Out of the saddle climbing and bone density

[bushido5]

Check out this link from Velonews

http://www.velonews.com/train/articles/13527.0.html

 

[chainstay]

How about making sure there's some better source of calcium to be had than your bones? I am posing the question; I don't know the answer.

For what its worth, I have noticed that Hammer Perpetuem, my on the bike liquid food for long distance rides, has about 243 mg of calcium per 260 calorie serving. Most of my other bike food/drinks have way less calcium, or don't mention it at all on their labels. I can't say whether taking calcium supplementation during long distance rides is something we need to be concerned about, but it sounds sensible to me.

 

[sogood]

If the osteoclasts break down bone in order to maintain blood Ph, wouldn't that imply that long climbs may work against bone density?

No. Osteoclasts function to resorb bones, but they really work in concert with osteoblasts pending the particular physical and hormonal environment. By resorbing bone matrix, it allows the osteoblasts to relay and remodel new bone matrix that better matches the requirements of the new environment. And the Ca exchanges is miniscule in the scheme of things. Blood/tissue fluid pH is regulated by many other physiological systems.