Racing at Elevation

[madisongrrl]

Here is the story. I live in Wisconsin. It's relatively flat here. I'll be racing in Colorado this summer at Norba Nationals in the XC event.

http://www.snowmassnational.com/

Here is a map of last year's course. Note the elevation is ~8500-10,000 feet with 1400 feet of climbing per lap.

http://www.snowmassnational.com/XC.htm

Needless to say I'm worried about being able to breathe. I'm interested in hearing experiences about racing at altitude.

[CyclaSutra]

As someone who lives at 6,000 feet altitude, I know that it takes the body up to six months to fully acclimatize physiologically, but only a few days to cope much better. So the earlier you could arrive (a week before? three days before the race?) the better. Altitude WILL affect the way your body handles any substance like alcohol, so I would not drink the day before.

Other than that, all you can do is drink plenty of water and hope for the best, far as I know. The people who live at that altitude may have a bit of an advantage over you, but if you've never had any problems at altitude before, you should be OK.

[maillotpois]

I live at sea level and do a fair amount of riding at altitude, in the Sierras. (The Death Ride which I have done twice ranges from 5,000 - 9,000 feet - its 130 miles with about 14,000 feet of climbing total, and we've also ridden a lot in Yosemite up to Tioga Pass and Glacier Point, about 10,000 feet).

As mentioned, it would be helpful to get there a bit early to acclimate. Also, everyone responds differently to elevation and if you have no experience with it, it would be nice to know what to expect from your body. I find I breathe more, sometimes I don't feel that I want to sustain an anaerobic effort level as long as I would usually, and sometimes the climbing slows a bit, but otherwise I don't feel any ill effects. Most of my problems with altitude happen the first day I am there unpacking the car!

Good luck.