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Will homeopathy make you a fitter, faster, healthier cyclist?
Fri, Jul 21, 2017 22:07
Do homeopathic remedies have a place in your cycling armoury?
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John wrote about bikes and cycling for over 30 years since discovering that people were mug enough to pay him for it rather than expecting him to do an honest day’s work.
He was heavily involved in the mountain bike boom of the late 1980s as a racer, team manager and race promoter, and that led to writing for Mountain Biking UK magazine shortly after its inception. He got the gig by phoning up the editor and telling him the magazine was rubbish and he could do better. Rather than telling him to get lost, MBUK editor Tym Manley called John’s bluff and the rest is history.
He worked on MTB Pro magazine and was editor of Maximum Mountain Bike and Australian Mountain Bike magazines, before switching to the web in 2000 to work for CyclingNews.com. Along with road.cc founder Tony Farrelly, John was on the launch team for BikeRadar.com and subsequently became editor in chief of Future Publishing’s group of cycling magazines and websites, including Cycling Plus, MBUK, What Mountain Bike and Procycling.
John also wrote for Cyclist magazine, edited the BikeMagic website and was founding editor of TotalWomensCycling.com before handing over to someone far more representative of the site’s main audience. He joined road.cc in 2013.
John died from cancer in 2025, changing his name to John Abbott Valentine in the months before his death.
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Rendel Harris 51 minutes ago
@mdavidford Quite possibly not, but there might still be 21 yellow jerseys awarded; I'm guessing, for example, that if on Sunday it's deemed too hot for a stage some form of shortened, neutralised parade stage, possibly with a sprint finish, into Barcelona would still be held with a podium ceremony afterwards. If there's any day they absolutely don't ride at all, I'm not sure what the protocol might be.
mdavidford 1 hour ago
I reckon one of the safest predictions going is that we won't get 21 [contested] stages.
Rendel Harris 1 hour ago
I agree with Dave, I think: if UAE put Pogacar into yellow tomorrow I really wouldn't put it past him to decide to go for 21 yellow jerseys. An ordinary podium contender and an ordinary team would not countenance that but he and they are neither.
Liam Mercer 2 hours ago
😉
Rendel Harris 2 hours ago
I swear you guys are just baiting Surreyrider for shits and giggles now!
Podc 4 hours ago
It is for this exact reason I never purchased any Canal+ branded jerseys. Only saw it once but it was enough.
Rendel Harris 5 hours ago
@mitsky To be fair (through gritted teeth), hasn't the main damage to Hammersmith Bridge been from IRA bombings and boat strikes, though obviously exacerbated by heavy traffic in the subsequent years?
Rendel Harris 5 hours ago
@Andrewbanshee Yes, and at every age, not just at our distinguished and noble years (I'm 57). I've known several people who have been a bit vain about having to start wearing glasses and so put it off for years even when it was quite obvious that they wouldn't pass the driving test "read a numberplate at twenty metres" requirement (which is itself inadequate, in my opinion). As I understand it, in the USA driver licences to be renewed every four to eight years, depending on the state (apart from Arizona and Massachusetts which are twelve years, for some reason), and an eye test is a compulsory element of renewal. High time that was introduced here.
mdavidford 6 hours ago
In fairness, at the time they came out Rapha was also constantly offering deep discounts - it's only more recently they've done away with that - so they were basically just following the Rapha model.
mdavidford 6 hours ago
Likewise - I've got heaps of their stuff, and been happy with almost all of it. The only thing I've ever had a problem with was a pair of winter gloves that was a shape that no hand ever was.
19 thoughts on “Will homeopathy make you a fitter, faster, healthier cyclist?”
It might … the placebo
It might … the placebo effect does work on some people some of the time … the precise treatment doesn’t matter … its belief that produces the required effect. Just don’t count on it working as success cannot be predicted or guaranteed. For a stronger effect you could always try a hay fever remedy.
Yes. As pointed out above, if
Yes. As pointed out above, if the complaint is psychosomatic in origin homeopathy has as much chance of working as anything else. A positive attitude and belief that something can and will be cured / improved also correlates well with improvement. So, homeopathy may have a place, but so might your horoscope
But if you believe in
But if you believe in homeopathy and you use it to enhance performance, then even though there is no medication as such to detect in a test, surely you are still morally guilty of a doping offence?
Mungecrundle wrote:
The same thing could be said about eating a banana, or an ‘energy’ bar…
caaad10 wrote:
The same thing could be said about eating a banana, or an ‘energy’ bar…— Mungecrundle
I don’t recall any person detected as a drug cheat claiming they took a bunch of pills because they were hungry.
Mungecrundle wrote:
Presumably then you will receive a homeopathic ban? Banned from one in 10^20 events.
Mungecrundle wrote:
This is along the lines of a question my daughter asked today
“If a dog farts in the woods and there’s no-one there, does it still smell?”
madcarew wrote:
This is along the lines of a question my daughter asked today
“If a dog farts in the woods and there’s no-one there, does it still smell?”— Mungecrundle
I prefer Steven Wright’s:
“If a man says something in the woods and there are no women there, is he still wrong?”
Homeopathy
Q. What do you call alternative medicine that works?
A. Medicine
Short, sharp and to the point
Short, sharp and to the point. Well put.
How are they going to test
How are they going to test for homeopathic doping? I bet they’d get loads of false positives.
Regarding the placebo affect, there must be a cheaper way of taking placebos than the high priced homeopathic “products” (water).
hawkinspeter wrote:
No, if it’s too cheap it won’t work as well … we have a tendency to believe something is better the more it costs.
nbrus wrote:
Sounds like titanium bits for bikes.
Even though homeopathy is
Even though homeopathy is pure quackery and completely useless, if a rider uses it in an attempt to improve performance, they can be banned.
6.3. Athletes’ health care providers should act in accordance with the latest recognised medical knowledge and, when available, evidence-based medicine.
DavidC wrote:
Does this also apply to swimmers? If a swimmer deliberately ingests some sea-water then they’re essentially taking every single homeopathic remedy at once including the banned substances.
I drink Homeopathic Lager
I drink Homeopathic Lager when riding my bike.
Leviathan wrote:
Really? I just don’t like the taste of Aussie lager, but if you like it…
Merely dressing up in skin
Merely dressing up in skin tight lycra, often explicitly trying to look like other grown fit men who dress in skin tight lycra, then following them around all day getting sweaty whilst looking at their arses does NOT in ANY WAY imply that cycllists are homeos….
The theory of homeopathy says
The theory of homeopathy says that the more a substance is diluted, the more effective it becomes. How come it doesn’t work for alcohol then ?