I think it'd be considered cheating in some way to have to do something like that to wake yourself up. It's not the natural route.
Is it legal to use caffeine in cycling
- Thread starter bicycledick
- Start date
Haha oh man that gave me a laugh. Seems everyone here says caffeine is allowed. With all the coffee and tea drinkers I know, I would say they would have a hard time banning it because everyone would be riding through withdrawals.
Funny thing with coffee I find is if I have not had a coffee in a few days, then when I have one I feel very stimulated, moreso then normal it really enhances my energy levels.
BUT if I am doing my daily coffee drinking each day, I find the caffeine doesn't actually give me a boost it just returns me to my baseline energy levels, it more combats withdrawal then boost me up.
Could just be me though.
Haha certainly. Those .357 magnum bullets straight down to the throat and you will be a skyrocket in no time. But what will happen if you try to take one of these without a stomach previously digesting some snack?. Mmm I think I prefer not to know.
Caffeine is definitely legal, although I doubt about the pill form. The beverage though, I don't think there was any instance in history that an athlete got disqualified for taking their morning coffee with breakfast before a big race.
It's legal. Here's a GCN video of professional riders at the highest tiers of competitive cycling admitting to drinking coffee just before a race.
I think, since caffeine is found in so many products these days, that there really is no way the use of caffeine could be regulated. The effects can last over 8 hours, though, depending on your metabolism. That first kick is what everyone goes for. So if you're in a race, that jolt could give you the edge you're looking for. Just be aware that overuse of caffeine can lead to problems with your heart, irregular heart-beat, heart-racing, etc.
Depending on what type of cycling your doing, in theory anything is legal as long as your not entering competitions. If you are, then getting the advice if an expert is essential, as they'll be able to tell you exactly what can and can't be used in a tournament environment.
Well i think there is no harm in taking caffeine in solid or liquid dosage form because it comes under category of natural supplement that are quite safe for individuals in normal doses.
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http://www.infantigo.xyz/2016/04/Infantigo-Symptoms-Causes-Treatment-Images-Remedies.html
Blech, coffee as their caffeine of choice. Just fyi, the natural balance of materials in coffee is way, way worse than organic teas, there is 0 comparison. Just look up tea flavinoids...so many supplements are based on tea plants, so many confirmed benefits to having tea as opposed to coffee.
Basically, coffee is based on a LOW moisture food (coffee beans). You are extracting an obscure part of a dry food that is inedible to humans in its natural form (edit: there is the sweetness around it, but the raw part is just gross and way too tough, your ancestors never would've eaten that thing), whereas green tea leaves can be eaten from the plant and contain a ton of naturally occurring nutritional oddities that seem to be pretty beneficial.
Unfortunately though, most tea leaves, even organic ones, are impossible to gauge the health of and you really want em grown in ideal circumstances. I had a mean energy drink addiction for a decade and green tea pretty much saved me from it all, I would never drink coffee over green tea after understanding the differences between the two. Ideally, I'd like to grow my own organic green tea leaves and consume them raw.
This has a great write up on the nutritional differences of tea leaves pre-boiled and after being boiled:
http://www.eatgreentea.com/why-green-tea/
You'd still want to drink tea if you want the pure caffeine rush, but even then, you can push your MG a little higher with green tea because of the more balanced/abundant profile, as opposed to coffee. In short, coffee is strong but stupid.
Basically, coffee is based on a LOW moisture food (coffee beans). You are extracting an obscure part of a dry food that is inedible to humans in its natural form (edit: there is the sweetness around it, but the raw part is just gross and way too tough, your ancestors never would've eaten that thing), whereas green tea leaves can be eaten from the plant and contain a ton of naturally occurring nutritional oddities that seem to be pretty beneficial.
Unfortunately though, most tea leaves, even organic ones, are impossible to gauge the health of and you really want em grown in ideal circumstances. I had a mean energy drink addiction for a decade and green tea pretty much saved me from it all, I would never drink coffee over green tea after understanding the differences between the two. Ideally, I'd like to grow my own organic green tea leaves and consume them raw.
This has a great write up on the nutritional differences of tea leaves pre-boiled and after being boiled:
http://www.eatgreentea.com/why-green-tea/
You'd still want to drink tea if you want the pure caffeine rush, but even then, you can push your MG a little higher with green tea because of the more balanced/abundant profile, as opposed to coffee. In short, coffee is strong but stupid.
