Team Sky, Corporate Cycling, Governing Bodies, The State
My Journey Over the last Nine Months
Background
This all started for me back in 2012. Sir Bradley Wiggins won the Tour de France. A track cyclist wins the most grueling 3-week road race. How is this even a possibility, let alone a reality?
Bradley, once a fairly heavy guy (80-83 Kg) for a road cyclist, but, not unusual for track cyclists, looses so much weight that he looks like a stick man (70-72 Kg). Twiggy, Twiggins, and, he rides the Individual Time Trial (ITT) at over 50 kph! Traditionally, the flat ITT was dominated by the big men, Big Mig, Miguel Indurain, dominated Le Tour for five years running, smoking everyone on the ITT, but, even more miraculously also killing it on the high slopes. Then there was Bjarne Riijs, another big man winning Le Tour. Killing it on the ITT and in the big mountains. Tyler Hamilton (a small, lightweight man) reports in his book, The Secret Race, that in an early season preparatory race (and before he started using PED’s) he was climbing a steep mountain, spinning in his small ring, and basically turning himself inside out just to get up it, and Bjarne cruises by him in his big ring barely seeming to break a sweat, and Tyler is perplexed, thinking what the hell is going on here? Well we now know, Bjarne’s nickname became Mr. 60%, referring to his reported Hematocrit level when he won Le Tour. Tyler, later in his career, almost lost his Olympic medal for a failed drug test, that was not verified by the second sample and later for blood transfusions. Big Mig, never publicly failed a doping test in cycling, but the test for EPO was not available during his reign. There is little doubt among the “cognizati” that Miguel doped, after all it was the EPO era, and, like Bjarne, here was a big guy who could kill it on the flat ITT, but, also cruised up the high slopes in the big ring.
Now, in order to win Le Tour, one needs to be able to climb some serious mountains, not just ITT on the flats, so power to weight ratio is a very significant parameter. This is well known. Michele Ferrari, special doctor to Lance Armstrong and others, gauged all of the top riders chances in Le Tour based based on their estimated power to weight ratio using the VAM “Velocità Ascensionale Media” method. He watched all the contenders climb well-known mountains in races leading up to Le Tour and he knew the condition of everyone of them. He tested LA and gauged his readiness to win Le Tour based on whether or not his power to weight ratio exceeded 6.7 W/Kg on a specific test slope (1 kilometer and a 98 m rise). Michele’s rule of thumb was that one cannot win Le Tour unless your power to weight is at or exceeds this level, the more the better. For most, this requires some serious weight control as well as the usual strength development. Aerodynamic bike, helmet, wind tunnel testing, bicycle technological advancement are enhancers, but power (leg strength and lung capacity, VO2 max) and weight are the most critical fundamental parameters. And, of course, the available nutritional and medical “supplements”. Once in Le Tour, when Marco Pantani went up the road with three Cat 1/HC mountain tops ahead of a mountain top finish, Bruyneel called Michele from the team car and asked, can Marco do it from this far out? (i.e. should we chase him down, or let him go and let him blow himself up), and Michele said let him go, no way can he do it, and Postal did let him go, and as sure as night follows day Marco blew up and LA won the stage. I think we all know the MO of the totally dominant USPS team during LA’s 7 contiguous Le Tour wins.
LA famously tested his conditioning for Le Tour by riding up the Col de La Madone. LA’s record time in 2009 was 30 minutes, 47 seconds. Interestingly, Chris Froome and Richie Porte have
both beat LA’s record climbing LA Madone in 2013, six days before the start of Le Tour,
completing the climb in 30 minutes, 9 seconds!
http://www.cyclingweekly.co.uk/news/latest-news/la-madone-tour-contenders-favourite-testing-
ground-197321
http://www.cyclingweekly.co.uk/news/latest-news/la-madone-tour-contenders-favourite-testing-
ground-197321
Team Sky
Team Sky was put together under the auspices of Sky PLC, the ubiquitous news and sport programming television channel owned by, the lovely Rupert Murdoch. Additional support was given by UK Sport, which is effectively a UK governmental agency funded by the National Lottery as well as the UK general budget. Intended to support sport and specifically Olympic and Para-Olympics efforts by UK sportsmen to be the best that they can be and bring home Olympic medals using technology developed by homeland research organizations (read Oxford, Cambridge, etc, for example). More on the complicitness of the State later. Great Britain hosted the 2012 London Summer Olympics, hence UK Sport was very invested.
Team Sky was assembled in 2009 and was on a 5-year mission to win Le Tour, amongst other goals. They called upon the best UK cyclist available at the time. Some of which had been track cyclist. Mark Cavendish, Bradley Wiggins, Geraint Thomas, Ben Swift, Ian Stannard, Peter Kennaugh, Alex Dowsett, Russell Downing, Steve Cummings, and a young chubby guy with long femurs, Chris Froome (Fat Froomey, we will come back to that soon).
Interestingly, Sky’s coaching staff included a few guys that knew their way around the Pro Peloton from the 1990’s - Bobby Jullich, Steven de Jongh, and the “notorious” Dr. Geert Leinders. Michael Rasmussen declares Leinders as a man with high integrity who understands the reality of the sport of professional cycling and is honest and straight forward. He was also doped to the gills (by Leinders) and skinny in 2007 as Wiggins and Froome would be come a few years later. Rasmussen won the KoM at the Le Tour in 2005 and in 2006 was in yellow with a 3:00 minute lead over Contador with 4 stages to go and was set to win the big Boucle when his team, Rabobank, pulled him out of the race. He had missed some out of competition doping controls, and after Operation Puerto (2006), Rabobank panicked and fired him in an attempt to avoid adverse publicity. Rasmussen was basically screwed by Rabobank management as he had only received warnings that were insufficient to be sanctioned. The out of competition testing, or “Whereabouts” rules were new and there was some confusion wrt “warnings”. It turned out, Rasmussen understood the rules better than his team. For more on this story, watch the following documentary.
http://www.npo.nl/specials/documentaires-over-wielrennen/VPWON_1265339
In any case, I digress. Back to the heart of the first phase of the TeamSky story. From a rest day at Le Tour in Macon - July 10, 2012
“Dave Brailsford, the principal of Team Sky, admitted yesterday that his team’s staff includes a doctor who previously worked with Rabobank when the Dutch team were immersed in a doping scandal.
