person is the most trapped or caught up in the corruption – able to work but probably unable to do so without cheating.  However, this group doesn’t see the irony in the fact that they are cheating others out of contracts by participating in the doping to begin with.   There are hundreds of untold stories of talented up-and-comers who were denied the possibility of joining a professional team because of the actions of these types of riders, who did whatever they could to hold onto their spots on the roster.