The Olympic Objective 

How it all Vegan

Kenneth Williams is a Professional Vegan Bodybuilder, as well as a personal trainer, financial advisor, and model. He and his wife, Evelyn, also help to promote healthy living and eating through their company Vegan Muscle Power. They offer guidance in strengthening the mind, body, and spirit through a holistic approach.

Kenneth spoke to me briefly about his background with, and approach towards bodybuilding, and their goals for Vegan Muscle Power.



Erin: How and when did you get interested in bodybuilding?

Kenneth: I have used weight lifting in my daily exercise regimen for at least 15 years but it was three years ago that I began bodybuilding and training to compete. While working at Marin YMCA, I met several people that mentioned I had great symmetry and would do quite well if I was in bodybuilding. I met Linden King while working as a personal trainer and he was the first to mention bodybuilding. Gary Bester, a fellow-trainer, also mentioned my symmetry and potential if I were to ever enter the field of bodybuilding. The third person I met was Sean Scott, a professional natural bodybuilder that I first read about in an article in the Marin Independent Journal. He was a personal trainer at Gold??????s gym in Corte Madera, CA and we started talking about natural bodybuilding and again, he mentioned my chances of being a great bodybuilder.


Erin: How do you retain sponsorship, and/ or is there sponsorship you would like to have?

Kenneth: I retain sponsorship through continued performance and competitions. As long as I am training and show proof that I am at the gym working out, I am able to retain sponsorship. Keeping sponsors updated on my training and ability to perform is a
priority. With the help of my wife, Evelyn, I keep in contact with each of my sponsors and send them photos.

I would like further sponsorship and endorsement from nutrition and dietary supplementation companies, sports apparel companies, and natural/organic food companies.


Erin: What sparked your interest for a vegan lifestyle?

Kenneth: I always felt drawn to the Vegan alternative dietary lifestyle. My thoughts and feelings were Vegan-oriented even before I began living the vegan lifestyle. Before I became vegan, I did not like the way my body felt and I felt incomplete. I wanted to cure myself of any pain, suffering and hopelessness that comes along with dealing in today??????s world. I found a solution in veganism and I see the world differently??????I have more compassion.


Erin: How do you promote your business Vegan Muscle Power?

Kenneth: In Vegan Muscle Power (VMP), we rely on the internet as our main tool to reach the local communities as well as the world. We also send packages to companies telling them of Vegan Muscle Power and our interest in possibly developing a working relationship.
Every time I compete, I am represented by VMP and I am the featured athlete.


Erin: Do you find it is possible to get all of the nutrients and protein you need as an athlete? Do you take supplements?

Kenneth: I found it easy to get all the nutrients and protein I need as an athlete with help from my vegan wife, Evelyn. Through reading books and other nutritional sources, I am able to obtain all of the needed supplementation. As a vegan, I rely on soy protein powders, soy products, and vegetables and needed essential omega-3 fatty acids from products such as hemp seeds (Manitoba Harvest). I also take Earthrise Spirulina, vitamins and minerals from whole foods.


Erin: Do you think it is possible for endurance athletes, such as cyclists, to be vegan and successful on the world-class level?

Kenneth: Yes. If you do a little research you will find that several Olympic athletes are vegan, included some cyclists.


Erin: Are there differences you have noticed in your performance because of your diet?

Kenneth: I am now more energized. I sleep a lot better and my rest has definitely improved. I am able to build stronger muscle and over-all my body feels great. I am better able to obtain the muscle shape, tone, and size needed to compete successfully.


Erin: Do you feel the commitment to being vegan is worth the payoff?

Kenneth: My health is worth the payoff. Knowing my immune system is just as strong as my muscle is something worth striving for. My wife and I literally have a healthy relationship that is as innovative and resourceful as our vegan diet.


Erin: What are your future goals as a bodybuilder, and for your company?

Kenneth: My goal as a bodybuilder is winning 'Mr. Olympia' of the Natural Bodybuilding world. For our VMP Company, Evelyn and I plan to found a 'Holistic Fitness Center/Club' that includes focus on health, nutrition and exercise/fitness. We also want to include a VMP restaurant within the facility itself.

Genetics and Doping in Cycling and Sports

Given the recent controversy over the use of steroids and performance enhancing drugs, I felt an overview of performance enhancing drugs and their impact on athletes -- especially women -- was in order.

Women and Strength Performance

I have found that women have the same biological ability to develop strength and power as men when subjected to high quality training. What works for the male athlete works equally for the female athlete.

However, the degree to which a woman athlete can develop muscle mass and strength is dependent upon a number of factors. These include: heredity, body type, diet, the level of adrenal androgen (testosterone) secretion, and the type and intensity of a strength training program.

Women manufacture about one seventh the amount of testosterone that men do. After puberty, a woman begins to produce a constant, adult level of testosterone, and the production is split about 50:50 between the ovaries and adrenal glands. After menopause, testosterone production drops much further. Studies have shown that testosterone helps to maintain muscle and bone, and higher testosterone levels increase energy and aggression in both women and men.

