Professional cycling’s modern-day feeding epidemic sees riders consistently consume 120g or more of carbohydrates per hour. Gels, bars, blocks… palatable and practical pockets of power are all the rage. Which made Israel-Premier Tech’s Michael Woods’ mid-race meal at last year’s World Championship road race all the more incongruous. The Canadian was caught on camera, riding along no-handed and at speed, scooping a snack out of a Tupperware bowl with a tiny plastic spoon. “It’s just some Maurten bicarb,” he said afterwards. “It’s really impressive.” 

More specifically, it was Swedish company Maurten’s sodium bicarbonate Bicarb System that’s being used by all manner of athletes, from Ineos Grenadiers riders to 800m Olympic gold medallist Keely Hodgkinson and Premier League footballers. So, what gives? Why are the world’s best supplementing with sodium bicarbonate? And should you do the same? It’s time to talk buffering, bowel movements and better biking.

Bicarbonate Yoda

Andy Sparks is research innovations manager at Maurten and honorary visiting research fellow at Liverpool John Moores University. I first came across Sparks many years ago at the Science & Cycling Conference, which takes place a few days before the Grand Départ of the Tour de France. Then, working at Edge Hill University in Lancashire, Sparks presented his early research on sodium bicarbonate. “It has great potential,” he told me. Sparks is back again this year, in Lille, where, perhaps with a justified smugness, he’ll present the results of his latest work with Maurten, who’ve helped Sparks give an old concept a contemporary makeover. 

“The original idea was to ingest the alkali sodium bicarbonate to buffer ‘lactic acid’,” he says. “But we now know that lactic acid doesn’t exist in humans, despite TV commentators blaming it for every type of performance decline.

Woods was spotted eating bicarb from a plastic pot during the Worlds road race (Image: Eurosport)

“In fact, during intense exercise, lactate and hydrogen ions are produced. Lactate is an important fuel that’s recycled into glucose for more energy, while the hydrogen ions change the pH levels inside the muscle. That interferes with skeletal muscle contraction due to binding to calcium sites.

“The hydrogen ions eventually leave the muscle and alter the pH outside the muscle [in the blood], making it more acidic. That’s where it’s ‘buffered’ or neutralised by your naturally occurring bicarbonate buffering system. This causes a reaction whereby carbon dioxide is produced and removed, but this uses up the bicarbonate. 

“That’s why by ingesting sodium bicarbonate, we’re essentially increasing the availability of bicarbonate to enable muscle contraction to occur more optimally.” And that's why Woods was scooping Maurten’s Bicarb System like his life depended on it.

Higher, faster, longer

Due to the hydrogen generated during hard efforts, the traditional view and much of the historical research concluded that sodium bicarbonate is beneficial for high-intensity work lasting between 30 seconds and 12 minutes. That might be the opinion of our older, experienced roadies, who are likely to be aware of sodium bicarbonate as a mooted ergogenic aid before marginal gains became a byword for small improvements. That’s because a wealth of research in this area took place in the 1980s and 90s, with some promising results. Unfortunately, for far too many, those promising results were never reached.

“It fell out of favour because of the potentially associated gastrointestinal symptoms that can be severe in some athletes but by no means all,” says Sparks. These symptoms ranged from burping to nausea and diarrhoea. (In fact, I have a theory that sodium bicarbonate feeding lay behind Gary Lineker lunging for the ball and defecating himself during the England-Ireland match at the 1990 World Cup. I reached out to Lineker for a book I wrote on football but, in this instance, the poacher supreme remained quiet.) Understandably, the initial enthusiasm died down. 

However, the past couple of years have seen advances in delivery techniques that have mitigated these gastrointestinal issues, with Maurten at the commercial forefront.

“The Maurten Bicarb System uses sodium bicarbonate in the form of mini-tablets and combines this with a carbohydrate hydrogel to protect it from stomach acids to provide more optimal bicarb delivery,” says Sparks. “Our data suggests that it drastically reduces the gastrointestinal response.”

Maurten's Bicarb System was one of the first of its kind (Photo courtesy of Maurten)

This hydrogel is also seen in the company’s drinks and gel range, and is arguably one of the great drivers of the increased carbohydrate feeding swilling around the professional peloton. Like many sporting ergogenics – albeit many of them, like EPO and steroids, are banned by the World Anti-Doping Agency – hydrogel technology came from the medical arena as it’s used in medicines to treat cancer patients.

That, says Sparks, is key to not only preventing sickness but also extending its performance-enhancing timeline from its historical wall of 12 minutes. “We’ve seen it’s ergogenic in repeated 4km cycling bouts as well as in 40km cycling time trials. By reducing the side-effects, you change the rate and volume of bicarbonate, which delays the peak in blood bicarbonate because you’re losing some of it in the stomach (when it mixes with stomach acid it produces carbon dioxide and some is lost). This means more is available for longer, so it’s useful for longer and repeated efforts, too.”

