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CREATINE FOR CYCLISTS: 30-DAY RESULTS | ROADMAN CYCLING

34:57·6 June 2025

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Creatine is one of the most researched supplements in sport, and cyclists have been ignoring it for decades. Anthony Walsh, a former cat-one racer turned cycling coach, finally ran the experiment himself. Five grams a day for 30 days. The sprint numbers were hard to argue with.

Key Takeaways

Anthony went from holding around 800 watts on a 30-second kicker to 850-900 watts by day 10, with a 5% improvement in 5-second sprint power by the end of the month. The repeatability of those high-intensity efforts improved too. He could get through more short intervals before the drop-off. That lines up with what David Dunn, who handles nutrition for several WorldTour programmes, told the podcast directly: creatine belongs on the list of supplements every cyclist should be taking. The mechanism is straightforward. Phosphocreatine stores in your muscles last about 10-15 seconds at maximum effort. Supplementing increases those stores, so you can hold higher power a bit longer before the system runs dry.

The weight gain is real. Anthony was up 1.5 kg by week two, which is typical. Studies put it at 1-2 kg for most people, and it is almost entirely water retained in the muscle cells. On 20-minute steady climbs he felt the same or slightly slower, which makes sense. Creatine doesn't touch aerobic output. If your event is pure endurance, the extra weight may not be worth it. But if your racing involves surges, sprint finishes, or repeated short efforts, a 5-gram daily dose with no loading phase gets your muscles fully saturated in 3-4 weeks for about $15 a month. Tell your coach you're taking it, log the changes, and match the timing to training blocks where high-intensity work is the focus.

A 30-day self-experiment by cycling coach Anthony Walsh using 5 grams of creatine monohydrate daily (no loading phase) produced a 1.5 kg weight gain by week two, consistent with published estimates of 1-2 kg initial water retention. Short-term sprint power increased from approximately 800 watts to 850-900 watts on a 30-second effort by day 10, with a 5% improvement in 5-second sprint power by day 30. Phosphocreatine stores in skeletal muscle are depleted within 10-15 seconds at maximum effort; supplementation increases those stores, enabling higher power output for slightly longer before fatigue onset. The International Society for Sports Nutrition classifies creatine monohydrate as highly effective and safe for both exercise performance and general health applications. One peer-reviewed study cited in the episode found an 18% boost in sprint power at the end of a simulated triathlon, and a separate study showed improved final sprint performance after a 120 km road race simulation with no change in overall time. Full muscle saturation without a loading phase occurs at 3-4 weeks on a 5 gram daily dose. Creatine is permitted by WADA and legal at all levels of competitive sport.

The David Dunn episode covers his full WorldTour nutrition framework and is worth going back to if you want more on where creatine fits in a periodised plan. For the weight side of things, the episode on five fixable reasons you can't lose weight gives useful context on how extra body weight interacts with performance.

KEY QUOTES

“By week two, I was up 1.5 kg. So that's three lbs if you're watching over in the US. And I was a little freaked out a little bit because if you think 1.5 kg, one of these bottles is 750 mil. So, it's like carrying two full extra bottles of water everywhere you go. And it is true what the studies say. It's mostly water weight.”
Anthony Walsh — Former barrister turned full-time cyclist turned cycling coach, cat one license holder since 2010

“By week four, my 5-second sprint power was up about 5%, which is it's pretty big. And but the repeatability of those efforts seemed to improve for me. Like I could do more intervals of 10 seconds before I started to see a drop off, like kind of a time to exhaustion drop off.”
Anthony Walsh — Former barrister turned full-time cyclist turned cycling coach, cat one license holder since 2010

“Studies suggest that taking creatine with carbs allows muscles to store more glycogen, and we know that that's fuel for us. Um, and more glycogen will also mean better endurance late in a long ride or a race. So, even though you didn't kind of feel that anecdotally as you're, you know, as you're riding along, it could still be happening with your glycogen storage.”
Sarah — Co-host, Roadman Cycling podcast

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EPISODE TRANSCRIPT8 SECTIONS