Performance Enhancing Drugs in Cycling

According to sports historians, the use of drugs to increase performance in athletics appears to have been routine by the post-World War II era. At the Olympic level, abuse was rampant, and it wasn't until the 1968 Summer Games in Mexico City that any rudimentary drug testing was enforced.

Though it has been more common for men to use performance enhancing drugs in cycling, women have used them as well. They include: anabolic steroids, growth hormones, testosterone, and EPO, which have all been used to increase strength, and to shorten an athlete's recovery time by repairing muscle cells faster. Drug testing is enforced in the Olympics, Tour de France, and in National and International Cycling events, however, the penalties and drug testing vary wildly. Moreover, the types of drugs are varied.

To give a brief background of each drug, anabolic steroids were developed in the 1930's, and were used to treat diseases in males whose bodies did not produce enough testosterone. These drugs are also used for conditions such as rare types of anemia and kidney disease. Many new anabolic steroids have been created by changing the way chemicals were put together so certain effects were stronger.

EPO is a genetically-engineered version of a natural hormone made by the kidney that stimulates bone marrow to make red blood cells. Synthetic EPO is sold as a rescue medicine for treating anemia in endstage kidney disease, when the production of EPO declines.

Because red blood cells carry oxygen to the muscles, and cyclists need a large amount of oxygen during their sport, raising the number of red blood cells improves performance.

In the past, bike racers have also tried to increase the number of red blood cells by removing their own blood, storing it, and transfusing it back just before a race. Nowadays, this process of "blood doping" has been replaced by genetic engineering. Athletes can simply inject EPO, which causes the body to make the cells.

Since EPO is a naturally occurring hormone, testing for it exclusively is difficult. Unable to measure EPO itself, the Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI) rely on a surrogate test that measures the density of cells in the blood. A bike racers blood on average has a cellular content of 43- 47 percent, so the UCI decreed that anyone with a level above 50 percent would be disqualified for taking EPO. Detecting EPO is also tricky, since training at high altitude also increases the number of red blood cells.

Growth hormones (HGH) stimulate the growth of bones and muscle, and like EPO, cannot be reliably detected in abusers. Testosterone also urges the RNA, or message center, in muscle cells to create more protein, and hence more muscles. For most women and men, testosterone production peaks in their twenties and slowly declines.


Genetic Enhancement

More recently, "gene doping" has been added to the list of banned substances in athletics.

In a meeting for the American Association of Science, Lee Sweeney of the University of Pennsylvania has found ways to increase muscle mass, strength, and endurance by injections of a gene-manipulated virus that he tested on rats.

The virus goes to the muscle tissue, and causes a rapid growth of cells, causing the muscle to grow in size and strength by 15 to 30 percent. When the technique was used on rats that were also put through an exercise program, the animals doubled their muscle strength.

Sweeney said, "If a normal person were to inject this, their muscles would get stronger without them doing anything. If they are athletes in training, the rat study indicates that their training would be much more effective, injury would be overcome more easily, and the effect of the training would last a much longer time."

Sweeney also said that already half of the e-mails he received are from athletes or sports trainers. And unlike performance enhancing drugs, the gene therapy cannot be detected by blood or urine tests. Testing would require a biopsy by a sophisticated DNA laboratory to detect the use of gene therapy in an athlete.

Dick Pound of McGill University and the World Anti-Doping Agency, which controls doping in athletics, said the sports community lost control of drugs for performance enhancement in the 1960's to 1990's, and "we've been playing catch-up ever since."

Gene therapy and performance enhancing drugs betray the very essence of sport, and it should be that athletes use their natural genetics, talents, and training to compete. But widespread use and disemination of drug products has changed the nature of sport as we know it.

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Dirty Girls

It's December 14, 2003, and I'm at the USCF Cyclocross Nationals, Portland Oregon. The weather conditions here are wet and rainy, and the PIR race course has turned into thick, deep mud, in the consistency many call "peanut butter". Racers can sink as much as 8 inches racing on the course, as spectators sink similarly when walking around.

The course consists of a flat one mile loop, offset with a short power climb, then followed by another climb that is more gradual. There are one set of barriers and 5-6 runs per lap; 6 runs depending if the rider's strengths are suited more towards running than powering through the mud.

For this year's Nationals, Saturn is the title sponsor, and other companies who have set up booths to endorse their product and the event include: Specialized, Time, VeloNews, Clif Bar, Cannondale, Redline, Giant, and Trek. An estimated 3,000 people are also here to support the race.

In the Elite Women's race, 40 riders enter the field, among them 2001 Mountain Bike World Champion Allison Dunlap, 2002 Cyclocross National Champion Anne Knapp, and 2003 UCI Cyclocross points leader, Carmen D'Aluisio, seen flying by in the photo below.