Today, Bradley Wiggins, Sky’s lead rider, will defend the yellow jersey as the Tour de France peloton heads into the Alps, but Brailsford insisted that Sky’s link with Geert Leinders, the Dutch doctor, will not derail the current mission: to prove that it is possible to win the Tour de France without the use of performance-enhancing drugs. An investigation is currently being conducted by Sky into Leinders’s past.
Leinders is on a contract to work 80 days a year for Sky and is not here at the Tour. Brailsford said: “I categorically, 100 per cent say there is no risk of anything untoward since he’s been with us. But there is reputational risk.”
Sky employed Leinders after the death of one of their team staff on the Vuelta a España in 2010. However, the inference is that if Leinders’s past is seen to compromise the reputation of the team, then Sky will cease to work with him. The reputation of cycling took another knock on the rest day, yesterday, when police came to the hotel where the Cofidis team are staying and took Rémy Di Gregorio, the French rider, for questioning in connection with an alleged doping scandal.
The arrest, Brailsford said, “makes me more determined to make sure that you can do it the right way and do it clean and show everybody that you can win the biggest bike race without cheating”. That, said Brailsford, was why he was happy to give chapter and verse on Leinders. “I’ve nothing to hide,” he said. “There’s nothing I won’t talk about.”
Concern over Leinders’s past arose in May when Theo de Rooy, who was team manager of Rabobank from 2003-2007, admitted that the team had tolerated doping and this was “a deliberate decision by the medical staff”. In another interview, Leinders said: “I was there, the product [EPO] was there. I can’t pretend as if that period doesn’t exist.” He also said: “Zero tolerance has nothing to do with cycling.” However, Team Sky have a zero tolerance policy on doping.
Brailsford admits that he could be called naive to have not asked further questions when he first employed Leinders in late 2010. That Rabobank team was famous for one particular rider, Michael Rasmussen, who was leading the Tour in 2007 when, four stages from the end, he was kicked off the race because of doping offences.
Brailsford said yesterday: “Does that imply he [Leinders] is doping? That’s nothing against him specifically. Call me naive, call me what you want.” Brailsford explained that Sky had employed Leinders in extreme circumstances after the Vuelta in 2010. Sky had initially made it their policy to employ only medical staff who were British and who had no history in professional cycling, as part of an effort to make a concerted break from the sport’s dirty past.
On that Vuelta, however, many riders suffered from vomiting and the team withdrew after the death of one of the soigneurs, Txema Gonzalez, from a virus. Brailsford said: “We had all these riders sick going: ‘What is going on? This isn’t good enough.’ And you think: ‘We’re putting these guys at risk here.’ We sat down afterwards and we said: ‘We do not know enough about looking after people in extreme heat and extreme fatigue.’ ”
It was soon afterwards that Brailsford decided that his principles were no longer workable. “We needed some experience,” he said. “That’s why we decided to go and get him. Has he been a good doctor? Brilliant. The guy really understands. It’s not about doping, it’s about genuine medical practice.”
Gossip about Leinders has been churning steadily online and explains why Wiggins was asked a loaded question about internet gossip in his press conference on Sunday. Brailsford hopes that by confronting such issues openly, they will cease to fester.
Meanwhile, Sky still have a bike race to ride. Today, the Tour reaches the Alps and though Wiggins has an impressive lead, Cadel Evans, his No 1 challenger, suggested yesterday that Wiggins has a history of being unable to maintain high performances throughout three-week Grand Tours.
Wiggins appeared so relaxed on the rest day yesterday that he did not even bother to disagree. There is hope outside of Sky that the leader and his team will eventually buckle. Wiggins has given no evidence to support this so far.”
http://www.independent.ie/sport/other-sports/paul-kimmage-tour-de-france-leader-chris-froome-
would-be-well-advised-to-invite-questions-31386946.html
Wiggins and TeamSky were successful and won Le Tour in 2012. How did a track specialist come to win the general classification of Le Tour where high mountain climbing and time trial skills are not only a prerequisite, but, also the ability to physical recovery every day for 3-weeks is absolutely essential to be at or near the best in the world in all three areas - climbing, TT and recovery? In the old school that Leinders comes from EPO was for the “go, go” and hormones were for the recovery as your bodies hormones become depleted during the three grueling weeks of Le Tour.
would-be-well-advised-to-invite-questions-31386946.html
Wiggins and TeamSky were successful and won Le Tour in 2012. How did a track specialist come to win the general classification of Le Tour where high mountain climbing and time trial skills are not only a prerequisite, but, also the ability to physical recovery every day for 3-weeks is absolutely essential to be at or near the best in the world in all three areas - climbing, TT and recovery? In the old school that Leinders comes from EPO was for the “go, go” and hormones were for the recovery as your bodies hormones become depleted during the three grueling weeks of Le Tour.
Geert Leinders was on TeamSky’s payroll from 2010 through October 2012. Secretly, until he
wasn’t. Dave Brailsford, TeamSky principal.
Now, we don’t know for sure how Wiggins got skinny. I think we know how Froome got skinny, however. More to come on that. This is a photograph of Chris Froome when he first joined Sky in 2010. The so called “Fat Froomey.” This is not the Froome that anybody remembers.
That lad is not going to win Le Tour.
By contrast, compare to Chris Froome from Le Tour 2012 riding in support of Wiggins and, from 2016.
