Leo C. Driscoll

I experienced a 24x7 headache when I went from sea-level biking to biking at Aspen where each breath got only 70 percent of the oxygen I get biking at sea level. What are your experiences? Has anyone tried alternative medicine to fight high altitude sickness?

WorldIRC

Oxygen Mask?

KleinMp99

Damn thats gotta suck.........never been that high, would like experience that sometime.

DnvrFox

There are NUMEROUS web sites on higher altitude activities. Do a Google search.

Three things to do for sure:

1. Keep well hydrated

2. Drink absolutely no alcohol

3. Take it easy and rest.

I live at 6,000 feet, and in the summer bike at 9,000-10,500 ft. It is not uncommon for me to get a headache the first dayn and I will rest aand sleep and the next day will be fine.

It actually takes from 2 weeks to 2 months to get fully acclimated, but just 1 day will help a lot.

Some of the different categories of altitude sickness are:

Acute Mountain Sickness (AMS)
High Altitude Cerebral Edema (acutely ill)
High Altitude Pulmonary Edema (can be fatal)

Please see an excellent article at:

https://www.high-altitude-medicine.com/AMS.html

and https://www.ismmed.org/np_altitude_tutorial.htm

nathank

DnvrFox is right on...

8000ft is right at the level where many people get the first minor problems with high-altitude - many then at 10,000ft and most by 14,000ft... altitude sickness is a strange thing where no one knows exactly who will be affected when. very fit people can get it just as easily as the unfit. and there are climbers who have been at 20,000ft numerous times and never had a problem, who then one day at 12,000ft get altitude sickness.

as DenverFox says, acclimization is the key. i'm a mountaineer as well as cyclist and when climbing any high peak an acclimization plan is necessary - basically you need at least 1 full day but more like 2-3 for a climb in the 12-14,000 range and then more beyound that. i had mild symptoms of Acute Mountain Sickness once at only 10,000ft although i've been much higher many other times without problem. i had a major headache, diziness, slow thinking, etc. and about 1 hour after i went down to 6000ft i was just fine.

for cycling, as DenverFox said, hydration, no alcohol, etc.

there are a bunch of medicines but part of the danger is that these are symptons of a real problem with your body so it can be dangerous to mask the symptoms -- people die from High Altitude Pulmonary Edema...

on the other hand, 8,000ft even for a sea-level guy is not THAT high and generally shouldn't be life-threatening, so maybe taking a little ibuprofen and drinking lots of water the first 2 days is a good plan. if you fly from sea-level (Boston) to Colorado and then go into the mountains in the same day, i think a little headache is pretty normal and just a fact of it.

if it's really bad, just go down in elevation.

in the summer i often cycle above 2000m - on my TransAlp tour in September we did 2 passes over 2700m - and i never have any problems (but then i'm in the mountains quite a bit although i currently only live at 510m in Munich)

BigHit-Maniac

I can totally relate bro.

Last year I rode in Moab Utah, and in Vail Colorado. I currently live in Eastern Kansas. The elevation change was over 5,000 feet AT LEAST for me.

The very first day we arrived, the whole group I was with could hardly breathe. It felt like we were completely out of shape, and could hardly make it up hills we usually breeze through back home. It took us about 2 days to finally begin to reach our full potential for power. By the time we were at the end of our trip (14 days), we were all making max power.

The things I found that worked were:

Drink lots of water, rest and ride LIGHT the first 1-2 days, and just take it easy. You'll feel like you're "wasting your vacation time" by doing so, but believe me the reward is worth it.


-Matt

CrashTestDummy

We camped and rode at 9k feet this past summer. We were doing to usual alcohol drinking and getting dehydrated and we still rode fine. It surprised us that we didn't really notice the altitude. I live at about 250ft above sea level. We're not in great shape but we ride about once a week. I guess it just depends on the person.

MikeOK

A couple of us try to go to Colorado every summer and ride. It's about 800' elevation here, and usually one of us starts getting puny about Denver (5,000') but he's a sissy. I usually get wimpy at about 10,000'. I only got really bad one time when we went up to about 12,500'. The third of our bunch never even notices it. It's strange how it effects some and not others. I've tried all the remedies- drank water one trip the whole 12 hour drive up, all that did was make me have to stop and p every 10 miles. Also tried taking gingko balboa (or something like that). Didn't work but I sure was in a good mood. I think if it gets you, all you can do is descend until it gets better, or maybe take a long trip and go higher each day until you get used to it.

Dirtgrinder

Went to New Mexico last year and Colorado this year. Both rides in the mountains. It seems the magic number for me was 11,500 ft. Nothing else bothered me but when we hit that altitude it was really noticeable. No sickness or headaches, just couldn't seem to get enough air.

