@ Oswald - here are some links to reserach conducted that I know of I found quickly - some are related to cyucling, some aren't but all report that creatine does have some performance benefit under certain conditions

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/quer ... ds=9189303

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/quer ... ds=9294877

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/quer ... ds=9760327

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/quer ... ds=9562365

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/quer ... ds=9298778

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/quer ... s=10477361

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/quer ... ds=9721002

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/quer ... ds=9662683

of course there also many studies which demonstrate that creatine does not enhance performance - but as with everything, it works for some and not for others....

cheers

Do you not think that this is the very reason to take creatinine. It is the ability to recover very rapidly from SHORT sharp bursts, and to repeat them more frequently, that has pushed this supplement to prominence. You may knock it if you like, but a lot of top class athletes use it for that very reason. If you use it for endurance, you gain no benefit, only weight. In a crit, 2 or 3 kilos to carry is nothing extra. The ability to sprint is vital. And it is legal.

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GO HARD OR GO HOME

Smallfish, I do agree with you. In years past, when I did not cycle very much but lifted weights, I used creatine. When I became more involved with cycling, I did some experimenting with creatine and found it did help with explosive efforts. However, when used frequently weight gain due to water retention was an issue, along with cramping, not to mention long-term health concerns. One thing I noticed is that liquid creatine seems far more effective for cycling than powder and it is not necessary to load.

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John979

John979, this is correct. It is not advisable to take it long term, as one would e.g. a vitamin supplement, but rather to take it as a planned exercise for specific events. The water retention is not a true retention, it is just that for the creatinine to be stored in the muscle, it requires water to be stored along with it. The more you load, the more water you need. It is a linear relationship. This, by the way, is true for the storage of ANY carbohydrate/sugar - for every gram of carbo stored, a volume of water must also be stored.
As far as liquid vs powder is concerned, that is an individual thing - some may work better the other way round. But it works.
And no, brianwchan, you won't die if you do it properly.

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GO HARD OR GO HOME

Hi guys,

thanks for the advice. In case anyone still cares, this is what happened. About 2 days before the race, I caught a BAD cold (I just started to recover this week), and got pulled after a couple laps. I just couldn't keep going, couldn't breathe at all. Oh well, I'm prepared to chalk this season up as a loss and think ahead to next year.

Uhhh, are you referring to collegiate season or the whole competitive season?

Collegiate.

Who do you ride for Brian?

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BILL NIKO, YOU WILL NOT EVER BE FORGOTTEN.

OK, well, if it makes you feel better, that's pretty much what my first collegiate season was like. I had just started racing(literally, my first race was a collegiate road race). Got my ass handed to me, was ready to quit the sport. Then I did a local crit and was a player (I caused the final selection in the race). the early season was never kind to me, I always started coming into form in June for the summer crit series. Shrug it off and use it as fuel for the rest of the season.

I "race" for calcycling, here at UC Berkeley.

But race isn't really appropriate, since I've done one race and failed. It's been hard finding time to ride as I'm a freshman and getting used to hectic college life.

so brian, the question on eveyone's lips - did you end up using creatine? even for the few laps you did?

if you did it obviously didn't kill you

Oh no, I didn't. I ended up being sick at home in San Francisco. Taking creatine was the last thing I had on my mind.

oh...fair enough

hope you're feeling better then!

creatine will make you 5-10 lbs heavier. do you really want to lug all that water around during a race?

creatine is used off season to let you do more strength work. racers taper off of it in the spring to drop the water weight.

try nicorette gum an hour before a race. it will make your mind sharper.

I know of no studies like this, I have been a distributor for 9 years of creatine and promoted it when it was first launched. Your body makes it naturally and it is possible to supplement it and carry larger reserves through different techniques.

Without getting into too much technical stuff I will basically say No creatine for crits and road races and Yes to track racing. Many Track riders I know use the creatine especially the liquid stuff.