“Does that imply he [Leinders] is doping? That’s nothing against him specifically. Call me naive, call me what you want.” Brailsford explained that Sky had employed Leinders in extreme circumstances after the Vuelta in 2010. Sky had initially made it their policy to employ only medical staff who were British and who had no history in professional cycling, as part of an effort to make a concerted break from the sport’s dirty past.
On that Vuelta, however, many riders suffered from vomiting and the team withdrew after the death of one of the soigneurs, Txema Gonzalez, from a virus. Brailsford said: “We had all these riders sick going: ‘What is going on? This isn’t good enough.’ And you think: ‘We’re putting these guys at risk here.’ We sat down afterwards and we said: ‘We do not know enough about looking after people in extreme heat and extreme fatigue.’ ”
It was soon afterwards that Brailsford decided that his principles were no longer workable. “We needed some experience,” he said. “That’s why we decided to go and get him. Has he been a good doctor? Brilliant. The guy really understands. It’s not about doping, it’s about genuine medical practice.”
Now, we don’t know for sure how Wiggins got skinny. I think we know how Froome got skinny, however. More to come on that. This is a photograph of Chris Froome when he first joined Sky in 2010. The so called “Fat Froomey.” This is not the Froome that anybody remembers.
By contrast, compare to Chris Froome from Le Tour 2012 riding in support of Wiggins and, from 2016.
Kind of reminds me of Michael Rasmussen from 2007. What is it with Leinders and super skinny Tour leaders?
TeamSky and USPS
“... the denial is so often the preface to the justification." -Christopher Hitchens
TeamSky has been under suspicion by the cycling community since they started winning. Since two skinny guys on the same team started doing the ITT (Individual Time Trial) averaging greater than 50 kph.
The team tactics that they have adopted for the GC (General Classification) is eerily reminiscent of, none other than the Lance Armstrong lead USPS (United States Postal Service). Win the ITT, do very well in the TTT (Team Time Trial) if there is one, and when they get to the base of the first major mountain top finish, put the whole team on the front and drill the peloton into the ground. When there are a couple guys left including the team leader, Froome (Armstrong) seals the deal at the finish line. Now that Sky (USPS) has the lead, they play defensive and wait for another opportunity for the leader to pad his lead, usually on another mountain top finish.
Sound familiar?
Furthermore, TeamSky are climbing the same mountains in the same times as in the EPO era. TeamSky leaders are putting out as many Watts per Kilogram as top riders in the EPO era on climbs of 30 minutes or greater. When asked how can they be doing this and expect the cycling community and fans not to be suspicious, especially given the long history of the use of performance enhancing substances in cycling, Dave Brailsford’s answer is some nebulous claim of “Marginal Gains”, whatever that means. We assume it means taking every small element of training, nutrition, recovery, technology and making slight improvements and the synergy of all of this is what makes them a winner.
Uh, OK, Dave. Once again, this is exactly what Lance Armstrong did with the USPS. Wind tunnel testing at Texas A&M to optimize the position on the TT bike. State-of-the-art technology was employed by Armstrong and the USPS. Optimize Power to Weight Ratio by training and extreme diet. Leading up to Le Tour, and as documented in the book “Lance Armstrong’s War“ Armstrong meticulously weighed every piece of food that went into is mouth during his final phase of preparation for Le Tour and has said in his interview on the Joe Rogan podcast in 2015 that he was hungry all the time.
Ref. http://podcasts.joerogan.net/podcasts/lance-armstrong
So, what is it Dave? TeamSky are not doing anything different than USPS. Marginal Gains, yeah, sure - good spin Dr.
In the end, an endurance athlete and, specifically a cyclist, it really all boils down to his VO2Max. How efficiently can a cyclist use energy and this is generally determined while the future cyclist is in its mothers belly. You are born with all the potential VO2Max you get.
Interview during this year’s (2016) Le Tour, Greg Lemond (the man who claims the highest VO2Max ever recorded of any cyclist, or there about) by Cycling News he stated the following:
In a final question, LeMond was asked about Chris Froome and his high-cadence attack on the slopes of Mont Ventoux in 2013. The attack sparked huge debate last year because of allegations concerning Froome's data during his ride. His speed, power, cadence and heart rate were matched to video footage of the climb and showed that the Team Sky rider's heart rate only changed minimally when he attacked and dropped his rivals.
At the time LeMond preferred not to make a judgement off of one set of data and called for a longitudinal study of power data combined with the biological passport to measure performance. Froome underwent physiological testing last August and published some of his data.
So far in this year's Tour de France, Froome has not pulled off the same dominant attacks, opting to test his rivals on the descents and in cross winds. He has gained the biggest chunk of his overall lead in the individual time trial.
LeMond expressed doubts about Froome's high-cadence attacking style in the L'Équipe interview. "He turned his legs at a high speed, but it's not effective and contrary to all physiological laws," LeMond is reported as saying, also dismissing the idea of Team Sky's marginal gains philosophy.
"You can't get a gap on small gears," LeMond argued.
"The great physiologist Frederick Portoleau showed that when Froome accelerates hard, his heart only shows small variations. This is troubling. What bothers me is hearing some technicians say it's science fiction, which is a kind of misinformation. Others make us believe they are ahead of the best scientists, the famous Team Sky marginal gains! What bollocks! There are no new methodologies. That is wrong. In this area too, miracles do not exist.”
“The famous Team Sky marginal gains! What bollocks!” - Greg LeMond
So, we are still left wondering can one “believe” in cycling, as David Walsh might say?
So, we are still left wondering can one “believe” in cycling, as David Walsh might say?
The State
Enter The State. UK Sport is a government funded organization in the UK with the following mission statement.
UK Sport “Mission Statement”
"UK Sport provides strategic investment to enable Great Britain’s Olympic and
Paralympic sports and athletes to achieve their full medal winning potential.”