Why I finally tried creatine

I did something I swore I'd never do as a cyclist, and it changed absolutely everything. After 10 years of racing and coaching, I finally tried creatine. I thought it was going to make me heavier and slower on the climbs. Boy, was I wrong. Wait, you gained how much power? Today, I'm sharing how creatine transformed my performance in one month. The good, the bad, and the myths we blew to pieces along the way. Is creatine a secret weapon for cyclists or did I just make a huge mistake? The answers absolutely blew my mind and I think they're going to surprise you, too. Welcome back to the Roadman podcast. I'm Anthony Walsh. I'm a former barristister turned full-time cyclist turned cycling coach. Today, I'm finally sharing a story I never thought I would tell. It's my first month using creatine as a cyclist. And I'm Sarah. I am the resident newbie. And I guess you could kind of call me a translator. when Anthony gets, you know, very technical, very sciency. So, Anthony, I've been dying to hear about this. You've been on the bike and training forever, and you've always really resisted taking creatine for some reason, but now all of a sudden, you're on this creatine train. What gives? Yeah, I know. It's wild. For years, I believed creatine wasn't for endurance athletes. I thought it was just going to add extra weight, that it was only for bodybuilders. But after a little bit of research and some conversations with legitimate experts on the podcast, I started to get a little bit of FOMO. And I thought, all right, it's finally time to see what all the hype is about. Yeah. So, today I think we're going to do a bit of a dive into why you changed your mind, right? And we're going to start off with your personal experience, the good, the bad, can I say it? The bloating, everything. The good, the bad, and the ugly. And then we're actually going to do a proper breakdown as to the science of how creatine works because I think think that's really important. There's also a lot of common myths out there about creatine. So let's either bust them or you know prove that they're true. And we're going to get into how cycling could be should be taken if you're a cyclist. It's not just for those gym buffs. By the end of this you'll know if creatine is a secret weapon for cyclists or it's just a misunderstood gym supplement. And trust me, I was shocked by the end of this. Like a month of taking this stuff, I was totally shocked by the results. Okay, picture this. I've been cycling competitively for at this stage over 10 years, almost 15 years. I've had a cat one license unbroken since 2010. And then some of those years in that period, I've been racing my bike full-time. I've seen all the fads come and go. The beetroot juices, the ketones, even the carb rinses, and I always thought creatine was in that category of fads. More for guys in the weight room, not really for skinny cyclists trying to optimize for parrot weight. Yeah, that's the, you know, that's what we think of when we think of creatine and these types of supplements, isn't it? That it's going to make you bulk up. As you said, it's for those gym buffs. It's for the gym bros with their shakers, but and we also think that it's going to make you bulk up, which as cyclists, we're really trying to avoid, especially if you're climbing. That's your biggest nightmare. Yeah. I was worried that I was going to put on a ton of weight, that I was going to have to lug up the mountains. But about a month ago, I had the tipping point. I had conversations on the podcast with some world tour coaches. And I just kept hearing over and over again. And it was David Dunn who's coaching nutrition for half a world tour. Put it in his list of supplements that every cyclist should be taking. And that kind of got me thinking, okay, maybe I've misunderstood the science in this. Plus, some older athletes had asked me about it, guys that I'm working with, and I realized that my knowledge base was based off old assumptions. I wasn't updating my knowledge. So I decided it was time to upgrade my knowledge but also volunteer myself as kind of a human guinea pig. So the plan was to commit to taking this stuff. This is creatine monohydrate. Must be the cheapest supplement in the world. The protocol I no massive loading phase just a steady 5 grams which is one scooper a day. I threw it into my recovery shake after I was having a session. I'm sure there's maybe better times to throw it in but that's when I threw it in.

