riding at elevation

Looking for suggestions to make a week long trip to 12000 feet of elevation more pleasant. I live in Mass on the coast (no elevation at all). I have been training on the nearest elevation I can find... did a century in the Adirondak Mountains with 5700' of climbing and a base elevation of 1200'. Next week I am doing the Mount Washington Century in NH. That will have 10-12,000 feet of elevation gain with a base height of 3000. My trip is to Taos, NM for some serious mountain biking. Last time I rode at 8000 feet my aesthma was crazy...there is NO air up there. We are doing one day of downhilling and several days of cross country, leaving our road bikes home. any ideas for getting my lungs ready for some serious abuse?

Karen,

Hate to say it, but I can't think of any way to train for elevation without having elevation to train on. It takes a good month to really acclimatize to higher elevations. I would think the best thing you can do is to train as much as possible, get your legs and lungs as strong as you can before you go and then just enjoy once you get there. Sounds like you are already doing that. I also live in the flatlands, no elevation, right next to the Mississippi river. I rode in Colorado last summer. Loved it, but definitely noticed the lack of oxygen! We mostly rode on the road, but did a day of mountain biking at Crested Butte. Awesomely beautiful area, but climbing on the mountain bike gave me a new max heart rate! I had to stop partway up and catch my breath. Once we were up, tho', it was okay. And I love hills! You just go, do what you can do, and enjoy being on a bike. :-)

Oh, and make sure you stay well-hydrated, before and during your trip. It will help prevent altitude sickness.

Have fun!

The atmospheric pressure that you SLEEP at is actually more important to acclimatization than the pressure that you ride at. Many of the pro riders actually sleep in hypoxia tents that you see advertised in Bicycling Magazine. Getting to the high altitude as soon as possible and sleeping at that altitude BEFORE you do any exercise will help a lot. Even one night really helps.

When I hiked to Mt. Whitney, I got such bad altitude sickeness at 12000 feet that I didn't think I would make it to the top. After spending the night there at the 12000 level, I was able to make it to the top the next day. Huge difference in how I felt!