Our investment and support services cover:
- Performance (Investment, Evaluation, Solutions)
- Events (Investment, Bidding, Support)
- International (Influence, Development)
- Governance, Leadership,
- Financial Accounting
- Science, Medicine and Technology (via the Home Nation Institutes)
It is widely believed in the multi-year run-up to the 2012 Summer Olympics held in London, that UK Sport’s was well funded and set off to demonstrate the value of their existence.
Results for Endurance Sports
• Sir Bradley Wiggins won the ITT (1 Gold)
• Chris Froome ITT (1 Bronze)
• Lizzie Armistead 2nd in the Womens road race (1 Silver)
• Sir Chris Hoy won the endurance track events (2 Gold)
• Laura Trott won the women's endurance track events (2 Gold) • Victoria Pendleton Keirin (1Gold)
• Jason Kenny Cycling track sprints, not endurance (2 Gold)
• Alistair Brownlee Triathlon (1 Gold)
• Jonathan Brownlee Triathlon (1 Bronze)
• Mo Farrah won 5,000 m and 10,000 m (2 Gold)
• Men Coxless four Rowing (1 Gold, 1 Silver)
• Mens Eight Rowing (1 Bronze)
• Women double sculls Rowing (1 Gold)
• Jessica Ennis heptathlon (1 Gold)
I will leave this topic for now, but, will come back to it near the end and tie it all together.
The Ketogenic Diet
Now, let’s get personal. During the later part of 2015, I listened to several podcasts which discussed a Ketogenic Diet and the associated health benefits. This is a low carbohydrate, healthy protein level, high fat content diet sometimes abbreviated LCHF (Low Carbs, High Fat), it has a also been called a modified Atkins diet and with a few refinements The Paleo Diet. For more information see
http://www.ketogenic-diet-resource.com/
“...the diet limits carbohydrates (sugar and starch). When these foods are digested, they are broken down into blood sugar (glucose) in the body. More carbohydrate intake results in higher blood sugar. If we reduce carb intake and instead eat more fat and protein, it results in a switch in metabolic pathways from using sugar as a primary fuel to burning fat instead.
As more fat is burned, some of it is converted into ketone bodies. As blood glucose and insulin levels drop and ketone levels rise, the heart, muscle and brain switch to using more fat and ketones to fuel themselves. This state of "nutritional ketosis" has some powerful benefits. There is strong research evidence that low carb, high fat keto diets are effective for the following medical conditions:“
Cancer Diabetes (Tpe 1 and Type 2) Weight Loss Alzheimer Disease Multiple Sclerosis and Parkinsons Disease Insulin Resistance Heart Disease Mitochondrial support Reduced inflammation and slows the aging process Acid Reflux
“The bottom line here is that the ketogenic diet is a powerful metabolic tool for treating a wide range of illnesses. It is not a fad diet, and if it is implemented correctly, it corrects metabolic function at the cellular level. The result is improved health and wellbeing. “
Dr. Dom D’Agistino, interviewed on the Tim Ferriss podcast, is deep into research on the benefits of this Ketogenic diet in the treatment of several diseases. He is also a serious weight lifter, but, not an endurance athlete. He discusses being in Ketosis for extended periods of time. He also discusses fasting and MCT (Medium Chain Triglycerides) Oil as means to kick start the state of Ketosis.
http://fourhourworkweek.com/2015/11/03/dominic-dagostino/
I discovered and read the 2014 book “The Big Fat Surprise - Why Butter Meat and Cheese Belong in a Healthy Diet” by Nina Teicholz which excoriates the dominant nutritional scientist Ancel Keys of his time. Keys, a biologist, who pushed through the high carbohydrate, low fat diet as the Heart-Health diet hypothesis, tried to justify it by the Seven Countries Study and then threw out the raw data points that did not support his hypothesis. The Heart-Health diet became the basis for USDA Food Pyramid in the 1950-60’s promoting carbohydrates and minimizing fat.
Investigative journalist Nina Teicholz reveals the unthinkable: that everything we thought we knew about dietary fats is wrong. She documents how the past sixty years of low-fat nutrition advice has amounted to a vast uncontrolled experiment on the entire population, with disastrous consequences for our health.
For decades, we have been told that the best possible diet involves cutting back on fat, especially saturated fat, and that if we are not getting healthier or thinner it must be because we are not trying hard enough. But what if the low-fat diet is itself the problem? What if those exact foods we’ve been denying ourselves — the creamy cheeses, the sizzling steaks — are themselves the key to reversing the epidemics of obesity, diabetes, and heart disease?
In this captivating and convincing narrative, based on a nine-year-long investigation, Teicholz shows how the misinformation about saturated fats took hold in the scientific community as well as the public imagination, and how recent findings overturn these beliefs. She explains why the Mediterranean Diet is not the healthiest, and how we might be replacing trans-fats with something even worse. This startling history demonstrates how nutrition science has gotten it so wrong: how overzealous researchers, through a combination of ego, bias, and premature institutional consensus, have allowed dangerous misrepresentations to become dietary dogma.
With eye-opening scientific rigor, THE BIG FAT SURPRISE upends the conventional wisdom about all fats with the groundbreaking claim that more, not less, dietary fat — including saturated fat — is what leads to better health, wellness, and fitness. Science shows that we have been needlessly avoiding meat, cheese, whole milk and eggs for decades and that we can, guilt-free, welcome these “whole fats” back into our lives.
I don’t recall Nina mentioning the concept of a Ketogenic Diet, but, all of the work she presents in the book, would sound very familiar to someone who was familiar with or practicing a Ketogenic Diet.
Ketones are the other energy source available to the body. Normally, the body uses glycogen, which is stored in the liver for physical energy. Carbohydrates are quickly turned into glycogen when eaten.
There is a limited amount of glycogen that the liver can store and excess
carbohydrates get turned into fat. Ketones, on the other hand, are not normally accessible as
an energy source. Ketones are stored in your body fat. This is a mechanism of human
evolution.