Historically, sodium bicarbonate ingestion was the sole preserve of short time trials. But armed with this knowledge, it’s become increasingly common for riders to ingest a supplement like Maurten before a hard stage that might feature an early mountain or two. You can then top up a la Woods and his Tupperware or, if a German nutrition company has its way, via what it’s pitching as the world’s first bicarbonate energy gel.

“It’s in addition to our existing bicarbonate product,” says Robert Gorgos, Mnstry nutrition scientist and formerly head of nutrition at Red Bull Bora-Hansgrohe. “It’s individual, but the bicarbonate starts to wear off after around three hours. This contains 5g of sodium and potassium bicarbonate for strategic re-loading during long races. We added the potassium as the sodium bicarbonate tasted a little too salty on its own.”

It's certainly more practical than Maurten’s meals on wheels, but is practicality matched by diligent digestion? We’re yet to test the gel, but where Maurten has its hydrogel coating, Mnstry uses what they call ‘encapsulation technology’. “The exact manufacturing process is a secret,” says Gorgos, “but we encapsulate the bicarbonate in a specific carbohydrate, which is intended to bypass the stomach acid and only be released in the intestines. Therefore, it has no side effects on burping or digestive issues.”

Gorgos echoes Sparks’ sentiments that their research has shown greater repeatability of high-power efforts when supplemented, so potentially very useful when attacking an Alpine climb or sprinting to the line.

Timing is everything

If you’re persuaded that sodium bicarbonate has a place in your ergogenic larder, the research suggests taking between 0.2g and 0.3g of sodium bicarbonate per kilogram of bodyweight. Those who are heavier and have bicarbonate experience edge closer to the 0.3g mark, says Sparks, while newcomers to the Maurten system and lighter riders are generally lower. “But it’s so individual that you need to play around with both quantity and timings.”

But as broad advice, Sparks says you should consume the Maurten system at least 1.5-two hours before intense exercise and at least an hour after a proper meal. That’s to allow sufficient time for the mini-bicarbonate tablets to reach the intestine and be absorbed.

For Mnstry, Gorgos suggest the following: “Measure out 0.2g to 0.3g per kilogramme of our Bicarb product, so between 14g to 21g for a 70kg rider, and then consume 60% of it three hours before your effort. Take the other 40% around 75 minutes before the start. If it’s a long race, you can top up with our gel after three hours and another a couple of hours later.”

Mnstry's gel is a more convenient solution for consuming bicarb mid-race (Photo: Mnstry/©Lukas Löhr)

Like all new equipment and supplements, try them in training first. You don’t want any stomach hilarity on your big day. But how often you trial and refine is, of course, down to the individual. “When I was working with professional cyclists, we’d often take it twice a week – once in training and once at a one-day race,” says Gorgos. “For stage racing, it’d be time trials and some mountain stages. We’re still learning about the benefits of bicarbonate, but we did notice in training that the more you practise with it, not only the better you tolerate it, and the more you can consume, but by working that bit harder, you enjoyed a greater stimulus and greater training adaptation.”
 
Coach Joe Beer, who’s worked with hundreds of road cyclists and triathletes over the years, told us he’d keep sodium bicarbonate for your Sunday best; in other words, racing. “Tick off the big wins first, like consistent training and good eating. This is one of those marginal gains,” he added. “Though I hear good things about Maurten, you probably wouldn’t train with it too much as it costs around £15 a hit. That soon adds up. That said, for a supplement that can lead to a proven performance gain, £15 on race day is very reasonable.” 

One final consideration when it comes to sodium bicarbonate supplementing is that, by its very nature, it contains a relatively high level of salt. That, says Gorgos, is something to note, and you should adjust your fuelling plan accordingly.

“We recommend decreasing the salt content of your diet when taking sodium bicarbonate,” he says. “Look at the sodium content of your meals around ingestion time and the sodium in your energy or electrolyte drinks. This is particularly important for professional riders during stage races because sodium retains water, which can increase riders’ weight by an extra kilogram-and-a-half if they have too much salt. That said, intensity of effort, sweat rate, and the heat all affect sodium intake, so, again, it’s very much an individual thing.”

Sodium bicarbonate loading is a proven performance-enhancer with evidence stretching all the way back to the 1930s. Unfortunately, it’s historically been a proven performance-ender thanks to those gastrointestinal issues. Maurten was convinced of the athletic benefits and, thanks to the hydrogel technology that’s arguably cemented its place as a supplement leader. Similar to Mnstry’s claims, it’d be wonderful if the benefits were verified by independent means. But in the case of a product that’s renowned for causing a Lineker (allegedly), you and your cycling mates would soon discover if those claims were simply hard sell over scientific substance.

“Believe me when I say not all bicarbonate is the same,” Sparks says. “It’s extremely dependent on how and when it’s consumed. Many ignore that fact because they think it’s all the same; that there’s little more to it than chucking some bicarbonate powder in a drink and downing it. That’s very cheap, but not very effective and much more likely to cause side effects. This is a proven performance-enhancer. But choose judiciously.”

Cover image couresy of Maurten