First two weeks: water weight

And I wanted to see the realworld effects on firstly my body and then secondly my performance. Yeah. When you start taking something new like that, you it can be a little bit of a nerve-wracking experience, can't it? Because you you've got your systems down. You've done everything the exact same for so many years. I remember you texting me and you were like, "Okay, I've just taken my recovery drink with creatine in it. Maybe I'm going to wake up completely jacked tomorrow like the Hulk." Yeah. I was half expecting to wake up with these like bulging quads. But like spoiler alert that did that that definitely didn't happen. But what actually did happen was in the first week I noticed precisely nothing. I had no effect at all. I couldn't tell any difference on the bike. I didn't feel these superhero effects that people have talked about and documented. But I did start to see a change on the Wayne scales. Unfortunately, I got on the Wayne scales every morning. It felt like I was backend training camp for a track squad or something cuz you were leaving the Wayne scales in the hall. So when I was going to the bathroom first thing in the morning, I had to like step over them and weighing myself every day. And that number did start to change. Yeah. That I think that's the fear for everyone, isn't it? This that you're going to put on massive weight gain. And that's the elephant in the room for endurance athletes in particular. Yeah. By week two, I was up 1.5 kg. So that's three lbs if you're watching over in the US. And I was a little freaked out a little bit because if you think 1.5 kg, one of these bottles is 750 mil. So, it's like carrying two full extra bottles of water everywhere you go. And it is true what the studies say. It's mostly water weight. Like, I didn't notice much extra fat on my body when I done the mirror test. It's water weight cuz creatine makes your muscles hold more water. Yeah. I think for context, research shows that most people will put on about 1 to two kilograms when they first start taking creatine. So, that's pretty typical of what you were what you were experiencing. And that is as you said just due to water retention. Yeah. And I know intellectually that makes sense that you know to experience this but when it happens you still start to panic a little bit. You start thinking you know I'm not racing super serious but even in the club league races or local races I'm starting to think am I getting slower on the climbs now? And I remember by day 10 I was doing my usual hill repeat session on our local hill out the back ho. It's our local climb. It's roughly a 10-minute effort. And I definitely felt heavier. Like I was like this long grind up the hill. But the weird thing happened at this day 10 point. I got to the top of the hill. You know you turn right and there's that little short kicker up to the summit. It's like 30 seconds long. I hit that short punchy little hill. And it was the first time I noticed a extra kick. Okay, you're kind of selling me on it now because this is what I absolutely lack is that kick. Those fast your power. I'm I'm a I'm an engine. Do you think that was placebo or do you think it was real? So, it's a 30 secondond ramp and I do normally struggle to hold 800 watts on that 30 second ramp, but that day I got to the top, I felt a little bit fresher. And when I went to crank it, I blasted up. Afterwards, I got home, downloaded my Hammerhead, and I held between 850 and 900 watts in that entire 30 seconds, peaking out at around 900 in the last few seconds of it. That's my best short-term power in years. Now, I was out with a saddle absolutely slobbering everywhere, gasping on myself, but I had a little bit more in the tank for that explosive effort than I normally do, and that really surprise me. Yeah, that's huge. That amount of extra watts is absolutely absolutely massive. I think that lines up with the research as well. Creatine helps with those really high intensity bursts that you need. So, that's kind of what you found. Yeah, it does. That is what I experienced firsthand. Like a short hill sprint or any sort of short 10-second to 30 second effort that felt easier. I could push a little bit longer. My top end power, I felt like I could sustain a little bit longer. Over the 30 days, it did start to become a little bit more noticeable.

