On a road bike that is…
Does anyone have any tips for conditioning for riding at altitude?
I’ve ridden my DH bike at altitude plenty of times with no problems (Morzine etc), but I have recently moved to western Kansas (road riding is about your lot here). I’ve been out for seven rides now, and still can’t get my breathing or heart rate down to anywhere near what I was used to in Glasgow, and subsequently my stamina has gone completely. It’s about 3300′ here, and I thought I would just get acclimatized by sitting on my ass, but that’s not working out great for me…
I’m figuring just taking it easy and building up gradually would be best, but are there any breathing exercises etc that may help?

Cheers.

Sorry this totally unrelated to your post but you dont have an email in your profile 😀

I have an LTC like you I bought a 2011 36 Talas last May and have been using them on the bike since. I saw that you used to have some revs on the front – what was it like with those on as I am finding that for singletack and most of the trails I could do with the bike being a bit more nippy – did the revs help with this? Could also be teh setup of the 36’s – 10 months on and I am still playing with the setup!

You’re not that high – high altitude for sports is above 1500m so you are 2/3 of the way there, ish. A steady build up is the sensible way for any changes in location. Is the air dryer there as well? It has to be drier than Scottish West coast weather! That, plus changes in body clock, routine etc hit harder than you think. Just keep plugging away with steady increases.

As above, 1000m isn’t that high in the scheme of things. I’ve done some riding at 1500-2500m and that was noticably harder than at 800m.

I’d just ride as normal, there are various altitude tablets you can buy but they’re just iron supplements so pop down to the supermarket and get some of those?

Ride up grades not upgrades, there are no shortcuts.

I’ve ridden at 10,000ft and not had any ill effects, after only a few days at 9,000 or so.

3,300 is nothing.

That, plus changes in body clock, routine etc

This ^^^ plus perhaps changes in diet too.

You could however have some underlying problem.

Btw what brings you to Kansas?