Pro cycling bans carbon dioxide use

do you mean one oxide or two?

Carbon dioxide is good, or we animals wouldn't be constantly trying to convert everything into it, against those pesky plants who keep breaking it back down into oxygen.

One day we will win and CO2 will be everywhere. We'll all die, but in triumph

That's just political. There's no way to enforce that if they do it at night. A controlled lab setting can be reasonably safe but not most DIY at home setups.

The real problem is HIF stabilizers combined with carbon monoxide. That is why so many records have been broken I believe. They need to do hair tests and require better lab equipment if they are serious, but they aren't. UCI knows it's the HIF stabilizers, and they don't mention them. The carbon monoxide ban is a distraction.

Get your chemical compounds straight, man! When I saw the thread title I thought UCI was banning those little carbon dioxide cartridges that you can use to inflate your tires--probably because those CO2 emissions are bad for the environment. The ban on CO actually makes sense.

And to people considering this: without HIF stabilizers you have to do it about 5 times a day because HIF breaks down rapidly. Going above 7% bound hemoglobin just drops too quickly to actually produce more EPO but slow enough to kill you or cause brain damage. Just get an altitude tent instead.

When you breath carbon monoxide it attaches to red blood cells and prevents them from carrying oxygen. So breathing in carbon monoxide essentially makes your body work with less oxygen, kind of like being at altitude. I've never thought anyone would purposely do that for training.

Is this similar to what Zatopek would sometimes in training in which he would hold his breath during his workouts? If so, how can they prevent someone from doing that?

Im not sure they do. The carbon monoxide rebreathing method tests total hemoglobin mass (which is better than just measuring a concentration such as hemoglobin or hematocrit percentage). The TDF teams just bought their own test equipment to test total hemoglobin mass. Some think they’re using those same machines for this CO “training” but from what I’ve read they’ve denied that use. The UCI obviously can’t verify how teams are using it and don’t want people killing themselves, so they just said testing needs to be done at a medical facility.

Yeah, cycling has guys using altitude machines simulating 30k feet lol. I highly doubt CO is a better HIF-inducer. Intervals at super high altitudes + HIF stabilizers potentially highly beneficial though without the risk of killing your self with CO.

Apparently, carbon monoxide and dioxide can still be used to pump up tires.

…meanwhile, T&F over here with eyes closed and fingers in ears while every record under the sun gets broken by nobodies.

Glad to see they specifically did NOT ban CO rebreathing in the context of total hemoglobin mass measurement, that would've made exercise science research in cyclists a lot harder.

They did not admit to using it for blood doping.

velo.outsideonline.com

UCI Bans Carbon Monoxide Inhalation After Concern over Performance-Boosting Potential

Jim Cotton

Governing body approves ban of controversial Carbon Monoxide practice: 'A Bold and Necessary Stance' states UCI

Link:velo.outsideonline.com/road/uci-stamps...

UCI doesn’t wait for WADA
The possibility that CO was being misused was first broken last year at the Tour de France.
Visma-Lease a Bike, UAE Emirates, and Israel-Premier Tech were all cited as having the facilities to inhale or rebreathe CO.

Since then, grand tour crushers Pogačar and Vingegaard both spoke out against the practice. UAE Team Emirates also confirmed earlier this year it no longer uses CO since it has concluded a series of tests on its approach to altitude.
“My team uses carbon monoxide to measure blood volume and total hemoglobin mass,” Vingegaard said only last week.

“Some teams abuse it by regularly inhaling low doses of carbon monoxide, which leads to a significant improvement in the performance of their riders,” Vingegaard recently told Le Monde. “This is unfair and WADA should ban it.”

The UCI formally requested late last year that the World Anti Doping Agency weigh in on the topic. WADA has not yet confirmed its stance.

“The UCI’s ban is independent of the World Anti-Doping Code and the UCI Anti-doping Regulations, however the UCI has officially requested the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) to take position on the repeated use of CO in and out of competition,” the UCI confirmed Saturday.

I was wrong when I wrote that Pogi and Jonas admit to using CO as a form of doping. I apologize. They both have said that their teams use the CO rebreathing technique to measure how effective their altitude training is at raising their hemoglobin (Hb) mass. It is a fine line, but an important distinction. Perhaps my brain was addled by hearing Fisher's comments about bicarb.

And yes, I incorrectly typed carbon dioxide in my subject header.

Nonetheless, I don't see how UCI/World Athletics/WADA bans on chronic CO use could be enforced if the occasional use of CO for measuring Hb mass is allowed.

If you don’t know your monos from your dios, you will dios.

So you are saying I should move my stationary trainer in the garage and start up my truck? Sounds like a plan!