N=1 Series Part 4 Sodium Bicarbonate

Introduction
This is part 4 of 10 of the N=1 series of becoming a stronger cyclist for less than a cup of coffee a day. In this series I am going to take you through my journey from my local Masters C to Masters A in the space of 18 months, at the age of 57.

If you are reading this series for the first time, you can go back and read
Part 1, where I start with a daily smoothie and Creatine.
Part 2, where I incorporated sprint training into a weekly Zone ride
Part 3, where I introduced strength training

In Part 4, I look at the impact of sodium bicarbonate, which I commenced in early January, when I started racing the regular Wednesday Masters crit race on the Teardrop here in Melbourne, just a couple of hours after my 2hr zone 2 ride. This was not the first time I had used bicarb. I experimented with it back in 2021 during an Auscycling 3 stage tour on Zwift and it got me a win in B grade. Back then I put 3mg of bicarb per kilogram of body weight into a drink bottle with 500ml of water and sipped on it 60-120min pre race. While the results were there, it tasted awful and I experienced some gastro intestinal distress.

Later on I heard from a podcast that ingesting the bicarb with carbohydrate could lessen the GI issues, so I started by adding 2mg/kg of body weight to allow my body to get used to it. This was added my morning oats (120g, 20g choc protein powder, milk of your choice, some maple syrup) about 90min pre-race or before a very hard group ride such as the local Peak Cycles King Lake ride with its 20min climb.

Many of us will be familiar with an image of Canadian cyclist Mike Woods at the 2024 World Championship Road Race in Zurich, eating bicarbonate gel from a plastic bowl with a spoon while riding, only an hour or so after the start of the 273.9km road race. It turns out he was eating the Maurten bicarb gel, which costs around US$100 for a bundle of products.

Next I heard pro-cyclist Cyrus Monk on his podcast, Train like a Monk talking about how good it would be to be able to top up with an extra 5g of bicarb per hour during a longer race. At this stage I was already making my own homemade gels, so I started adding 5g to these gels. Now I was onto something.

🚴 Purpose

This personal experiment aimed to explore whether consuming sodium bicarbonate (baking soda) prior to cycling races could enhance performance. While studies suggest it may buffer lactic acid and improve high-intensity output, real-world application varies—and I wanted to see how it worked for me, under  racing or hard group ride conditions.

👤 Individual Focus

I’m a competitive amateur cyclist who regularly participates in criteriums, track and road races. My fitness level is high, my training consistent, and I tend to race at threshold or above. This experiment was about gaining an edge in race-day performance, whether that meant improved endurance, delayed fatigue, or better anaerobic bursts.

I chose sodium bicarbonate because it’s inexpensive, legal, and widely studied. I wasn’t aiming to replicate lab conditions—I wanted to see if it worked in practice, not theory.

🎯 Control and Measurement

To standardize my approach across races:

- Dosage: 0.3g/kg body weight taken with carbohydrate ~90 minutes before race time.

- Form: Dissolved in pre-race meal of rolled oats soaked over night (recipe above).

- Timing: Consumed 90min pre-ride for consistency.

- Metric Tracked: Power

- Subjective effort and recovery

- GI discomfort or side effects

- Perceived stamina during surges and sprints


📊 Data Analysis

Over the course of the season, a few trends emerged:

- Anaerobic resilience: In short, high-intensity races with lots of surging (e.g., crits), I felt able to push harder in the final laps when I used sodium bicarbonate.

- GI issues: Miimal stomach discomfort, becuase I mixed the sodium bicarbonate with carbohydrate and drank plenty of water.

- Power metrics: Average and peak power numbers were slightly elevated when dosed, but not dramatically—subjective feelings of reduced burn and fatigue were more consistent.

⚠️ Limitations

This was a self-run, single-subject experiment, so there are important caveats:

- Placebo effect: Just knowing I had “an edge” might have influenced my mental race approach.

- The cumulative impacts of the 3 earlier interventions, will have played some role in the results

- Ride variability: Weather, terrain, tactics, and competitors can drastically influence outcomes.

- No blinding or double-checking: Unlike clinical studies, there was no control for psychological bias or my body's physiology.

- Physiological sensitivity: Sodium bicarbonate affects individuals differently—some see performance gains, others only GI pain.

The Results

- The results have been positive and I have been more competitive and less fatigued during races, efforts, sprints and 20min climbs. FTP up 4.2%. Best ever power numbers from 7.5 - 23min and a record 20min at 338 Watts or a FTP of 321 Watts, just over 4.15W/kg. Not my highest, Watts/kg, but I finally broke 20min on the local benchmark Kinglake climb after 8 years and 37 attempts.

- Sprint results: Here I have compared my results from the previous year to the first month of bicarb intervention and my record power numbers. As you can see, my sprint number did not move much, but I did get close to the previous year's 30sec number.

Sprint

- Endurance results: Again I have compared my results from the previous year to the first month of bicarb intervention and my record power numbers. January racing only consisted of criteriums from 45-60min. so there is no chance to explore the use of bicarb soda over longer race durations. Essentially most of my times from 30sec to 60min were better than the previous year. Power numbers for 7.5 - 23min were all PBs.

Endurance

Cost
$4.55 will buy a kilogram, which will get me 40 x 25g pre-race servings. That's $0.11 a serve.

Summary
Sodium bicarbonate, taken with carbs before races, gave measurable endurance gains, reduced fatigue, and breakthrough performances—at just 11 cents per dose.

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