Nope, nothing scary at all about inhaling a poisonous / deadly gas for performance enhancement.
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I read the article and was very disappointed on the reporting. Itās clickbait.
Despite the title. They report no evidence of any team doing it, just that the equipment used for tests could also be employed for this purpose.
Donāt get me wrong, Iām sure many cyclists are willing to do it but the title implies they are actually doing it.
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They address that point in the Comments sectionā¦but I would agree that adding a simple āAreā to the front of the headline and a question mark at the end would resolve the issue.
Regardless, I think it is a relevant point and I personally am not comforted by the assurances of the teams noted that they are not doing CO inhalation vs. rebreathing. That doesnāt mean that they ARE doing it, just that Iām not taking their word at face value. Weāve seen that movie too many times now.
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This is scary if true.
Whatās truly scary is that the āaverageā rider may be willing to give it a try ā¦
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I was wondering why I could always ride faster behind a bus. 
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If they are doing it, it seems dumb to impede (or scar) your lungs for an endurance event.
It seems dumb to risk you life by turning your blood into sludge for an endurance event.
It seems dumb to risk cancer and shriveling your testicles for an endurance event.
As a species, we generally suck at long-term risk assessment. History has proven time and time again that there are plenty of people willing to risk their health and life for a short-term advantage over their competition.
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Is it less than an altitude tent though? Some of us be on a budget
Well said.
Pro teams might (unless insane) experiment with medical doctors and maybe even researchers/scientist oversight with (hopefully) sensitive equipment/diagnostics. And then thereās 46 year old Bob from Atlanta. Two years into training, already doing TRT cause you know heās not running at ānormalā 18 year old levels anymore, who believes running the car a few extra minutes in the morning before work with the garage door closed is worth a shot. Because pros do it.
Hopefully WADA will step in before someone kills themself.
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Certainly sounds dumb based on the risk of screwing it up, but does anyone know if itās physiologically any different than having reduced O2 at altitude or in an altitude tent? Or using one of those āBainā masks that causes us to re-breath our own exhaled breath (which includes CO)? I mean, I assume you can die in an altitude tent as well if the machine goes sideways, right?
I donāt know anything about the machine or how itās used for testing (which teams admitted to) or training (which they deny), but if itās a scientifically vetted approach to o2 depravation, it seems WADA (or whoever) would have to ban any device that limits O2 or increases CO if they are going to ban this thing.
I know anything with āCarbon Monoxide Inhalationā sounds terrible, but we are all breathing some level of it all day long. Itās produced and exhaled naturally from our bodies and I think all of the sports training devices that cause ārebreathingā increase the ratio of carbon monoxide already (with nobody creating a fuss). Itās all at very, very low levels, not the same thing as sitting in the garage with the car running.
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Iām thinking this is a branch of hypoxia training. I dunno.
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You might be confusing carbon monoxide with carbon dioxide.
Carbon dioxide (CO2) is what is enriched in our exhaled breath. CO2 is an asphyxiant gas, and can kill in higher concentrations, but it is not poisonous.
Carbon monoxide (CO) is a poisonous gas, and every year people die of carbon monoxide poisoning, mostly from malfunctioning cookers and heaters.
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Is this like a device that absorbs oxygen and lowers your blood oxygen to simulate altitude?
No. Itās a device that measures the very small amounts of carbon monoxide in your breath, which come from break down of iron compounds in your blood. Itās a way to measure training response, especially to altitude.
The proposed idea is that you could also use it to add small amounts of CO to the inhaled air, which would bind to your red blood cells and prevent them from carrying oxygen. I guess the anticipated result is that your body will make more red blood cells as a response, thus enhancing your performance, but I havenāt read any of the research into that. (I wonder that if this was true, why arenāt smokers super fit? They chronically breath in higher CO concentrations) .
The teams in question said they are not doing that, and only use the device for measuring.
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No, not confusing the 2. CO is in the air we breath and is also produced and exhaled from our body. Super low concentrations, but itās there.
Interesting. The thing is, they could test this pretty easily with a hemoglobin test. My guess is that this will not be a game changer like EPO or blood bags.
You also wonder that even if there was a small effect, how often would one have to do this? So frequently that it wasnāt worth the effort for a minuscule gain?
I could see it as a much more convenient alternative to altitude training. Rather than traveling to altitude for an extended period (and going up/down to match a protocol), maybe you could replicate the stress/adaptations at sea level via CO dosing. Has the advantage of dialing it up/down as needed for training, sleeping, etc. Probably pretty safe if done under medical supervision, but agree with prior comments about the risk of amateurs hacking their own solution.
I think the majority of money is made within the John Doe cycling/fitness segment. Just look up the latest doping case in Europe: a Danish dude got arrested because he had stashed 2-4 tons of doping hidden away bought in India (from another Danish dude producing it).