When Caveman hunted and killed a mastodon he had himself a nice meal. However, it may have taken him a month to find another beast to successfully kill. When Caveman began starving, the fat in his body started to burn and the ketones were released as a fuel source. It takes a man around one to two months to starve to death (assuming he has water) which is a much greater fuel source for the body than the 1:45 to 2:00 hours (during exertion) worth of glycogen stored in the liver - that has to be replenished. In modern society, we just replace are glycogen by consuming carbohydrates. Is there a way to access the ketones stored in your body as an energy source for endurance sports?
I began a “bio-hacking experiment” using a Ketogenic Diet late in the first quarter of 2016. At my last physical in November 2015, I weighed approximately 195 lbs. I did not have a scale, but, I could tell within several months that my body composition was changing. Within 4 to 6 months, when I would see someone I had not seen in a while, they would invariably asked what has changed, or did you loose weight. Finally, this month, I bought a scale. My weight is now 165 lbs.
That is a 30 lbs weight loss, without changing my level of cycling training, essentially and solely attributable to the Ketogenic Diet - I continued and still drink whiskey like a fish. And, the beauty of it, with the high fat content is I am always satiated. My micro-nutrient distribution is ~30% protein, ~60% fat, less than 10% carbs.
Entrance to Bear Creek Golf Course with Bear Creek Park in the distance - 100% underwater
When Caveman hunted and killed a mastodon he had himself a nice meal. However, it may have taken him a month to find another beast to successfully kill. When Caveman began starving, the fat in his body started to burn and the ketones were released as a fuel source. It takes a man around one to two months to starve to death (assuming he has water) which is a much greater fuel source for the body than the 1:45 to 2:00 hours (during exertion) worth of glycogen stored in the liver - that has to be replenished. In modern society, we just replace are glycogen by consuming carbohydrates. Is there a way to access the ketones stored in your body as an energy source for endurance sports?
I began a “bio-hacking experiment” using a Ketogenic Diet late in the first quarter of 2016. At my last physical in November 2015, I weighed approximately 195 lbs. I did not have a scale, but, I could tell within several months that my body composition was changing. Within 4 to 6 months, when I would see someone I had not seen in a while, they would invariably asked what has changed, or did you loose weight. Finally, this month, I bought a scale. My weight is now 165 lbs.
That is a 30 lbs weight loss, without changing my level of cycling training, essentially and solely attributable to the Ketogenic Diet - I continued and still drink whiskey like a fish. And, the beauty of it, with the high fat content is I am always satiated. My micro-nutrient distribution is ~30% protein, ~60% fat, less than 10% carbs.
Entrance to Bear Creek Golf Course with Bear Creek Park in the distance - 100% underwater
On April 18th 2016 there was a huge rain event in the Houston area. A 200-year return interval storm has been estimated. Consequently, Bear Creek Park (BCP, in the flood plain, behind the Addicks Dam) was totally under water. When I woke up and looked out the front door, I thought I had acquired lakefront property. Fortunately, our house did not flood.
But, the issue for me was, where do I ride my bike? I having been riding exclusively in BCP for the last 3-4 years. The old group riding for the last 20 plus years on the west side of Houston had disbanded. Also, the contemporary depart location at Katy Mills Mall, was no longer viable as the new homes and tremendous population growth rendered our old routes inaccessible with out taking major risks with traffic. I got a hold of Mark and A-train and found out that they were riding out of the Brookshire area. So, I went out to join them on a weekend in mid-May.
It did not go so well. First of all, after 3-4 years riding solo in BCP my conditioning had deteriorated. This was no surprise, I knew I was riding less miles and at a slower than historical pace. Acerbating things further was the fact that nearly one-half of the ride on the several routes they had created involved numerous rolling hills near Cat Springs and Belleville.
My next issue was my obsession with the low carb diet. I decided not to take carbohydrates on the ride and thought it might be possible to access my bodies ketones for fuel. I looked at the macro nutrient content of the Power Bar that I had been consuming on rides for years, and discovered it should be called a Candy Bar - 28 grams of sugar! So I found some energy bars with a greater protein content, such as Outlaw (made in Austin) and Kind brand bars, both of which have 5-10 grams of sugar. I thought that would be my new energy source (mostly protein) along with any accessible ketones and not disrupt my Ketogenic Diet.
Well, the hills were killing me since I had lost strength. But, the real problem was that every time I got to the 1:45 hour point in the nominally 3 hour ride, I would bonk, big time. Bonking sucks, you can hardly turn the pedals. I did these rides for approximately four weeks. Same problem each time. I was getting slowly stronger, but the bonk was a bitch.
Perry and Kevin told me about another ride that they were doing with some, mostly BP retirees - three week days and two weekends using mostly our old familiar West Houston Flatland routes, but accessing these routes in a different way that was safer wrt traffic. At least on these routes I could eliminate hill climbing as a variable.
So, I started riding with this new group and using the same fueling strategy. I was slowly getting stronger and able to hold the higher speeds, but, I bonked at 1:45-2:00, or at mile 40 (65 Km) of a 60 mile (97 Km) ride. Fortunately, some of the guys from the old days looked after me, and dragged my butt home at a slower pace. After a couple of weekends like this, I really started scratching my head.
Then it dawned on me, taking the protein bars was not replacing my glycogen on the bike ride time frame. The protein has to be metabolized and eventually some of it can be turned into glycogen, but not as rapidly as carbohydrates, which is very quickly, on the order of 15 to 30 minutes.
I adopted a new fueling strategy that involved taking carbohydrates in the form a Gu jell, but,
only as much as I could burn on the ride. Take one Gu at the depart, then one Gu every :45
minutes during the ride, but, none in the last hour. In that way I would be burning nearly all of
the carbohydrates from the Gu during the ride without “violating” my Ketogenic diet and not
turning the excess carbohydrates into fat.
