Stuart Stevens' autobiographical recounting of his "anti-aging" therapy, published in Outside Magazine in November, 2003, signaled an unfortunate end of innocence for a lot of casual athletes. Age-groupers had unwittingly eaten, as a result of reading Stevens' article, of the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Stevens chronicled the life of the doping age-grouper, if only for 8 months. There it was, an ugly truth laid bare.

Before the article, and in much greater earnest after its publication, many have called for age-group drug testing. It's the only way to keep age-group racing clean and pure, say its advocates. Perhaps so. In a series of articles to be published over the next several weeks, many with keen knowledge and insights will weigh on in the issue. In this space doctors, athletes, federation officials, bioethicists, and those in the anti-doping community will lend us their knowledge bases and their points of view.

We are not taking a stand; we are not sitting on the answer, to be unveiled at this series' end. The more you deconstruct this issue the harder it becomes to erect and maintain a hard-and-fast approach to age-group doping. Rather, we thought we'd present all the issues, all the data, all the angles, not with the aim of arriving at an anti-doping strategy, but as a foundation for future discussions.

We will weigh in with our own installments, from time to time, not designed to express opinions, or suggest action, but to construct a framework in which to absorb the submissions by those who've graciously responded to our request to share with you their knowledge and wisdom.