Now that summer has arrived, many of us have dusted off the old bike taking up space in the back of the shed. No matter where you live, a city or the country, the bike allows you to experience your part of the world from a different perspective.
On top of this, the most prestigious race in cycling, the Tour de France is fast approaching. With more and more people finding a hobby in cycling, more eyes are watching the famed race.
In the past, the Tour de France has been hit with lots of controversy surrounding doping scandals. The most famous of all being the cyclist Lance Armstrong, who was stripped of his seven titles for using performance-enhancing drugs.
Nowadays, cycling has some of the strictest anti-doping laws of any sport. However, it is a gruelling sport that professionals push their bodies to the limits and competition remains fierce. So professional athletes continue to search for ways to help alleviate some of the pains that are part of such a demanding sport.
Cannabidiol, or CBD for short, has been one of those supplements that many athletes and cyclists are turning to. One professional cyclist, Floyd Landis, has even devoted himself to it and started his own CBD brand focused on CBD products for athletes.
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The Tour de Floyd Landis
Floyd Landis is a retired professional cyclist who truly experienced the rollercoaster of professional sport. Landis, the US-born cyclist, had incredibly won the Tour de France in 2006. However, immediately after he was stripped of the title for testing positive for performance-enhancing drugs.
Prior to this, he had been involved in a 35 km/hr bicycle crash, which ultimately led to hip replacement surgery and years of rehabilitation.
His hip injury caused a reliance on prescription medicines like opioids. It started off for the pain but then the opioids became needed to rescue him from bouts of depression.
However, now Landis has retired, he uses CBD for coping with his injuries and his mood. He is an ambassador for CBD in the sports world and advocates for CBD use for athletes suffering from chronic pain and depression caused by the stress of intensive professional sports.
Floyd even has started his own CBD brand called Floyd’s of Leadville. Floyd has started growing cannabis on the fertile lands of his home state, Pennsylvania. His brand also makes all sorts of CBD products including tinctures, drinks, creams and balms.
However, one of the most unique products the company provides its customers is the Hydration Fuel packs with CBD for cyclists and other athletes. This is one of those easy to carry sachets you may see cyclists sucking on to get a quick boost in energy. Although, this brand of hydration fuel has a special CBD twist.
Benefits of CBD for cyclists
Floyd Landis is not the only cyclist who is using CBD products. Many cyclists are using CBD to help them deal with the consequences of competitive cycling. Some use it for relieving pains, while others use it to pacify the stress of competitive racing.
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1) CBD for injuries, pains and inflammation
When it comes to long-distance cycling, there is an endless list of injuries. High-speed falls can lead to broken bones, head injuries and if you are lucky just stinging road burns on your skin.
Into the bargain, cyclists are almost guaranteed joint pain and inflammation. In particular in the knee and hip.
CBD can be used to help with pain relief. Research shows that CBD helps activate the endocannabinoid system which works to reduce inflammation and allows the nervous system to process pain differently.
In addition, many cyclists who suffer severe injuries or have chronic pain use opioids to relieve them of their injuries. However, opioids are extremely addictive and have many side effects, and it is best to not use them if at all possible. Also, there is growing evidence that cannabis compounds such as CBD can be used instead of opioids as pain relief.
Learn more about: How CBD can help with pain relief
2) CBD for recovery
CBD is growing in popularity in the world of sport as a recovery supplement. It is being used by high-performance athletes in some of the world’s toughest sports. Rugby players and boxers are using it in their training regimes. Even the mixed martial arts promotion, the UFC, is endorsing CBD brands.
Cyclists are also using CBD for faster recovery. The anti-inflammatory and relaxing properties of CBD can help with muscle and joint repair.
Using CBD after strenuous training or a long cycle is potentially useful to relax the body. It can help induce the calming effects the body needs to augment the recovery process.
You may also like to read: CBD for Athletes: How to Boost Performance and Recovery
3) CBD for the stresses of competition
There is no question that cycling is as competitive as a sport can get. The competition can lead to all forms of mental health problems. Some may suffer from depression after injury due to not being able to compete.
For others, performance anxiety is all too common. It is caused by the high expectations in which they burden the weeks leading up to race day. A study has even found that due to the extremes cyclists go through, their bodies are forced to automatically produce stress hormones. This is because the body responds by using stress hormones to re-establish homeostasis, balance in the body’s overall condition.
As Floyd Landis did, CBD could be beneficial for your mental health. If you find that competitive cycling negatively affects your mood or makes you feel stressed, then CBD may serve to manage this. Although more research must be done, evidence suggests that CBD may help treat anxiety.
CBD is legal in competitive cycling
There are many questions about CBD for cyclists who compete in high-level events. Is CBD legal in cycling competitions? Will I fail a drug test if I use CBD?
Put simply, CBD is completely legal in the cycling world. The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) has permitted the use of CBD. They have not tested for CBD in WADA drug tests since 2018. This means you can use CBD freely without the worry of failing a drug test.
However, you must still be careful! Although CBD is perfectly legal, other compounds found in the cannabis plant are still illegal and checked in drug tests for competitions. More specifically, the compound tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) is still under strict regulations in the sporting world.
In light of this, you must be wary of which CBD products you use. You should only use CBD products from reputable CBD brands. Trustworthy brands should be third-party tested, and provide you with recent certificates of analysis to ensure that the products they supply are up to the standards expected in cycling competitions.
According to UK law, CBD products should have no more than 1 mg of THC in each finished product. If you buy products that follow these rules, then you can be confident these CBD products can be legally used in whatever sport you compete in.
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To sum
With the Tour de France coming up this summer, it is highly possible that some of the cyclists competing will be using CBD for some reason. Perhaps, they are using it for recovery, reducing stress, or managing the aches that follow a day of cycling in the world’s most elite cycling tour.
If you are considering using CBD supplements in your cycling training, make sure to buy reputable brands that provide certificates of analysis. And where better to find a variety of tested brands than CBD Village.
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