Armstrong samples show EPO
Tour Chief: Armstrong Doping 'Proven Fact'
http://tinyurl.com/7kn5j
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so, is this stuff legal?
what if I never ever plan on competing but wouldn't mind boosting my endurance by increasing my red blood cell production?
just a question...
There is that pesky death thing to worry about, unless you do not mind getting up in the middle of night to do exercise (the increased red blood cell production makes your blood thick and when sleeping, your heart rates slows that it cannot actually pump the sludgy blood so you die).
EPO is a protein hormone produced by the kidney. Synthetic EPO is used to treat certain forms of anemia.
But it is banned for cycling use.
I read somewhere that it clears out of your system in 3 days, so if you are going to use it for a club ride, stop taking it on Wednesday, and no one will ever know.
A good page to reference...
http://www.rice.edu/~jenky/sports/epo.html
If you want to 'boost your endurance,' train for it. You may have to actually step out of the comfort zone.
Move to Colorado and train at altitude... Your body will adapt to higher altitude and start producing EPO to jump start production of more red blood cells... Higher altitude, higher red blood cell count... Easy as that!!!
Don't need to waste money on synthetic EPO, when your body can produce it itself, you just need to give it a kick ;))))
Some do not respond to altitude readily as others. In addition, living and training at altitude is not as effective as living at altitude and training at sea level, hence the popularity of hypoxic chambers, which LA readily admits to using.
I read in the Spanish press that all four riders who were controlled after the 1999 prologue have now tested positive for EPO. Interestingly, not one of the other 3 have been named.
http://todociclismo.com/noticia.asp?id=27685