Sprint gains and recovery notes

As I say, around day 10 was that inflection point where I started to become aware of it. And I noticed it in that 30-day period. And by week four, my 5-second sprint power was up about 5%, which is it's pretty big. And but the repeatability of those efforts seemed to improve for me. Like I could do more intervals of 10 seconds before I started to see a drop off, like kind of a time to exhaustion drop off. Wow. That's really the dream, isn't it, for I guess riders like crit riders, crit racers, sprinters at the end of the race. But what about, you know, endurance riders like me who are kind of want to go out and do these big long days in the saddle? Yeah. Honestly, like on a 20inut effort, like if I went over the far side of the city to Wikllo where we have longer, steadier climbs, and those 20-minute efforts, I felt basically the same, maybe a little bit slower if the 20-minute effort was uphill. My heart rate, my perceived exertion on long climbs. It didn't really change much, which kind of matches studies showing that there's no benefit for pure endurance. And as for recovery, I think I wasn't as sore after some hard interval sessions or gym sessions, but it really is hard to be sure on that. Some studies have said the creatine may help reduce muscle damage or inflammation, and other studies found little impact on recovery. So, subjectively, maybe I felt a little bit less fatigued after those smashfest workouts. That could be the creatine. It could also be a placebo. It's hard to really differentiate the two for me because it was such a small change. Yeah, I think it could be real. I mean, we know that creatine it's so widely uh researched this point and we know that there are big recovery perks in resistance training. So, I don't see why that wouldn't go across to your your recovery in endurance training. Like, it's not a miracle. If you're feeling fresher, whether it's placebo or the actual creatine working, I mean, I'll take it. Yeah. So pro for me, I definitely noticed the boost in my sprint power, my top end power and those high intensity efforts and the repeatability of high intensity efforts. That was a welcome surprise. Now there was some cons. I did notice that I was going to say modest weight increase, but it is a pretty decent weight increase for me. It's like nearly the difference between my offseason weight and my onse weight. Plus, there was something that not a lot of people talk about. There's a mental hurdle of worrying about the weight gain cuz it's kind of going up and you're like going when is this going to stop. I didn't suddenly become a better climber. I got worse going uphill. But my sprint efforts I did feel difference. It's in the data but it was also I don't even feel like the data fully captured the difference in feeling that I had. It felt way different. I didn't turn into a bodybuilder. I didn't get the massive German track sprinter legs. Like I can promise you that. I can confirm for listeners, people who are watching this on YouTube, that Anthony still very much looks like a cyclist. He's not Mr. Universe, I'm afraid. Still has a noodle arms. So, the experiment does kind of seem like an overall win. So, are you going to stay on the creatine after your experiment? Yeah, I'm going to weigh this up. I think at least for now, I'm going to try it. I'm convinced enough by the benefit of explosive power that I'd like to keep kind of going with this experiment. And I'll keep it during training blocks where sprint and strength might matter. If I had a really important hill climb coming up or especially hilly stage race where I needed to drop weight, I would get off and drop that water weight. Road men. Whether you're a weekend warrior or a world tour rider, the right tools can make all the difference. Enter 4 precision 3 plus power meter. latest innovation from 4i. Designed to help you reach peak performance. The Precision 3 Plus power meter is a compact yet powerful unit. It weighs just 9 g and it's packed with features that set it apart, including integration with Apple's fine mind network, giving you the peace of mind by letting you track your power meter wherever it is. Plus, you've got up to 800 hours of battery life. We all know that accuracy is key and 4 Eyes delivers a groundbreaking plus or minus 1% accuracy thanks to their unique 3D strain gauge technology. For those seeking even more data, the Precision 3 Plus Pro meter offers dualsided power meter metrics, giving you detailed insights into pedaling efficiency, torque effectiveness, and left right balance.

How creatine fuels your muscles

For ER offers versatile product options to suit your needs. Choose from ride ready parameters with pre-installed units on Shimano cranks or up for factoryinstalled parameter where you send in your crank set for a custom installation. Ready to elevate your cycling game? Trust Forey Precision 3 Plus parameter. Precision performance and peace of mind allinone. Learn more by visiting fori Iii Iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii.com. That's fori Iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii i i i iii.com. I'm going to put that in the description down below. Okay, interesting. So, let's dig into why Anthony felt like he did and what exactly creatine is doing inside a cyclist body. So, we've got a little bit of a science lesson, but I'm going to keep this as painless as possible. Yeah, I know you've researched this a lot, so go on, Professor Sarah. I'll let you take it away. I have. I've I've even done a standalone podcast about creatine as well, which I'll link in the bottom, which maybe goes into it a in a little bit more detail, but basically creatine is this naturally occurring compound that we already have in our bodies. Our bodies make some and we get some of it from foods that we eat like red meat and fish. Um, it's stored mostly in our bodies as phospho creatine. And when you do these short really intense effort like a sprint or a super heavy lift, your muscles are using a rapid fire energy system that's called the ATP PC system. So basically this phospho creatine helps to regenerate this ATP system and that's the energy currency that your muscles use for contraction and we're obviously using that in cycling. So in simple terms would be like ATP is like the battery for muscular effort and the phosphocreatine is like a charger that recharges that battery fast. Yeah. Exactly. And then your muscle's natural phosphocreatine it stores in your body but those stores only last about 10 to 15 seconds at your maximum effort. So by supplementing but with creatine you're increasing those stores and that means that your muscle can turn out these higher power for a little bit longer before tiring. And that's why you could sustain your sprint for a few more seconds and you know hit that higher peak output because your muscle energy battery was a little bit bigger. Yeah, that's really interesting that it does feel like, you know, when I got to the top of the hill and I turned, it did feel like for those sprints that I had a slightly different gear for the short course. So, that definitely lines up in my experience. Yeah, I think even beyond fueling and I know that's what we were talking about how you felt on sprints, long endurance rides or long climbs, we have to talk about the other benefits that creatine um really has for athletes. So, it can help with your glycogen storage, and that's really important for us. Studies suggest that taking creatine with carbs allows muscles to store more glycogen, and we know that that's fuel for us. Um, and more glycogen will also mean better endurance late in a long ride or a race. So, even though you didn't kind of feel that anecdotally as you're, you know, as you're riding along, it could still be happening with your glycogen storage. And then this is really interesting. We know that creatine might also buffer some of the acidity in your muscles during those really high intensity potentially really fatiguing efforts. And as you kind of briefly touched on, there's ongoing research into creating aiding recovery and possibly helping to reduce inflammation. Now, that's not conclusive for endurance athletes, but sure, it couldn't hurt, could it? And we can't forget the weight going up though because creatine gets into the muscle cells and it pulls that water with it. So that's the water retention effect that a lot of people talk about. It's like it's like filling your muscles or injecting water like right under your muscles. That's why I added 1 to 2% in body weight. It's not fat and it's not even extra muscle. At least it's not extra muscle in the first month. It's mostly water and a bit of extra stored fuel as you said. Yeah. And we know that extra water in the muscles can be really good for this thing called thermmorreulation and that helps to reduce cramping. Old school myths said that creatine would actually dehydrate you or cause cramps. But we know that this isn't true. It doesn't increase cramping or dehydration. And if anything, by holding more water inside your muscles, it's going to help you keep more hydrated during especially heat and high stress. That's actually interesting you say that because I hadn't realized and I talked about my outdated assumptions. One of them was that around dehydration. I'd heard the water weight, but I also heard the dehydration.

