I highly recommend creatine for cycling.
Creatine, found its way into many sports, cycling and long distance running being among the first sports where athletes played with it. At the time cyclists were experimenting with it, it was very expensive and hard to come by. Cyclists liked it, because the basic premise was that they didnt need to eat 10 steaks to get the same amount of stuff as you would out of a teaspoon of creatine. This was an attractive supplement for riders racing in the Tour and Giro, as anything to aid in recovery was a god-send.
Simply put, ATP-CP used up in the sprints and attacks could be replenished by creatine without eating a horse's leg.
A side-effect of creatine as many have mentioned is water retention. Which is great for people who put in high amount of hours on the bike, because hydrated muscles help with recovery after hours in the hot sun training.
I personally found that lactic acid (or lactate as some health industry clicks like to call it) was one of the main things that would send me into painful and unproductive training rides. With creatine, build up of lactic acid as i did my hill climbing bombs was padded somewhat by the good reserves of ATP in my muscles. I would do hill reps and be able to go on some nice strong rides the next day.
In no way shape or form is creatine a "pop-corn" suppliment. Anyone who uses the argument that if you stop taking it you lose all your false gains, obviously does not understand what training is. These are the same people who think that taking steroids makes you bigger. No, training makes you bigger (steroids just make you recover faster). If a desk worker takes steroids, all they are going to do is get fat. Similarly, if you take creatine and dont maximise your training, then sure, you get water retention and a few good pumps here and there, and when u stop you "lose" your "pop-corn" gains.
Creatine is extremely useful if you training hard and properly, because it aids in your recovery, to put it in very simple terms.
Is it safe? well, I have my reservations. I think that its not the best thing for you. By the way, make sure you get Creatine MONO-hydrate. Dont get any of this stuff with multi-vitamins, extra amino acids and all of that. Get pure, clean creatine. Everything else is junk, and most probably 100% reason why people get these "pop-corn" results
Last edited by Howzit; 06-03-09 at 04:12 AM.