At 35 years old, D'Aluisio is one of America's top cyclocross racers, and plans to retire after this season's World Championships. They will be held in Pont-Chateau, France on February 1, 2004. D'Aluisio is sponsored by Clif Bar, Empella, Cyclocrossworld.com, Marmot, Cane Creek, Giro, and Yakima.

During the Women's race, it was Clif Bar teammate Gina Hall who set a fast pace in the start, eventually taking Dunlap, and Rachel Lloyd from team Redline/ Ritchey with her. By the third lap, order had been set between the riders for podium places, with Dunlap in the lead to take the victory, Lloyd 19 seconds behind for second place, as well as strong finishes from Hall for third place, D'Aluisio for fourth place, and Knapp for fifth place.

Here is an interview with D'Aluisio following the race:

Erin: Are you happy with your result at Nationals?

Carmen: I got a good start off the line, but when we went off the track and into the dirt, I lost contact with the group of three. A small gap opened, and I couldn't close it at that point. I had a slow start, but after a couple laps, I was riding a lot stronger. I am happy with the way I rode, and I am happy with my result.

Erin: Do you have advice for younger women pursuing pro cycling?

Carmen: It is really important to recognize the dedication and the sacrifices it takes to reach a goal like that. I think there are a lot of people, men and women, who think they would like to race professionally because it sounds romantic. But really, you have to have a lot of
inner drive, and you have to be able to sacrifice a lot of things.

You also have to focus on every part of your life, because it really affects what you do as an athlete.

I've noticed the younger women who are able to make the transition are able to see themselves as equals to the women who are at the top of their sport. They have made sacrifices, and they don't back down from challenging people in those spots. They may not be able to beat them, but they do not have that fear.

Erin: What was it like living at the Colorado Springs Olympic Training Center?

Carmen: Living at the OTC was a really positive experience for me. I think partly because I was a little older than the rest of the riders there. I didn't have to worry about anything except focusing on getting better as a cyclist, and I really utilized the coaching, sports medicine, physiology, and testing departments that are there. Financially it was a huge benefit because it allowed me not to worry about making rent.

It also put me in closer contact with the National team, and training with women that were the best in the Nation. It pushed me to rise to their level.

Erin: Is it possible to have a family, and a career in cycling?

Carmen: Yes, Linda Breneman was on the 1996 Olympic Road Team, and also had a family. She spent a year away prior to the Olympics, and it was hard for her to be away from her family, but that is part of the sacrifice she and her family made. Sherry Kain is another regional rider who raced at the top of her sport, and also involved her family in her racing.

Erin: What are your goals for the remainder of the season?

Carmen: I just want to go out and race hard, compete hard, and give it my best. Sure, being World Champion sounds nice, but there is a level where I have to be realistic. I know what my capabilities are, and medaling at World's would be awesome. For that to happen though, everything would have to be perfect that day.

Erin: Who have been your biggest supporters?

Carmen: My #1 supporter is my husband Chris. Without his support, and belief, and encouragement, I probably still wouldn't be competing. There is pretty much an endless list, like product sponsors, host housing, USA Cycling, the other women who I've raced with, and all the people that are in between.

HerStory on the Nevada City Classic

The Nevada City Classic is a bike race that deserves attention. It was created in 1960 by Charlie Allert, a lithography print shop owner and bike enthusiast. Also a bike racer, he envisioned Nevada City to have the potential to be a great course and wonderful setting.

The first professional women's race began four years after the men's, and both pro and amateur cyclists continue to compete today, making the Nevada City Classic the 2nd oldest bike race in the country.

The 1.1 mile loop cuts through historic downtown Nevada City, climbing past homes dating back to the Victorian Era, and descending quickly by commercial buildings reminiscent of the Gold Rush.

The event takes place every Father's Day weekend, attracting large crowds, (once up to 30,000 people), the circuit of regional racers, as well as some of the top racers in the history of cycling.

Racers such as: Connie Carpenter, Liz Chapman, Karen Kurrek-Brems, Rebecca Twigg, Katrin Tobin-Paulin, and Inga Thompson. And for the men: Greg LeMond, Chris McGovern, Lance Armstrong, Tyler Hamilton, and Ben & Andy Jacques-Maynes.

Among the women mentioned above include: National Champions, World Champions, Olympians, and winners of the HP Women's Challenge.

The Nevada City Classic was considered the #1 women's race in the country. However, attendance and corporate sponsorship has suffered due to the HP Women's Challenge in Idaho, formerly the largest International women's stage race in the country. Sadly, Hewlett Packard announced in 2002 that it will not extend its title sponsorship of the Women's Challenge, and the event has been cancelled.

Perhaps, this setback will be an opportunity for another prestigious event to step up, and support women's cycling. Furthermore, maybe this will also be an opportunity for the Nevada City Classic to redeem its reputation in women's racing, and attract some of the Top Women in cycling once more.

Up until now, a local man or woman has never won the race. I hope to be the first woman to change the trend.