Six high school competitive cyclists were administered with NaHCO3 (sodium bicarbonate , metabolic alkalosis) and CaCO3 (calcium carbonate ; placebo) and were tested for the effect on maximal oxygen uptake, the exercise time to exhaustion, and anaerobic lactate threshold (AT-HLa) during 1 km and 3 km cycling races and a graded bicycle exercise.

The following results were obtained.

(1) All the subjects cycled faster by .75 sec under the metabolic alkalosis condition than under placebo condition in I km race. However, the difference was not statistically significant.

(2) The race time for 3 km cycling race was significantly shorter by at least 3.8 sec under the metabolic alkalosis condition.

(3) The maximum oxygen uptake increased by more than 55 % (3.3 ml/kg. min-1) under the experiment condition.

(4) Although there was no statistical significance, the exercise time to exhaustion lasted 23 sec longer under the experiment condition.

(5) The AT-HLa did not show difference between the conditions.

The experiment condition, however, favored the subjects with the oxygen uptake, V02max, and workload at the anaerobic threshold It was concluded that the metabolic alkalosis induced by NaHCO3 improves the anaerobic power endurance of cyclists. Further studies are needed to find whether the alkalosis increased the maximal aerobic capacity and anaerobic threshold level.