Hydration, cramps, and legality

Intuitively, that doesn't even make much sense. You're holding extra water and you're more dehydrated. I did make sure to stay super well hydrated during the 30 days. I made more of an effort than I normally would. I had no cramping issues whatsoever on creatine. And then we had the real warm weather patch here as well during that. And I've done some long rides during that period and I felt absolutely fine. So the science lined up with my experience on that front. Yeah, I think we should it's really important to clarify again. We'll go into kind of some of the myths later, but creatine is not a steroid. It's not a hormone. It's not a doping drug. It's a supplement. So it's like any of your other supplements. It's a concentrated form of something that your body is already producing very naturally and using very naturally. And it's completely legal in sport. It's allowed by WADA, the World Anti-Doping Agency, and you'll pass any drug test with creatine in your system. But of course, we would always caution to make sure that you're buying it from reputable source just so it's not tainted with any contamination. I'm not sure Naughty Boy is a reputable source. Naughty Boy, it's not sponsored. But it it is one of the most researched supplements of all time. Like the International Society for Sports Nutrition calls it highly effective and very safe for both exercise and health applications. So we're not talking about some sort of snake oil here. It's not something that's coming into the market like ketones with a load of marketing hype and very little peer-reviewed data behind it. We've decades of data on creatine. Yeah, exactly. We know that creatine helps you produce that quick energy which is great for those short highintensity efforts. It causes a little bit of water gain in muscles which has pros and that's going to help you with uh muscle energy stores but unfortunately that little bit of heavier body to carry up the hill and it does not directly improve your aerobic energy or V2 max. Um we have seen some studies unfortunately where it might actually have a tiny drop in your V2 max if you gain weight but it can be incredibly helpful in allowing you to hit those intense effort numbers. Well, I guess that's because if your V2 max overall isn't increasing, which your weight's going up, your relative V2 max is down. So, I'm kind of thinking of creatine now going forward as like it's a bit of a turbo for my sprint, but it has very little impact on my endurance ride. And I think that's the message like for you going into do badlands this year. It's not going to suddenly turn you from someone that's like a real slow twitch diesler into a fast twitch sprinter overnight, but it might give you or someone else an extra edge in a decisive moment where you need to really punch it to hold on to a group over a climb or something like that. Or it could really help in the heat or, you know, because I know Badlands is going to be very, very warm and then I'm going to have to be doing some serious recovery in short periods of time on my downtime between doing those massive mileage. So, it is definitely something I'm going to look into, but you'll need to make that judgment call of is it worth carrying the extra weight on an event that has 7,000 plus meters of vertical? 16. There you go. 16,000 meters. Okay, let's do a little bit more on the kind of myths and some of the truths and untreats that pop up all of the time around creatine. So, um let's tackle this one first. Creatine will dehydrate you and give you cramps. Again, huge concern back in the day. Coaches would say, "Do not take it under any circumstance. You're going to cramp like crazy, especially on hot rides." Yeah. No. Confidently busted after my 30-day experience. As we touched on, there have been multiple studies found that creatine doesn't increase cramps or dehydration. In fact, some research with soldiers, athletes in heat found those they were using creatine had fewer heat related issues. So, this is key. You still need to drink fluids. This is not a replacement for a hydration strategy, but creatine isn't drying out your muscles like we previously thought it would. In fact, the holding water in the muscles could actually help with the whole hydration. And personally, this was my experience during the trial. Myth number two, creatine is going to destroy your kidneys. Now, this one does scare a lot of people because some supplements have gotten a bad reputation with health rumors. any evidence of kidney damage in the research that you did?