I'm not sure I'm understanding what your point is to be honest. I think we all know that tea is better for you than coffee, but some people (including myself) don't really think about the health aspects, we just like the drink.
Not everyone is the same, and I'm sure we're all going to like different things, so just from that perspective alone I'm not going to stop drinking coffee just because of the health reasons because I like it.
Not everyone is the same, and I'm sure we're all going to like different things, so just from that perspective alone I'm not going to stop drinking coffee just because of the health reasons because I like it.
In my point of view Caffeine is central nervous system stimulant but does not mean that it comes under controlled substances. So caffeine is quite legal to use and have no harm.
A lot will depend on the rules of the competition you're taking part in I would imagine, but as of yet I haven't heard of a cyclist being banned from a race due to a high caffeine level. If you are injecting caffeine straight into your body in order to gain an unfair advantage then it's obviously going to come under scrutiny but if you just have a couple of cups of coffee before you begin a race I'm not sure that can be punished.
There is a lot of weird information here, it really isn't that complicated but it can be made to be.
Taking caffeine needs to be taken in small amounts over a period of time during a race not all at once before the race. Usually you take about 100 mgs of caffeine an hour before the ride then take 50 mgs each hour after that during the ride. I break it down a bit more than that, the GU flask is marked in 1 ounce increments, a one once shot of espresso is 40 mgs of caffeine, so I drink a half an ounce every half hour instead, not sure if my way works better but I think it keeps it more evenly balance in my system.
The problem with using caffeine is that your body can become tolerant to it if you consume it too much which means you'll need more caffeine to get the same effect you once got with less. You shouldn't be drinking more than a 1/2 a cup a day if you want to use caffeine as a training/race rides enhancer. I only drink espresso, Moka, French Press, or Cold Brew, but I use the demitasse cup and only drink one a day, some occasions I may have another cup if I'm at a resturant that has espresso, but that is an exception and not a rule, but by drinking a small amount in the day it doesn't build a tolerance to the coffee which will help you during training/race rides. And when you think about the dosages of caffeine I mentioned that is about what is in those gel type of products. Again like I said in an earlier post you can do the same thing those gels do for a heck of a lot less money by simply pouring black coffee mixed with about a teespoon of honey, which makes the coffee taste odd but it adds a slight boost to the caffeine in a different way that sugar does not, and in fact sugar will actually make you tired as you ride whereas honey does not because your stomach requires more energy to absorb sugar which in turn takes energy away from your riding.
Coffee is actually better for you then tea if taken in moderation, coffee protects the heart and protects against several illnesses. There are all sorts of things you can put in coffee, none of which I do because it makes coffee taste too odd for me, but you can put cinnamon in which is suppose to help with inflammation, but you have to use true cinnamon called Ceylon to get the benefits, I can't recall the mix ratio though because I don't do it. Coconut Oil is another thing you can add to coffee, Coconut increases metabolism and energy, but again I don't do this because I don't race so all that **** isn't important to me. I also heard to use grass feed cattle butter. Then you mix all those ingredients and add it to coffee...YUCK, and I mean YUCK! Those ingredients made my coffee taste nasty, it wasn't worth whatever gain I may see to do it more than once, and frankly I didn't notice anything different than just coffee and honey. Anyway I put the coffee (espresso) and honey into a GU flask and take it with me on rides.
If you're using caffeine to the point of getting the shakes you're either allergic to caffeine or you're taking way too much. Having the shakes while riding will drain your energy from physically shaking, add on top of that if your heart is racing from the caffeine and then you crank up your heart more by riding a near to max levels you could have a heart attack.
Tea is not a pure caffeine rush, though tea leaves may have more caffeine than coffee beans but tea is diluted quite a bit more then most coffee is and then you lose the benefit, and if you drink the tea to get to the point that coffee does you'll lose any race due to peeing all the time. Also most of the caffeine in tea leaves is left behind in the leaves after the tea is made! And that is why a glass of tea contains 1/2 the caffeine that a cup of coffee contains.
