Recent content by mitochondrion

Incremental gains at sky Sustained ketosis at altitude or during periods of prolonged exercise reduces the respiratory quotient (0.7-0.66) and will therefore increase the bulk inflow of oxygen. This will increase oxygen delivery and therefore oxygen consumption and increase anaerobic threshold...

If Ricco had help? Years on and the methods remain the same- endemic autologous blood transfusion. Ricco seems to have autotransfused a bacterially contaminated blood bag and given himself multiple organ failure/ dysfunction. Does this mean the medical expertise he previously enlisted was...

My thoughts too. Has Lance decided on a 'clean' tour since the crashes? More time lost today.

A 14 G cannula leaves a scar of 2-3 mm. Bruising might be an issue but 1 antecubital fossa bruise could easily hide another!!

following my previous posts discussing how to dope and never return a positive test. Who had a transfusion and is going to nuke the rest of the peloton up the madeleine?

Reticulocytes and the future of doping As cobblestones has quite rightly pointed out the reticulocyte percentage would not be affected by haemodilution. Absolute numbers will drop. The effects of altitude and training on reticulocyte count are unclear and open for interpretation. I don't have...

By all means some microdosing may occur but only if required, each program is tailored individually and reactive to daily testing outside of WADA etc. The recovery benefits of anabolics continue for weeks and months, possibly years post dosing and so are not used in detectable doses at this...

The doping regimen I have described will prevent a positive test during this tour. I don't think a positive test will ever take Lance down. I think Contador could be in trouble this year as the access to the high end support is no longer as current. Joe raises an interesting point of...

If WADA got hold of you during those few weeks at altitude there might be some difficulty explaining a lower haematocrit than the grand tour normal. Your retic count would be high but not too high, as 1. microdosing regimen with folate, B12 and Fe2+ supplementation would return your values to...

I have procured my therapeutic exemptions for glucocorticoids and salbutamol, trained with the best, lost the necessary weight perhaps with the use of AICAR. How shall I win this tour? 8-10 weeks ago: At altitude microdosing EPO to return my haematocrit to 0.43-0.44 having donated 3 units of...

Reticulocytes and Hematide All EPO and EPO receptor agonists will increase reticulocyte count by their modus operandi, they will therefore be detectable if the bio passport is as effective as advertised. Detection of doping is then dependent on regular if not daily testing. I would contend...

Given the ongoing CERA debacle I thought the physiologists amongst us would enjoy the Hematide article in the New England Journal of Medicine this week. A Peptide-Based Erythropoietin-Receptor Agonist for Pure Red-Cell Aplasia Macdougall I et al ABSTRACT Background We investigated...

Close to the truth On this occasion I think bigboat is close. Not every rider will be doped, but in a three week tour almost all those within 30 minutes of the leader must be doped. How can you compete with an increase of 10% difference in power, anaerobic threshold and resultant gains in...

The brothers Grim Saxobank formerly CSC certainly have an active anti-doping policy which in Kohl's words may be most useful to tune one's doping program. Any team run by Mr 60% has to be suspect. Bruyneel seems to be the master craftsman in the production of tour winners in an era when the...

An eloquent idea but calibration may prove impossible. Lance and his medical advisors know that his published values are entirely within explainable limits. Even if future grand tours test more often, perhaps the quantity of transfusion and performance enhancement will drop but the best...