Viola, it worked. No more bonking. My speed is now like it was more than 5 years ago. My strength still needs a good test, but, with everyone riding with power meters these days, Perry monitors my power output by riding side-by-side, or at high speed siting on my wheel and deduction the effect of draft. My power is coming on nicely now. Yesterday I held 44 kph for a significant distance and cruised at 38 kph. Our old speed was 36 kph (22 mph) forever. So, I think I am pretty much back in the saddle!
Recently, I discovered a new product called UCAN, which is called a Super Starch. It was developed so as not to spike insulin (such as a GU jell, or other carbohydrate will do) and it is metabolized much slower. A pre-ride drink with two scoops easily supports your carbohydrate needs for over two hours and up to three hours. In the later case, one feels hungry after the two hour milestone, but, no bonking. So, the revised fueling strategy is working great.
Viola, it worked. No more bonking. My speed is now like it was more than 5 years ago. My strength still needs a good test, but, with everyone riding with power meters these days, Perry monitors my power output by riding side-by-side, or at high speed siting on my wheel and deduction the effect of draft. My power is coming on nicely now. Yesterday I held 44 kph for a significant distance and cruised at 38 kph. Our old speed was 36 kph (22 mph) forever. So, I think I am pretty much back in the saddle!
Recently, I discovered a new product called UCAN, which is called a Super Starch. It was developed so as not to spike insulin (such as a GU jell, or other carbohydrate will do) and it is metabolized much slower. A pre-ride drink with two scoops easily supports your carbohydrate needs for over two hours and up to three hours. In the later case, one feels hungry after the two hour milestone, but, no bonking. So, the revised fueling strategy is working great.
Exogenous (Synthetic) Ketones
Ok, back to the story. My personal experience led me to believe that, perhaps, the key to the skinny Sky guys was an extreme Ketogenic diet. Then, late during the Le Tour 2016, I saw this.
Any person on an Ketogenic, LCHF, Atkins or Paleo diet will immediately identify with this meal -
Low Carb, High Fat, Medium Protein. Chris Froome is now confirmed to be on a Keto diet. I’m
sure they worked out “my personnel carbs while riding dilemma” a long time ago as they take on
many carbs using gels and other sources during each stage.
Now, my original thinking was that the ketone metabolized from your fat could be a new energy source for endurance cycling or running. I pretty much convinced myself that it could not and you had to replenish your glycogen stores in near-real time. There is literature that says it can, but, one has to be exercising at a very low heart rate/power output for that to occur. Certainly not at the pace of Le Tour or even our West Houston rides.
There had to be another element to this story. What if there was a way to “bio-hack” the body process to get ketones into your body in an immediately useable form of energy?
I listened to another podcast whereby Dr. Peter Atia was interviewed by Tim Ferriss. He is an active medical research scientist who had been competitive in the 30 and 40 age groups as a cyclist, specializing in the individual time trial (ITT), but, had stopped, or cut back on racing. He was also a long-distance, open ocean swimmer. His friend, Dr. Dom D’Agostino had “obtained” something called an Exogenous (outside the body) or Synthetic Ketone Supplement. In this case, it was an Exogenous Ketone Ester (it tastes like jet fuel without the masking flavors that need to be added). There is a really funny story told on the podcast where, in his excitement to try the ketone supplement, he doesn’t read the instructions wrt the masking agents and gulps down the raw material and has a profound gag reflex, but, doesn’t what to throw up the goodies and tries to hold it back and not wake up his family at 6 am. Listen to the podcast for more details.
http://fourhourworkweek.com/2014/12/18/peter-attia/
Another podcast interview I found was also with Tim Ferriss and the interviewee was Patrick Arnold. Patrick is an organic chemist that is an exceedingly curious and doggedly patient experimenter that keeps working on new formulations until he gets them to work.
Patrick was the creator of The Clear, an anabolic steroid. This is the product provided by Victor Conti’s BALCO to Barry Bonds, amongst others. This is how Bonds got so big. When it all blew up, Victor Conti went to jail for 4 months on a plea deal and Patrick for 2 months. Bond’s conviction for lying under oath was over turned on appeal (Stars are protected).
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bay_Area_Laboratory_Co-operative
Be that as it may, during this interview, Patrick talks about his new creation Exogenous Ketone Salts. Now we have two potential ways to introduce ketones as an energy source into an athletes body. This could be useful. Patrick’s product is on the market as KetoCana.
As it turns out, you don’t want the Salts, you want the Ester. We’ll come back to this.
Patrick lives in a very small world of organic chemist innovators living on the edge of society. His circle of colleagues talk to each other. They know what’s going on and who is doing what.
Now, my original thinking was that the ketone metabolized from your fat could be a new energy source for endurance cycling or running. I pretty much convinced myself that it could not and you had to replenish your glycogen stores in near-real time. There is literature that says it can, but, one has to be exercising at a very low heart rate/power output for that to occur. Certainly not at the pace of Le Tour or even our West Houston rides.
There had to be another element to this story. What if there was a way to “bio-hack” the body process to get ketones into your body in an immediately useable form of energy?
I listened to another podcast whereby Dr. Peter Atia was interviewed by Tim Ferriss. He is an active medical research scientist who had been competitive in the 30 and 40 age groups as a cyclist, specializing in the individual time trial (ITT), but, had stopped, or cut back on racing. He was also a long-distance, open ocean swimmer. His friend, Dr. Dom D’Agostino had “obtained” something called an Exogenous (outside the body) or Synthetic Ketone Supplement. In this case, it was an Exogenous Ketone Ester (it tastes like jet fuel without the masking flavors that need to be added). There is a really funny story told on the podcast where, in his excitement to try the ketone supplement, he doesn’t read the instructions wrt the masking agents and gulps down the raw material and has a profound gag reflex, but, doesn’t what to throw up the goodies and tries to hold it back and not wake up his family at 6 am. Listen to the podcast for more details.
http://fourhourworkweek.com/2014/12/18/peter-attia/
Another podcast interview I found was also with Tim Ferriss and the interviewee was Patrick Arnold. Patrick is an organic chemist that is an exceedingly curious and doggedly patient experimenter that keeps working on new formulations until he gets them to work.