Also tea isn't necessarily better for you then coffee, read this for more info on this highly controversal subject: http://www.webmd.com/food-recipes/news/20161223/coffee-vs-tea-is-one-better-health#1
Caffeine pills are not simulated into the body as well as liquid caffiene is, but the biggest danger with pills is that most people take too much which is detrimental towards physical performance.
Dehydration isn't a problem with caffeine. Using subjects who habitually consumed a relatively low amount of caffeine...equivalent to one, six-ounce cup of brewed coffee (100 mg/day; about 1.3 mg caffeine/kg), they found no detrimental effects of caffeine on 24-hour urine volume. (Armstrong, In't J Sports Nutr, June 2005) By day's end, the urine losses were similar whether the person consumed no caffeine or a high dose.
The effect on performance is about a 12% gain plus the effort was about 6% easier, and the larger tilt toward performance was for those that had to do short high energy output efforts, so with a longer effort there was less an effect, but those tests did not keep resupplying the body with more caffeine as I mentioned to do earlier. And like I said earlier the performance gains mentioned above were less noticable if the user was a daily user of caffeine.
Caffeine either in pill, coffee or tea can be upsetting to some people, giving them the runs, throwing up, or jitters after just a small amount; so you have to know your body, if you're not sure then start out very small, if you get sick wait a week and try it again at the same small amount, if you get sick then stop using it it won't work for you. The reason you need to try it twice is to eliminate something else you had that may have upsetted your stomach that first time.
Taking caffeine needs to be taken in small amounts over a period of time during a race not all at once before the race. Usually you take about 100 mgs of caffeine an hour before the ride then take 50 mgs each hour after that during the ride. I break it down a bit more than that, the GU flask is marked in 1 ounce increments, a one once shot of espresso is 40 mgs of caffeine, so I drink a half an ounce every half hour instead, not sure if my way works better but I think it keeps it more evenly balance in my system.
The problem with using caffeine is that your body can become tolerant to it if you consume it too much which means you'll need more caffeine to get the same effect you once got with less. You shouldn't be drinking more than a 1/2 a cup a day if you want to use caffeine as a training/race rides enhancer. I only drink espresso, Moka, French Press, or Cold Brew, but I use the demitasse cup and only drink one a day, some occasions I may have another cup if I'm at a resturant that has espresso, but that is an exception and not a rule, but by drinking a small amount in the day it doesn't build a tolerance to the coffee which will help you during training/race rides. And when you think about the dosages of caffeine I mentioned that is about what is in those gel type of products. Again like I said in an earlier post you can do the same thing those gels do for a heck of a lot less money by simply pouring black coffee mixed with about a teespoon of honey, which makes the coffee taste odd but it adds a slight boost to the caffeine in a different way that sugar does not, and in fact sugar will actually make you tired as you ride whereas honey does not because your stomach requires more energy to absorb sugar which in turn takes energy away from your riding.
Coffee is actually better for you then tea if taken in moderation, coffee protects the heart and protects against several illnesses. There are all sorts of things you can put in coffee, none of which I do because it makes coffee taste too odd for me, but you can put cinnamon in which is suppose to help with inflammation, but you have to use true cinnamon called Ceylon to get the benefits, I can't recall the mix ratio though because I don't do it. Coconut Oil is another thing you can add to coffee, Coconut increases metabolism and energy, but again I don't do this because I don't race so all that **** isn't important to me. I also heard to use grass feed cattle butter. Then you mix all those ingredients and add it to coffee...YUCK, and I mean YUCK! Those ingredients made my coffee taste nasty, it wasn't worth whatever gain I may see to do it more than once, and frankly I didn't notice anything different than just coffee and honey. Anyway I put the coffee (espresso) and honey into a GU flask and take it with me on rides.
If you're using caffeine to the point of getting the shakes you're either allergic to caffeine or you're taking way too much. Having the shakes while riding will drain your energy from physically shaking, add on top of that if your heart is racing from the caffeine and then you crank up your heart more by riding a near to max levels you could have a heart attack.
Tea is not a pure caffeine rush, though tea leaves may have more caffeine than coffee beans but tea is diluted quite a bit more then most coffee is and then you lose the benefit, and if you drink the tea to get to the point that coffee does you'll lose any race due to peeing all the time. Also most of the caffeine in tea leaves is left behind in the leaves after the tea is made! And that is why a glass of tea contains 1/2 the caffeine that a cup of coffee contains.