Joe Gardner

My personal limit is ~12,500 feet, anything above that is pure pain to my lungs. Every time i go down to sea level, i feel like superman

Scooby Snax

Last year before going tocolorado I made the effort two weeks before to increace my wateer drinking...
It helped, I think because I was well hydrated before I got there... and in hte habit of drinking lots of water, not after I rememberd to drink water while I was there...

danr

Going from sea level to 8k feet is quite the jump in elevation for most people. Once again, it depends on the person. In order to really hammer down in those conditions, you may need to get acclimated. I can't stress enough the importance of driinking plenty of water, even if you're going for a simple hike.

I use to live at 6k feet and venturing up to 8-9k feet for a mnt bike ride was quite the strain on my lungs, even for being somewhat acclimated. I couldn't even imagine going straight from sea level to 8k feet, and trying to mnt bike.

If you encounter this situation again, I would suggest going for more casual rides, and working your way up from there.

I did see some type of contraction that simulates high-altitude oxygen levels. It's a mouthpiece that you work out with. I suppose it filters some of the oxygen to your lungs. I don't know if it's all hype, dangerous, or bona fide. Anyone know what I'm talking about?

nathank

that's the main thing: it effects every person differently and being strong and fit doesn't really seem to have much effect - i.e. a really strong Cat 1 rider can feel like dirt at 10,000ft while a couch potato beer drinking weekend warrior can go to 14,000 and never feel any difference.

also, it affects different people differently at different times --- i know so many stories of seasoned mountain climbers who've been over 20,000ft many times without problems and then get sick at 11,000... although i've been in the 12,000 to 15,000ft range often with only mild headaches, my only real altitude effects were at only 9,000 to 10,000 ft (i was beat from a HARD mountain bike ride the day before and slept 2 hours in the back of my truck)

VegasCyclist

once I rode with some guys from utah and we summited a mountain that was ~8000 ft, now being from vegas I'm used to 2000 ft elevation, but the strange thing was when I got near the summit, I felt like I was going to puke, and my legs just had no energy, it was really strange... I had to take a short break and drink some water, and the feeling passed, but it is hard to aclimate to altitude changes if you are not used to them. The guys from utah, (who I guess were used to ~7000 ft elev.) had no trouble at all...

nathank

in theory it should help, but in practice may not: in recent years as the benefits of high elevation training for cardio sports has been more clear, people have developed these "low pressure high-altitude" simulators where they put you in a room and reduce the pressure and oxygen content. for some reason they were less effective than expected - and also very expensive.

the body produces more oxygen-carrying cells in the blood when exposed to high elevation. that's why you acclimate but it takes time and also why water and rest probably helps b/c your body can better produce the stuff to enhance the blood. it's like your body produces EPO when at high altitude.

Leo C. Driscoll

Thanks guys for telling me how you bike at 8,000 ft. (2,438 m). This reply is overdue, I've been in Telluride Medical Center enjoying Colorado massages and acupuncture at 11,000 ft. ;-) No seriously, thanks. I did take some of your advice when I did some extreme (for me) biking in Durango. The first three days I just hung out enjoying the sun and Guinness. Then I did better at 8,000 ft. I still felt like a chain smoker on steep ascents and I almost forgot to breathe going downhill over Durango babyheads. But no headaches! My contribution to the complex subject of high altitude biking: I took a lot of ginseng, ginkgo, and garlic with Trinity ("Source matters.") spring water from Paradise, Idaho (www.trinitysprings.com). Forget that Gator hype altitude drink. This time, it was not IN me! Also I celebrated by having more sun and Guinness!

BTW, speaking of Durango- her most famous mountain biker, Ned Overend, thinks attitude may be more of a factor than altitude. If any of you have just seen the destruction of Oakland by Tampa Bay, you may agree that attitude is a big factor (big random variable?) in sports! Ned mountain bikes like a champion, but then again he lives at 6,512 ft. (1,986 m).

Again, speaking of Durango- the town has the courage to warn visitors that there's AMS that can take you out the saddle in those gorgeous mesas!

www.creativelinks.com/recreat/altitude.htm.

Leo C. Driscoll

Durango URL correction

https://www.creativelinks.com/

I used to have a boss, Mike Lodato, 280 lb. tackle for Colgate who would stand towering in the aisle and bellow out on all flights, "Anyone here from Rochester?". Sure enough! There always was! Maybe they were afraid not to be from Rochester ;-) So in that spirit, anyone here from Durango? (or Telluride?)