Patrick was the creator of The Clear, an anabolic steroid. This is the product provided by Victor Conti’s BALCO to Barry Bonds, amongst others. This is how Bonds got so big. When it all blew up, Victor Conti went to jail for 4 months on a plea deal and Patrick for 2 months. Bond’s conviction for lying under oath was over turned on appeal (Stars are protected).
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bay_Area_Laboratory_Co-operative
Be that as it may, during this interview, Patrick talks about his new creation Exogenous Ketone Salts. Now we have two potential ways to introduce ketones as an energy source into an athletes body. This could be useful. Patrick’s product is on the market as KetoCana.
As it turns out, you don’t want the Salts, you want the Ester. We’ll come back to this.
Patrick lives in a very small world of organic chemist innovators living on the edge of society. His circle of colleagues talk to each other. They know what’s going on and who is doing what.
At around 1:52 hours in this interview, out of nowhere, Patrick drops a bomb. He says, and I am summarizing from memory, “he has it on good word and in text messages that the team that won the Tour de Fraaaaaance is taking exogenous ketones. They were asked about it in a press conference and the team denied it, but, that’s bullshit, he knows they have been supplied with it and are talking about it in his network.”
http://fourhourworkweek.com/2016/03/02/patrick-arnold/
This did not fully sink in to me at first, but, it was a interesting piece of information to park in the back of my brain and save for another day.
I started surfing the internet and found that a laboratory associated with Oxford University in the UK was developing an exogenous Ketone supplement in association with an outside company with plans to commercialize the product. Kieran Clarke Professor of Physiological Biochemistry is the leader with Post Grad Students David Holdsworth and Brianna Stubbs (Olympic Rower). The stated application was for military purposes in order to give sustained energy to soldiers in active combat situations. They had been developing this product and had taken it through various trials and government approvals for the last 10 or so years. Kieran Clarke is the principal researcher and founder of TDeltaS, the vehicle to commercialize the product.
http://tdeltas.com/site/timeline.html
Tested on elite athletes, in competition as early as 2011 (i.e. prior to the 2012 Le Tour).
Enter Dr Veech. This is an amazing man. He has been doing metabolic research for 48 years at the National Institute of Health (NIH). He is truly a genius. His contemporaries worked on the Manhattan Project and he seems to have been close to many of the big names in science from that era. He is a Medical Doctor as well as a Research Scientist with the NIH. He also has been working with the very same lab at Oxford University to develop the exogenous ketone ester.
It turns out the Exogenous Ketone Salts are relatively easy to synthesis, but, Exogenous Ketone Esters involve a more complicated process. But, they are reportedly 10 to 20 times more powerful than the salts and would seem to be the Holy Grail of synthetic ketones.
The wonderful thing about Dr. Veech, is that he sees the value of these Exogenous Ketone Esters in solving serious medical problems and thinks that it is a waste of energy and resources to develop them to enhance athletic performance. Recall above where I summarized the benefits of the Ketogenic diet for treating Diabetes, Alzheimers, and Parkinson, well that is how Dr. Veech wants to use the Exogenous Ketone Esters.
Dr. Veech sees the aging population in the Western World’s medical needs are going to be increasing exponentially and in order to take care of Alzheimers patient and other diseases, that it is going to by cost prohibitive. He would like to see industrial scale production of the Ketone Esters to partially solve this problem. But, he does not want it done by Big Pharma (coded mini- rant: The United States of Statins, aka The Statins Nation - that’s what you get with Big Pharma mixed with Ancel Keys psuedo-Science, and the congressional committee chair being from a corn producing state as opposed to a cow producing state, and millions of dollar subsidies to the corn industry), he thinks it more naturally fits with the food production process, like turning corn into ethanol - a similar process.
Dr. Veech is already treating an Alzheimer patient and a Parkinson patient and both are responding well. Watch the following clips.
Listen to the Dave Asprey podcast interview with Dr. Veech. This is probably the broadest ranging and most open discussion that I’ve found featuring Dr. Veech. He is at his least curmudgeonly.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QO4WZIaoO7M
And this short video interview clip with Dr. Veech explains the mechanism and suggesting the theoretical performance enhancement on Marathon runners with Ketone Esters.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1RAwzhPZiP4
Now, back to Sports, in the last couple of weeks certain technical papers have come out pertaining to field tests of the Exogenous Ketone Esters in endurance athletes. These are based on the trials of the product being developed at the Oxford Laboratory with the intent of commercialization by TDeltaS.
reference papers...
http://www.cell.com/cell-metabolism/abstract/S1550-4131(16)30355-2
https://www.newscientist.com/article/2099175-legal-ketone-sports-supplement-pushes-athletes-further-faster/
http://www.cyclingweekly.co.uk/news/latest-news/ketones-controversial-new-energy-drink-next-big-thing-cycling-151877
They were developed by researchers at the University of Oxford, and used as a drink they enhance performance in elite endurance athletes by providing an additional energy source to glucose. Researchers believe the greatest benefits are for long-distance efforts in very fit individuals.
“There are professional cycling teams and world famous professional cyclists in those teams, or in that team, who have used ketones for significant internationally famous events, which they’ve won,” explained Dr David Holdsworth, who leads current research into the drinks. “So yes, it has been used with considerable success.”
Over 300 athletes have been used in the trials.
I’ll cut to the chase - performance gain of 2 to 3% has been exhibited in the trials!
That is Trumpian huuuuge at the elite level. These trials took place over the last three years or so.
So, Patrick Arnold’s claim could well be true regarding the use of ketones by TeamSky at the 2015 Tour.
