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24-06.-2004, 11:02 AM
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#1 |
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Registered User
Join Date: Jun 2004
Location: east coast australia
Posts: 1,418
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IV drips
For years now, riders have been rehydrated, as standard practice, with IV drips after tough stages.
Bearing in mind the effects of dehydration on performance it is possible for riders to forego drinks late in a stage (where the few seconds to collect and the few hundred grams to carry may be important - especially in the mountains) to gain an advantage over other riders. This medical intervention may be no more than a glucose/saline infusion but cyclist should take food and drink naturally as they ride and eat sufficiently at night to replenish their bodies for the next day. If riders can't take in enough food and drink naturally to compete, bad luck. The bike race should be a test of a riders and endurance, not which team has the best medical facilities. |
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24-06.-2004, 11:58 AM
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#2 | |
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Registered User
Join Date: May 2004
Location: Melbourne
Posts: 1,496
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Re: IV drips
Quote:
Riders are not allowed drinks in the final kms of tour stages. It's not possible for riders on a 3-week Tour to ingest enough calroies or water normally, so the drips are a vital part of recovery for the next day. |
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24-06.-2004, 01:20 PM
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#3 |
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Registered User
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Location: east coast australia
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Re: Re: IV drips
Not true. The earlier tours were far more harsh than today's - well before the days of IV fluids.
It is generally accepted that riders lose weight over the three weeks of the tour - due to the difficulty in eating enough. Not collecting drinks over the last few k's of a race does not mean they are not allowed to carry them. The 15 hours between the end of one stage and the beginning of another stage is quite sufficient to rehydrate naturally. Natural rehydration works even during a race, while the body is losing water at a rapid rate - so why not during a long rest period? To put it another way, if natural rehydration were not so rapid, there would be riders dropping out due to dehydration in any race over three hours. My problem with the drip is not with its use for genuine dehydration that causes symptoms but with its acceptance as a daily routine to rehydrated the body more rapidly than by ingesting fluid naturally. |
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24-06.-2004, 01:24 PM
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#4 |
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Registered User
Join Date: May 2004
Location: Melbourne
Posts: 1,496
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put another way....the guys I've raced with who have used drips during tours or even after tough races find their recovery exponetially better than through normal methods. A lot would introduce B12 etc to the solution for added benefit.
It sounds like your issue with IV use is a moral one rather performance related. |
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24-06.-2004, 01:40 PM
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#5 |
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Registered User
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Location: Melbourne
Posts: 1,666
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Some riders also have IV infusions of 'intralipid' which is a high calorie 'fat' preparation. This is obviously for calories rather than rehydration.
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24-06.-2004, 01:43 PM
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#6 | |
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Registered User
Join Date: May 2004
Location: Melbourne
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Quote:
Correct...a tainted batch of which led to the "PDM affair" of the 1991 TdF, totally overshadowing Phil Anderson's awesome win into Quimper!!  |
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25-06.-2004, 12:01 AM
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#7 |
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Registered User
Join Date: Sep 2003
Location: New Orleans
Posts: 552
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Rehydration via IV is a MUCH more effective and rapid route than orally, and quicker hydration = quicker recovery. With 7-8 of those 15 hours or so between stages consisting of sleeping, eating, briefings, course scouting, warm ups, and preparation otherwise, it doesn't make sense to do in 15 hours what you can do in one hour.
__________________
Originally Posted by Flyer: It is a matter of reading comprehension that you challenged by. |
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25-06.-2004, 12:06 AM
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#8 |
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Registered User
Join Date: Mar 2004
Posts: 888
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What is the rational for not being able to collect food/drinks in the final kms of the race?
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25-06.-2004, 07:19 AM
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#9 | |
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Join Date: May 2004
Location: Melbourne
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Quote:
Makes for awesome racing....case in point, Tour 1996, Les Arcs. Indurain cracking completely and taking an illegal drink from the Gewiss (?) car as Luc LeBlanc raced to the win. |
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25-06.-2004, 08:15 AM
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#10 |
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Join Date: Mar 2004
Posts: 888
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Didn't that rule also affect Armstrong's performance last year on the first (?) time trial?
Not that anybody cares, I meant "rationale" not rational. Too late to edit though. |
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25-06.-2004, 08:25 AM
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#11 |
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Registered User
Join Date: Jun 2004
Location: east coast australia
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There is no question that IV is much quicker rehydration and a great way of slipping in some much needed salts and carbohydrate and the odd vitamin.
The issue IS a moral one (in reply to ed073). And it DOES make sense to rehydrate by ingestion (ted b) - because it is the natural way to fuel the body. Fueling and hydrating the body is all part of the test of endurance and strength. If a cyclist needs a drip to compete he should not be in the race. |
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25-06.-2004, 08:31 AM
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#12 |
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Registered User
Join Date: May 2004
Location: Melbourne
Posts: 1,496
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Make the Grand Tours 10 days-2 weeks? 3 or 4 rest days?
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25-06.-2004, 05:47 PM
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#13 | |
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Location: Anchorage, Alaska, USA
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Quote:
Counterpoint: there have been riders who have died during the Tour. Don't you think that you might be less likely to die if you have a more advantageous rehydration system? It may not be as natural or as brutal as the old method, but perhaps it is more humane. Let's face it, the race is brutal then and now both. A little extra medical precaution here and there might keep these riders going another year or two. I doubt that it would harm them. Sure, given all the swirling controversies about drug use, spectators might get the wrong idea, but they probably don't see much of this, if they do at all. |
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25-06.-2004, 08:49 PM
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#14 | |
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Location: east coast australia
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Quote:
If you read my post 5 or 6 up from this you will see I have no objection to the use of drips for legitimate medical needs. |
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26-06.-2004, 03:16 AM
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#15 | |
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Registered User
Join Date: Jul 2003
Location: Anchorage, Alaska, USA
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Quote:
That's not exactly what I meant. These riders die unexpectedly. They don't die while they are hooked up to the IV. They have died right on the road or thereafter or during recovery without warning. Don't you think that using an IV to enhance recovery might reduce their odds of dying? You seem to suggest that IV's are a hazard. I am suggesting that perhaps the opposite is true, that they tend to reduce the odds of a fatality by helping riders recover who don't know they might be on the verge of health failure. I mean, why are you so opposed to IV's? Surely, when you spend millions getting a team into these tours, a sponsor can afford to spend a few more bucks for IV's. I don't think they are that expensive, do you? Any rider riding in these tours is drawing from fairly deep pockets. We are not talking about some riders drawing from princely wealth while others are begging on the street. They all have access to reasonable finances. |
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