Bro Deal said:Still trying to sell the same old lies...
Lemond stated in an interview that his trusty masseur gave him injections for iron and b12 following blood test midway through the Giro. He said this on live TV during the 89 Tour when talking about his comeback...
http://www.bikeradar.com/blogs/article/the-greatest-tour-of-all-by-greg-lemond-22419
If he was anemic due to an iron deficiency then it's b12 and iron thats going to get the job done.
I dont buy the comments that he didnt realise that asthma could have that much effect and thag just 3 iron shots turned his season around in a week. He had the best team bosses during the 80s during his time at renault and la vie claire. The guy isnt that nieve - he knows whats what. He was one of the more knowledgable and better prepared cyclists which is why he was so good.
That part i have a problem is that even if you take iron via injection rather than orally its still not going to fix your anemia within a week and a half. Your ferritin levels may start sorting itself out and the iron stores MAY start to increase with massive b12 combined with vitamin c... But you still havent got tk the point where youre helping production of red blood cells and thats even if you stay off the bike and rest.
I've been down the being anemic route and had to deal with 4 weeks of rest and frequent injections of iron and b12 just to get back to the point where my blood work showed minimum recommended levels - 36%Hct
Everything I've read in placs like pubmed support my thoughts.
I was a big LeMond fanboy at the end of the 80s. I dug his attitude even though he lacked the killer instinct of Hinault. Hell, I had the brancale shoes, cinelli aero potty for time trialing!... But as soon as he started saying he'd taken a couple of iron shots for anemina and within days he's raised his game immensley within days just raised a red flag bigger than the one that sits atop the Kremlin.
The fact that iron doesnt work that fast in severely anemic people isnt a lie - its a fact. Deal with it, Bro Deal.
Conversely, even epo doesnt fit the bill if he started taking tge stuff halfway through the Giro. That stuff doesnt work overnight either....
So what's your take on it - and keep out of the usual deflections keep it purely on LeMonds performance.