Now that we know the testing of the new exogenous ketone esters on elite cyclist has taken place. We also have discovered the testing protocol. With each of the subjects, three separate testing episodes were undertaken. In each episode, a one-hour time trial at maximal effort was performed by each test subject. One episode with only vitamin B3. One with the Ketone Supplement only. One with a combination of the Ketone supplement in conjunction with Carbohydrates. Now, although the tests were supposedly “Blind, It has been reported that with the Ketones, “my power was up” and “I don’t know how they can get the stuff to taste okay”.
Finally, a recent interview with principal researcher Kieran Clarke and been discovered. At the 0:40 minute mark, the interviewer asks Professor Clarke “if this is used in Olympics?”. Please watch for yourself. I sense someone who is very proud of their scientific accomplishments.
youtu.be/hsVQF8-XSuk
You draw your own conclusions
“... the denial is so often the preface to the justification." -Christopher Hitchens
Governing Bodies and State Sponsored Performance Enhancement
This is where the story gets somewhat interesting. This is an excerpt from one of the papers cited.
So, we now know that The State has funded the development and testing of the Exogenous Ketone Esters through “home nation institutes” per their mission statement. We also know that over 300 elite level athletes have used the product. I would venture to guess that the vast majority, if not all 300 are UK citizens and in the UK Sport umbrella, although on the TDeltaS site states testing on “both sides of the Atlantic”. I would also suspect that all 300 are endurance athletes, since it is no benefit in a sprint event. Cycling, Rowing and Long Distance Running, Long Distance Swimming would seem to be logical candidates. You can hardly tally up 300 different athletes if you include all of these sports, including TeamSky and all of the pure Olympians from the UK alone.
The ethical issue is “Is this in the Olympic spirit of fair competition?” One country has an unfair advantage over the other countries. And it is State sponsored and systemic.
Now, exogenous ketones are not on the WADA banned substance list. But, of course the are not. Nobody really knows about them yet and TDeltaS is claiming they are a food, not a drug. Should they be banned? Claim is that they are a naturally occurring substance therefore, there should be nothing wrong. Right?
I am not so sure. This is a technical loop hole at this juncture in my view. Testosterone is a naturally occurring substance, but, synthetic testosterone is banned. EPO is a naturally occurring substance, but synthetic EPO is banned. Ketones are a naturally occurring substance, but, Exogenous Ketones are a synthetic substance, and are not banned?
Now, the question of fairness comes into play. I’ve been advised not to call this a PED (Performance Enhancing Drug) “it is not a drug” - because, if it is classified as a drug, it will take 10 years or more to get approved. They want it approved as a supplement or a food product since it is a faster processes. I coined the term PES as opposed to PED - Performance Enhancing Substance.
Please recall the story of the full-length super slick swim suits used in the Olympics a few Games ago. Records were being smashed left and right. The ethical problem was that not all of the Country teams had access or could afford, or were necessarily being offered the special swim suits. For example, if the slick swim suits were manufactured by Nike, they would likely only offer them to the athletes under there advertising and sponsorship umbrella. The slick
swim suits were eventually banned for giving an unfair advantage. Never mind totally screwing
up the record books.
http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2012/07/25/why-ban-full-body-olympics-swimsuits-a-scientist-explains-polyurethane.html
In cycling, the hour distance record, the governing authority, UCI (Union Cyclist International), banned the so called “superman” body positions of Graame Obree and also, restricted the more aerodynamic bicycles and threw out the records obtained and reset to an early more provincial time.
How is this any different? How is UK state supported development of this “supplement” any different than Russia’s Olympic program management, other than it is not yet banned by WADA?
I was intending to go on a rant about the UCI, FIFA and IAAF (as well as FIA, NFL, MBL, NBA), but, I’ll refrain for now. If you are interested, there is a lot out there on this topic and it is strikingly similar in all sports - the role of the governing body is to protect the moneyed interests. The rest is all show. Protect the brand, protect the big revenue athletes indiscretions and throw the lesser ones under the bus, especially if they challenge the fairness of “The System”.
Lance Armstrong tested positive for banned substances on at least two occasions, and he was a show off, loud mouth American that the Euros abhorred, but, he was ringing the cash register big time and protected by the UCI and those tests were swept under the carpet. Floyd Landis, not so much. Read this interview with Floyd if you are interested to learn more. I assume you’ve kept up the the FIFA scandal and the IAAF scandal. Remember, wrt UCI, Brian Cookson has been around quite a while, he was an underling when Hein Verbruggen was in charge and when Pat McQuaid took over. He knows this game.
http://nyvelocity.com/articles/interviews/landiskimmage/
http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2012/07/25/why-ban-full-body-olympics-swimsuits-a-scientist-explains-polyurethane.html
In cycling, the hour distance record, the governing authority, UCI (Union Cyclist International), banned the so called “superman” body positions of Graame Obree and also, restricted the more aerodynamic bicycles and threw out the records obtained and reset to an early more provincial time.
How is this any different? How is UK state supported development of this “supplement” any different than Russia’s Olympic program management, other than it is not yet banned by WADA?
I was intending to go on a rant about the UCI, FIFA and IAAF (as well as FIA, NFL, MBL, NBA), but, I’ll refrain for now. If you are interested, there is a lot out there on this topic and it is strikingly similar in all sports - the role of the governing body is to protect the moneyed interests. The rest is all show. Protect the brand, protect the big revenue athletes indiscretions and throw the lesser ones under the bus, especially if they challenge the fairness of “The System”.
Lance Armstrong tested positive for banned substances on at least two occasions, and he was a show off, loud mouth American that the Euros abhorred, but, he was ringing the cash register big time and protected by the UCI and those tests were swept under the carpet. Floyd Landis, not so much. Read this interview with Floyd if you are interested to learn more. I assume you’ve kept up the the FIFA scandal and the IAAF scandal. Remember, wrt UCI, Brian Cookson has been around quite a while, he was an underling when Hein Verbruggen was in charge and when Pat McQuaid took over. He knows this game.
http://nyvelocity.com/articles/interviews/landiskimmage/
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