Debunking the kidney and steroid myths

No, the data hasn't seen any. I didn't get tested for kidney function before or after, but I'm hoping all is good. But the data doesn't support. If you're a healthy individual and you're taking normal doses, creatine does not harm your kidneys. This has been studied up and down. Even long-term usage over years has showed no adverse effects on healthy kidney function in athletes. The myth probably came from the fact that creatinine is the waste product and levels go up when you take creatine, but that's to be expected and it's not the same as kidney damage. Of course, if somebody has pre-existing kidney disease, you should consult your doctor before starting to take not just creatine, but any new supplement. Yeah. Okay. Next myth. Creatine is basically a steroid and illegal performance enhancer. Now, we've kind of addressed this, but just to be absolutely clear, creatine is not an an anabolic steroid. It's no relation to testosterone or any other hormones. It's legal in all sports. It's naturally found in your body and in foods. I think that perhaps it got this bad reputation because it was in fact and I go into this a bit more deeply in my own podcast. Um it was researched really heavily by by the Soviet Union back in the kind of 1950s60s and '7s when they were really kind of blurring the lines and pushing the boat out with all of these performance-enhancing drugs. And we know that a lot of anabolic steroids came from that era and from those labs. But creatine, just to reiterate, is not not cheating. It's just very smart nutrition. Yeah. And actually, I had my masters in sports doping law around this. And it's like what do we if we intuitively think about what should be on the band list? Like if something is performance-enhancing, you maybe think that should go on the band list. But then like carbohydrates are performance-enhancing. You're not going to put them on the band list. So then the secondary filter becomes, well, if it's performance-enhancing and it's harmful to your health, it should go on the band list. And for a long time, people did think creatine was harmful to your health. So, it kind of satisfied this two-part test of performance-enhancing and harmful to your health. So, there was this assumption that it was on the band list, but data came out shown it is not harmful to your health. So, it no longer satisfies this, but it's never been on the band list either. It is 100% allowed even if you're taking part in Olympics tour to France sport at the highest level. The only caveat is to avoid crosscontamination. Make sure you're using batch tested brands, uh, sports certified, NSFcertified, and you're not getting anything funky mixed into it. Yeah. Okay. Next myth. Creatine is only for bodybuilders. It has no use if you're an endurance cyclist. So, yeah, this is the old not for endurance line. Anthony, you believed this one yourself for years, didn't you? What's the reality? Well, this one is a little bit more nuanced nuanced because it is true that the biggest benefits from taking creatine are our power and strength. It's not going to help you ride any faster, any more efficient at a steady 200 watt endurance ride. But endurance sports, specifically races or these ultra endurance events now, they're not 100% steady state. There's different demands of the event. We talked about punching an over climb to stay with that group. There are critical moments, breakaways, surges, sprint finishes where extra power does matter. And research actually shows small but real benefits for endurance athletes in those high intensity moments. For example, one study that I found showed cyclists taking creatine improved their final sprint after 120 km road race simulation even if the overall time didn't change. So you can think about this as you're coming to the finish line in a group of six. You only need a small it could be a meter difference between winning and coming sixth in that race. Another study found an 18% boost in sprint power at the end of a long simulated triathlon event. So creatine seems to give you an edge at the end of these events and it isn't just for bodybuilders. Yeah, we also let's just touch on the point for older athletes and creatine can help you maintain muscle mass and strength as you age and that's a big endurance benefit in the long run too, right? It keeps you strong and injuryfree. So, there's a case he made that it's a good thing to take for aging cyclists trying to hold on to muscle. And I don't think we're going to touch on it in this uh today, but there's loads of uh studies and research around cognitive benefits of concussion as well.

