"They only test the players when they’re at the ballpark," Conte explained. "Therefore, after a game, you can apply a testosterone cream or a gel or a patch, and this will peak at about four hours after you take it and be all the way back down to baseline about eight hours after. … This helps with tissue repair and healing and recovery, so they just wait until after the game and apply it … and they get the benefit of having that testosterone circulate and accelerate healing."This is the first concrete thing I have seen about how to actually beat the system. Now, when someone says that to fail a PED drug test means you have really failed two tests, the drug test and an IQ test, I know why. Smithsonian Magazine had a decent piece before the Olympics (though they punted on the "Test Me, I'm Clean" bracelet), but it didn't give anything this specific.
All of the performance enhancing drug incidents over the last 15-20 years have left me very cynical. I now believe that anyone who is a leader in their sport is taking performance enhancing drugs. Seriously. Close your eyes and picture someone who is the leader (or near leader), and I am assuming they are on drugs. This may not be fair, but that is just where I am at right now.
