July rides

[rebeccaC]

Enjoy Glacier! I know it is incredibly beautiful but hope there are no wildfires in the area. Smoky hiking = no muy bueno.

no wildfires or smoke from any far away fire.....just some clouds this morning and amazing visuals

Question: do you find the altitude to be an issue? I suspect a flatlander like me would need some time to adjust.

Since I live and mostly ride at sea level, for a ride like Ebbetts I’ll adjust my diet (with some vitamin and iron supplements too) to help increase my red blood cell count which helps in getting more oxygen to my muscles. I scheduled some vo2 max intervals into my commutes home for a couple of weeks to help build the capacity of my lungs to more efficiently absorb oxygen. I also get into a deep breathing style on climbs that not only gets more oxygen into my lungs but helps in relaxing my body and mind. The moments of irrationality on the initial east side Ebbetts climb, that I wrote about, were eliminated by focusing on my breathing technique. I’ve usually used the lower elevation of the Santa Monica mountains to help build my climbing muscles, efficiency, and endurance. Those four things, for me, do help in dealing with the lower levels of oxygen at higher elevations.

Good to hear that your healing is going well…and like the Pema quote below I’m a big fan of focusing on and feeding the positives!!!! I think I’ve written before that….patience is a virtue.