With all this coverage on the World Cup and playing at altitude it had me thinking . One of the mountains is 1000 meters on my local ride would that altitude effect me or does the lack of oxygen only become noticable at higher altitudes ,anyone know the minimum height that the lack of oxygen takes effect from ?
Hi,
1000m is fine and you wont notice any difference from sea level. Anything above about 1800m you start to notice a difference. Also depends on how long you stay up there and what your starting altitude was....
Snowdon is 1083m which by international mountain standards barely counts.
As above you'll not be affected at all until you reach 1800-2000m above sea level and even then you'll acclimatise pretty quickly.
Above 2500 and you'll be getting short of breath for something as hard as cycling. Walking wouldn't be so bad.
Yup. As the others have said you will start to feel it at about 1800m. We have some rides that get to about that altitude here in NZ, like this one
http://mountainbikingzane.wordpress.com/2009/03/16/last-of-the-summer-mountain-biking/
I used to work as a mtb guide in bolivia. Biking around at 3000 to 4000 meters is damn hard work. We used to shuttle a lot because riding up the hills took too long!!
The amount of oxygen in any given volume of air decreases with each meter you ascend, so you could measure the effect at 1,000m and would notice a small difference. If the effects of altitude didnt kick in until 2,000m plus, there would be no need for sportsman to acclimatise for games in S Africa, Denver etc, but I guess there you're talking about the top 1% of athletes working at the margins of what can be achieved.
As above, 2,500m seems to be generally accepted to be the height when symptoms kick in and AMS (accute mountain sickness) becomes possible. You'd acclimatise pretty quick at that height though.
Inzane - I rode with Bolivia Downhill Madness last year after spending a couple of weeks over 5,000m , it's pretty tough on a 40lb bike at 4,000m isnt it!?
Yeh, hard. There is some fantastic single track through terrific terrain etc there tho. I was working for Gravity Bolivia.
If you want some fantastic single track and are heading that way definitely look them up http://www.gravitybolivia.com/index.php?mod=homeb
spanishbarry - you are only struggling to breath because you need to lose a few kilos in weight 😆
lol @ nigew
Spanishbarry - You also struggled on the hills around Calderdale, as Nige said above its nowt to do with oxygen!!! 😆
I rode and slept above 4000m for eight days last year, going up to 5400m. God it was slow going with full panniers. But when I dropped back down low it felt amazing!
Worth noting that how altitude affects you is genetic. So you might be fine at 2,500m, you might struggle.
Do you mean would it affect the performance of your 4X4? I seem to remember you driving up all the mountains with you not caring how beat up my hired Ford Focus was getting. Although maybe the lack of oxygen had caused Nige to faint and that sweet old lady was giving him mouth to mouth to bring him round!! 8)
Here in New Mexico, I live at 6000 feet and ride at an altitude of 6000-9000 feet regularly, so am pretty acclimated, but as soon as I head up into the higher New Mexico/Colorado mountains above 9000 ft, I can really feel it. Last summer I rode the Colorado Trail north of Durango, CO from Molas Pass southward and that trail starts at 10,900 and climbs to about 12,000 at it's highest point. Really a struggle as the first couple miles from the pass must climb a couple thousand feet.
I have read a couple of articles by sports physiologists who say that it takes a few weeks to fully acclimate to big elevation increases.
Of course, when I go somewhere and ride at or near sea level it's like having an afterburner with all the oxygen.
I must admit I didn't notice any problems at 9,500ft on my holiday just gone.
Can be a killer.......
Arent TT records normaly done at altitue for the opposite reason? Less air = faster time?