Also tea isn't necessarily better for you then coffee, read this for more info on this highly controversal subject: http://www.webmd.com/food-recipes/news/20161223/coffee-vs-tea-is-one-better-health#1
Caffeine pills are not simulated into the body as well as liquid caffiene is, but the biggest danger with pills is that most people take too much which is detrimental towards physical performance.
Dehydration isn't a problem with caffeine. Using subjects who habitually consumed a relatively low amount of caffeine...equivalent to one, six-ounce cup of brewed coffee (100 mg/day; about 1.3 mg caffeine/kg), they found no detrimental effects of caffeine on 24-hour urine volume. (Armstrong, In't J Sports Nutr, June 2005) By day's end, the urine losses were similar whether the person consumed no caffeine or a high dose.
The effect on performance is about a 12% gain plus the effort was about 6% easier, and the larger tilt toward performance was for those that had to do short high energy output efforts, so with a longer effort there was less an effect, but those tests did not keep resupplying the body with more caffeine as I mentioned to do earlier. And like I said earlier the performance gains mentioned above were less noticable if the user was a daily user of caffeine.
Caffeine either in pill, coffee or tea can be upsetting to some people, giving them the runs, throwing up, or jitters after just a small amount; so you have to know your body, if you're not sure then start out very small, if you get sick wait a week and try it again at the same small amount, if you get sick then stop using it it won't work for you. The reason you need to try it twice is to eliminate something else you had that may have upsetted your stomach that first time.
You are very sensitive to caffeine then. Most of the rest of us have no such effects having drank coffee every morning for the majority of our lives. You think two pills wake you up? Try a cup of Navy coffee black but perhaps you should tie your feet to the ground first.
One thing that I can never support in any sports be it cycling, and other sports is taking of prohibited and performance enhanced pills. This is the way that they efforts of those that train everyday to become at that sports are being undermined. One more thing that I noticed about that as well is the need for the cycling federations to do all they could to stop such act in the game for that is the way that to put a stop to it. I'm against using caffeine for sports for the addiction and the long-term side effects will be dangerous.
After watching Icarus this weekend I've come to an odd conclusion...I think they ought to just allow illegal doping! Why you scream? Because the cycling federations aren't really wanting to end illegal doping, watch the film and you'll see what I mean. All they want to do is beat their chests and sound a big horn, and then do random spot checks that might catch a half a dozen racers a year from the entire world of racers. On top of that it's becoming very expensive to keep abreast of the new ways to hide the fact a person is doping and then try to develop technologies to catch them. No matter what they do short of testing every person prior and after every race they will fall far short of getting a handle on the problem, and everyone in the cycling racing world knows this. And then even if by some miracle the federations do decide to test all racers before and after every race, and have another miracle of being able to detect it, and all the pro racers are then forced to stop for real still ends up having the non pro levels doping so they can win races so they can advance into the pro levels. So it's a no win situation.
https://www.gq.com/story/how-the-tour-de-france-encourages-cheating
In addition to that doping serves as a marketing ploy...uhh you scream some more at me? without the speed gains provided by doping all the newest bicycle technology would fall flat on it's face as complete and utter failures for going faster and people would be scratching their heads as to why they should be forking out thousands of dollars on a set of wheels, or the price of a new motorcycle for a new bicycle that clearly doesn't have the technology of a motorcycle, or other such expensive little tidbits you can add on to a bike when the speed gains would be trivial compared with the last 30 years of cycling and thus make all that costs unjustifiable!
https://www.gq.com/story/how-the-tour-de-france-encourages-cheating
In addition to that doping serves as a marketing ploy...uhh you scream some more at me? without the speed gains provided by doping all the newest bicycle technology would fall flat on it's face as complete and utter failures for going faster and people would be scratching their heads as to why they should be forking out thousands of dollars on a set of wheels, or the price of a new motorcycle for a new bicycle that clearly doesn't have the technology of a motorcycle, or other such expensive little tidbits you can add on to a bike when the speed gains would be trivial compared with the last 30 years of cycling and thus make all that costs unjustifiable!
Caffeine used to be illegal but is currently allowed in professional cycling, I believe. However, this can still change as some substances which have a more potent effect on performance were also used to be allowed but are now banned.
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