Local (to Santa Cruz) pro cyclist Andy Jacques-Maynes weighs in on the recent doping confessions.

Jacques-Maynes raced with his twin brother Ben for Bissell Pro Cycling. Andy now rides for Kenda. The Jacques-Maynes hail from Watsonville, California and are well known local favorites during pro races in Santa Cruz County.

Andy sent a series of tweets with his thoughts on Jonathan Vaughters’ recent revelations, in which Vaughters confessed to doping because he felt like he had to in order to participate in the sport that he loved at a professional level.

Vaughters wrote “If you just said no when the anti-doping regulations weren’t enforced, then you were deciding to end your dream, because you could not be competitive.”

In private conversation over the years I’ve heard from a couple of pros who gave up European racing because of the perception that doping is required to compete at the international level. Jacques-Maynes tweets that he stayed in the US to avoid that culture.

There might be some accusations in response that Jacques-Maynes is merely a pretender, a poseur who can’t hack the rigors of International competition. He claims, however:

You can follow Andy Jacques-Maynes on Twitter @ajmiac.

I don’t plan to participate, but this coming weekend’s edition of The Spokesmen Cycling Podcast will be on the topic of doping. Many fans are distraught at the recent revelations. Me, I don’t like it but I figured it was happening all along. I have difficulty encouraging youth to pursue a career in professional cycling because I figure they’ll be asked to take performance enhancing drugs.

And the beat goes on.