Loading phases and cycling off

Coming back concussion. Oh wow. Okay. So maybe we can touch on that. Me and David D actually spoke about it. If anyone wants to go back and listen to that interview with David D. We talked about it quite a bit. Okay. The next myth. You need to load creatine and cycle on and off it not to lose the effect. So there is a little bit of bro science happening here. People talk about loading phases. You know 20 grams a day for a week and then cycling off for a week to reset. What's the scoop? Loading can saturate your muscles faster with creatine. That's true for sure, but it's not required. I skipped that aggressive loading phase. I 20 grams is a lot, right? That's about four times I think five grams. Yeah. So, I took five grams a day. That's one scoop. And by 3 to four weeks in, my muscles were fully saturated and I was seeing these results. You reach the same end point without the loading. But the the issue for me is I always have GI issues. So the research I seen was GI issues are more prevalent if you go for the loading phase as opposed to micro doing it in in that five grams a day. As for cycling on and off, that's not needed. It's just not supported. There's no evidence at all that your body forgets how to respond if you stay on creatine because it's not a stimulant. Like people will cycle off caffeine before a big event and then get back on caffeine to get that, you know, big bump event, but your receptors don't downregulate or anything like that. Some people cycle off because they don't want the extra water weight during a hilly stage race or a hill climb championship. Or maybe if you only want to carry the water weight during particularly relevant phases of your training, like you want to cycle onto it during the winter where you're doing heavier strength blocks and not all year round. But that's a personal preference, not a physiological necessity. Okay. Okay. Okay, so say I'm a scient cyclist listening to this or I'm a racer or maybe just even a recreational rider like myself and I'm wondering, okay, should I start taking creatine? What are the big factors that we should consider before doing that? I think the short answer is almost everybody should take creatine. If you wanted to go a little bit deeper and get a little bit more nuanced because you wanted to maybe cycle on or off or just be armed with a bit more information, I think creatine can be a useful tool. But the way I think about breaking it down is I think about the rider profile and the discipline we're in. We often bucket cyclists all in together. But there's such a difference between you doing badlands this year and someone getting ready for a a kilo on the track later in the year. If you're a track sprinter, if you're a crit racer or someone whose race involves like repeated surges or explosive efforts, creatine offers you really clear concrete databacked benefits. The extra punch, it could be race winning as if you're coming to the end of road races. On the other hand, if you're an ultra cyclist, multi-day events, bike packer style, a transcortiier style rider or a pure climber where every gram matters and you're sawing off the second and half your handlebars like we see in the British Hill Climb Champs and the efforts are steady, I think creatine is less impactful and the weight gained might more than offset the benefits that you're getting. It's telling the track cyclists and power athletes use creatine more often than the hill climb guys do. So match the tool to the job was the first thing I would say around it. I would also think about the training phase as I mentioned. Are you in a base training phase where you're prioritizing strength training? Either strength training on the bike or strength training off the bike. That might be a time to lean a little bit more into creatine usage. Age and health is also a consideration as well. Older cyclists may find creatine like a lot more beneficial and because it helps counter some of the age related muscle loss that can improve strength in mast's athletes. Also, vegetarians or vegans who tend to have lower baseline creatine stores might find a bigger performance boost from that supplementation. If you're a younger rider who's already naturally high in creatine from your diet or genetics, you mightn't find the exact effect that I'm talking about. You mightn't experience the same topend power improvements that I had over the course of this 30-day experiment. We have three long form podcasts every week. Some of them are 90 minutes or 2 hours long.

