I have promised myself that I the 2013 cycling season will be different that seasons past. I came into this winter feeling healthy and consistently strong for the first time in almost 3 years after a long battle with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome. I knew this was my chance to optimize my training, my equipment and my cycling lifestyle and take a shot at achieving professional status. I have made a commitment to improving my game in any way I can. Some efforts were fruitless, while some have yielded important, noticeable results. My experiment with Optygen HP by First Endurance fits nicely into the latter category. In my pursuit of excellence and improvement Optygen HP has provided substantial benefits.

Admittedly, it was First Endurance’s somewhat glitzy advertising efforts that led me to try Optygen HP. The endorsements by professionals caught my eye and led me to their site. As a Human Kinetics student and physiology geek I was obligated to read through all of the dozens of pages of clinical research that went into the product. These numerous studies reinforced what I had previously read about the key ingredients of Rhodiola Rosea and Beta Alanine-they could make you faster. The Optygen webpage claims increases in exercise capacity, reduction in lactate production and improved recovery. In my recovery from Chronic Fatigue I had already experimented with Rhodiola and found it to be an effective “adaptogen”. Adaptogens are a class of supplements that help the endocrine system adapt to stressful conditions, assisting with the appropriate production and elimination of key hormones. I had never used Beta-Alanine but the literature compiled by First Endurance was strong in support of its efficacy in endurance sport including many independent double blind studies. On paper, I was excited about Optygen HP. It claimed to have high quality, sources of Beta Alanine, Rodiola and many other potentially ergogenic substances in effective doses. Still, I knew enough about the supplement business to know that the only study on Optygen HP that really mattered would be my own.

About 7 weeks ago, I started taking 4 capsules a day with my post workout meal as directed. First Endurance suggested that I would have to wait a month to start feeling like Superman on the bike so I tempered my expectations. However after my first few uses of the product I noticed a pleasant increase in energy in the hours after ingestion, a feeling I would describe as a “healthy brain buzz”. Most cyclists know the bone-weary, drained sensation that often accompanies hard workouts. Instead, after I took Optygen HP, I found myself feeling content and almost productive in the afternoons following 4-5 hour rides in Okanagan hills. This helped me get my body and mind going again on double ride days with a criterium of time trial in the evening hours, something that I have struggled with in the past. I attribute this immediate improvement to Optygens potent high dose source of Rhodiola Rosea, which has similar reported effects in scientific and anecdotal reports. 

In the long term, the other claimed benefits of Optygen have begun to manifest. Upon finishing my semester at university I have embarked on a very heavy block of training and racing to build towards my “A-races” in June and July. Based on past experiences, I have had expectations for my fatigue levels in response to training. In non-technical terms, I have expected to be fairly knackered after certain workouts and to feel like canine excrement after others. To my pleasant surprise this has not been the case and my recovery has been outstanding. Last season and even this winter, I would experience at least 1-2 days a week when my efforts would leave me too sore and tired to perform at any decent level. Since starting Optygen I haven’t really had one of those miserable days and have felt I had fairly “good legs” going into every workout. While some o

f this improvement can be attributed to better health and cumulative improvement, I am forced to conclude that Optygen HP has given me a considerable advantage in recovery.

While recovery seems to be the biggest area of impact for Optygen HP, I have noticed subtle differences in my performance as well. One of my weaknesses as a cyclist is my “diesel engine” and the inability to accelerate from a hard pace and recover during crits, time trials and climbs. You can picture me as a sort of Bradley Wiggins, just with about 100 fewer watts and better dentistry. Past struggles aside, in the past month I have been surprising myself. I have been able to punch it over small hills in time trials and get back on my pace; shaving off precious seconds and earning a couple early season time trial victories. Last week I attacked several times in rapid succession to take both the Beer Prime and the win at the hotly contested local criterium series. I have never been able to make those kinds of efforts before without getting smacked over the head with a wave of lactic acid and oxygen debt. Even if Optygen HP is only responsible for some of that improvement, I am pleased with the product.

To be clear Optygen HP hasn’t provided earth-shattering improvements and vaulted me into the Protour. That kind of advantage is probably only attainable through the use of Mexican pharmacies and the purchase “coaching advice” from certain doctors. No, Optygen won’t rock your world. But for about 2$/day it will give you a tangible advantage in recovery, performance capacity and even quality of life during training. I will recommend it to both my cycling teammates and my coaching clients looking for that elusive edge in training and competition. For an athlete looking for every legal advantage, I believe that Optygen HP is money well spent.