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9/8/2006
Location
Spring Lake, MI
US
Edited Date/Time
6/3/2020 6:16pm
Getting straight to the point, if a rider struggled Sunday night with the altitude and heat, is it wrong to think they might have a hard time recovering fast enough to improve their finish 3 days later? Or Will there be guys just having a harder time each race, or will they be acclimated fairly quick.
Wondering if it’s like the Florida National last year where guys like Sexton had to pull off because of heat exhaustion and hearing they didn’t feel right for a couple of weeks.
I’m curious if this will only get easier for ET3 as the series goes on, or can we expect CW2 and Ken to be competitive up until the last race.
Wondering if it’s like the Florida National last year where guys like Sexton had to pull off because of heat exhaustion and hearing they didn’t feel right for a couple of weeks.
I’m curious if this will only get easier for ET3 as the series goes on, or can we expect CW2 and Ken to be competitive up until the last race.
Your question, yes a rider will progress with time. Everyone’s response is different. Any one person’s response can be different from one trip to altitude to the next.
However, in the SX race scenario, these athletes are not getting normal recovery time before the next event.
I have to wonder how much this slows down that progress with getting used to altitude?
I can't help but think, if they were tired Sunday (but not normally very tired after a low altitude SX), it's going to have a cumulative effect - they may be even more tired after the next race & the next.
Six more races - we'll see.
If I was out there, obviously drinking a ton of water helps and IVs will bounce you back(but illegal with wada) but I’d assume some of the top guys are using portable hyperbaric chambers, unless that’s illegal with WADa? A lot of top football and basketball players travel with them for recovery. I’ve used it a few times and it’s pretty cool.
The Shop
Frankly, if a rider suffered in dry heat at 4500 of elevation, they are really going to suffer when the nationals start. The dryness of high desert combined with some heat and a little elevation does make staying hydrated difficult.
All that said, the mention of a lot of riders staying in Park City makes sense, and hopefully they are doing their training at lower elevations. The idea being to work out with as much oxygen as possible, and sleep with less, training the body to produce more red blood cells, as or as known in cycling 'train low sleep high'.
My personal experience is I don't really feel any different at 5,000 ft, but definitely do over 9,000 ft.
Some pro tour riders go to South America to spend time at altitude, mostly it's riders from the area though from what I remember.
A variation on train low, sleep high.
Speaking of doping, it was interesting that Tom Danielson was mentioned as coaching Barcia, but his two doping suspensions weren't.
Nice!
Post a reply to: Any altitude fitness experts?