Bike Pure was conceived by two passionate racing cyclists, Myles McCorry and Andy Layhe* following the doping scandals of the 2008 Tour de France. Due to a culmination of positive dope tests, persistent lies and corruption, we felt that there needed to be a new independent organization that fans, riders and teams could have faith in. Bike Pure has now become a voice for anyone opposed to doping in our sport, a voice that up until now had been drowned out by the dopers.

Bike Pure is totally independent, non-profit and is run entirely on a voluntary basis by cyclists who are passionate about bringing a change to cycle sport and instill some much needed credibility. The image of professional cycling is consistently linked to that of doping and Bike Pure hope to change that through positive means and action. Bike Pure survives on donations alone which go towards promotional costs and keeping the website and campaign active.

The response to Bike Pure has been phenomenal, with several thousand fans from over 70 countries joining for free via our website, simply adding their name to the growing list of people who want to see change in our sport. Bike Pure feel that young riders coming into the sport need riders they can believe in and must be aware that doping is detrimental for cycling as well as health reasons.

So far, over 50 professional riders have requested to be part of Bike Pure including Cameron and Travis Meyer, Dan Martin of Garmin-Slipstream, Several of Team Specialized’s mountain bike team including World MTB Champion and World Cup winner Christoph Sauser, Burry Stander, Lene Byberg, Todd Wells and Rebecca Rusch, Barloworld’s Daryl Impey, Robbie Hunter and Steve Cummings. Also added is Nicolas Roche (AG2r), Dan Lloyd, Dan Fleeman and Philip Deignan of the Cérvelo Team and Olivier Kaisen and Pieter Jacobs of the Silence-Lotto team. American Ben-Jaques Maynes (Bissell) and Ryan Bauman (Trek-Livestrong) are also represented. The latest rider to join is young Australian talent Luke Dubridge.

Several high profile women riders have also committed to Bike Pure including current Belgian road race champion Ludivine Henrion (Red Sun Cycling), Kirsten Wild of the Cervelo team and Lizzie Armitstead, the World Points race Champion.

Many of these riders wear the Bike Pure wristband and Bike Pure headset spacer in a simple, visual stance to show they are opposed to doping.

Several teams also support our philosophy of cleaner cycling. These include the Konica-Minolta team in South Africa who carry the Bike Pure logo on their racing jerseys and several club teams have requested wristbands for their riders, especially for the underage riders coming into the sport.

Bike Pure hope to make an impact in the fight against doping and it is through the valued support in every corner of the world that we are making steady progress. We have clearly hit a chord with cycling fans who want doping eliminated from cycling.
We have even produced a Bike Pure cycling jersey to help raise awareness, with a percentage of each sale going to help fund our organization. Cycle component manufacturer 3T are also behind us and will be producing a 3T end cap for their handlebar stems in Bike Pure colours in support of our anti-doping efforts.

Bike Pure have outlined several proposals which we hope will be implemented in the fight against doping. It is hoped that the groundswell of support for these proposals through our members will give strength to our case for the following:-

1. More stringent penalties for offending riders, with a minimum 4 year ban and life bans for repeat offenders. It is clear that the current 2 year ban is not deterring riders from doping.
2. All testing to be carried out by an independent testing authority. This independent authority must have no affiliation with any governing body, team or sponsor linked to cyclesport.
3. Life bans for management and team personnel working with cyclists to assist doping practices.
4. Suspensions for riders are fully implemented, regardless of geographical location and/or National Federation.
5. Doping to be seen more as a criminal offense with riders, team managers and the administers of illegal drugs punished accordingly in line with the law.
6. The disclosure of all riders’ medication notes eg. Asthma remedies, Hayfever drugs etc.
7. The disclosure of all riders VO2 max measurements and wattage data so that profiles can be built up in conjunction with the impending Bio-Passport system.
8. Work with previous offenders of doping to improve the testing procedures and question their reasons for doping.

Bike Pure would like to thank all its members, riders, teams and media for their valued support over the last number of months in helping to bring about change within our sport through positive measures. Please visit our website www.bikepure.org or our Twitter page at www.twitter.com/bikepure for all the latest information and updates.

*(Both Myles and Andy have been part of cycle sport for over 20 years, Myles having raced as a Category 1 rider in Ireland and competing in 9 FBD Ras stage races to his credit. Andy, a former junior British Cyclo-Cross rider in the late 80′s and early 90′s is a former National Trophy Series winner, rode to 13th in the 1989 World Championships in Ponchateau, France and finished 4th overall in the European Cup Cyclo-Cross series. Andy has also won medals at various Irish Championships and finished racing in October 2005 after winning the Northern Ireland Championships.)