Cost, transparency, and final verdict

And I realize you're busy. Sometimes it's hard to cut through the noise and figure out the signal, figure out what the important parts are of these conversations. So, I've taken your feedback and once a week I'm delivering to your inbox a newsletter called the Saturday spin. It's a 4-minute read or less and it's going to break down the very best thing I've learned on the podcast this week. So, it's insights from the biggest names in the world who are physiologists, sports psychologists, and coaches. It's completely free to sign up to the newsletter. All you have to do is go to romancecycling.com, stick in your email address, and once a week on a Saturday morning, I will deliver the Saturday Spin newsletter direct to your inbox. The link is down below. Go sign up. And the other thing that we can't forget about as well is cost. It's one of the most affordable supplements out there, isn't it? I mean, we're not talking about these potions and lotions that are super expensive. A tub of creatine is like $15, $15 and it's going to last you months and months. So yeah, the barrier is quite low to getting your hands on it. Yeah, I think 100%. And I think if you do do it, this isn't We put out a video about testosterone use in masters. And one of the things around that's like the ma no one's talking about it obviously because it's illegal and that's why no one's talking about because it's on the band list. Creatine's not on the band list. You should be open about your use of creatine, especially with your coach or training buddy. Tell them that you're adding creatine into your plan. Start taking notes into your training peaks or your Vector or wherever you're keeping your notes. It helps, you know, you to track changes over time so you start noticing, okay, my weight's going up. Okay, here's why my weight's going up. My sprint power is going up. Okay, here's why my sprint power is going up. I've covered a lot in this or we've covered a lot in this to kind of package it all and try and put a bow on it. About a month ago, I was very skeptical. I was the ex full-time cyclist who came through a French system who are super old school and I taught creatine. It wasn't suitable for endurance athletes. Now, fast forward 30 days. I'm not so sure on this. After my experiment, I would categorically say I was wrong. I creatine didn't turn me into the Incredible Hulk. It didn't my endurance. It didn't dehydrate me. Instead, it gave me a noticeable boost in my top end power. It improved my ability to go at those key moments. And honestly, that experience 10 days in where I turned onto that hill and I kicked and I was able to kick again, I did feel like I had an extra gear in my sprint. Yeah. Oh my god, I can't believe you admitted you're wrong. and we caught it on camera. I can just replay that over and over and over to my heart's content. I mean, we have to remember that supplements are the cherry on top right that it gives you the creatine can give you this turbo boost, but it's not going to replace all of that solid training, nutrition, really good sleep, clean sleep routines, and you also put in the work a lot. It's not like a magic a ma magic kind of thing. you take a a scoop and you're going to go way harder. It's it's as I said something to add on to your training. Yeah, 100%. I think we're wrapping up for today, folks. Thank you for tuning in. If you're enjoying this video, you should take a second because it's a really complimentary video. There's a video we put out last week. It's about the differences between in the gym strength training and on the bike strength training where you're doing low cadence efforts. There's a lot of misconceptions and there's a lot of new emerging science around it. So, we took a really deep dive into doing it. So, if you are starting to take creatine and you want to pair it with strength training, this video is the perfect supplement. Sorry about the pun there. It's the perfect supplement for this video. Chat soon. See you next day.

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

does creatine help cyclists with sprint power+

Yes. Anthony Walsh recorded a roughly 5 percent increase in short-duration power output after 30 days on 5 grams of creatine monohydrate per day, holding 850 to 900 watts on a 30-second ramp where he previously struggled to reach 800. The benefit comes from improved phosphocreatine resynthesis, which supports repeated high-intensity efforts rather than endurance capacity directly.

how much weight do you gain taking creatine as a cyclist+

Anthony Walsh gained 1.5 kg by week two of his 30-day experiment, which is consistent with published research on water retention during creatine loading. The weight stabilised after that point and did not affect his endurance numbers. Climbers concerned about watts per kilogram should factor this in when deciding whether to use creatine during a racing block or restrict it to the off-season.

should cyclists do a creatine loading phase+

Anthony Walsh skipped the loading phase entirely and took a flat 5 grams per day added to his post-session recovery shake. His sprint power improvements were measurable within the 30-day window, suggesting a loading phase is not necessary to see results. Avoiding loading also reduces the acute water weight spike that concerns weight-sensitive riders.

does creatine cause muscle mass gain in endurance athletes+

Not meaningfully, provided training remains aerobically focused. Anthony Walsh argues that creatine benefits cyclists through improved neuromuscular punch on short efforts, not through hypertrophy. The weight gained in his experiment was water retention, not muscle tissue, and his endurance performance showed no decline across the 30-day programme.

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