As Justus pointed out, parachuting in from the lowlands and subjecting yourself to repeated climbs near and above treeline (where there's not enough oxygen for trees to grow) is a sure recipe to suffer from AMS (acute mountain sickness) if not just pure exhaustion and demoralization. Trying to eat your first elephant in one bite is not a recipe for success or satisfaction. I'm writing this because a lot of cyclists (even here in Denver) tend to downplay or outright disagree that high alpine environments have special considerations (not just acclimatization, but also afternoon thunderstorms which can turn that next fun descent into a hail-coated ice skating rink on almost any summer afternoon.
As Ryan Olson said, pick a modest 50-100 mile event here in the front range or high country, something with a big climb but not multiples above 8000' el. Make it a 3-4 day weekend holiday trip, or a summer week, and plan a few nice day rides with ambitious climbing and also allow yourself to enjoy Colorado. By your third day of cycling, you'll learn if altitude affects / acclimatization were particularly crucial for your physiology. Read about the famous Coors Classic race routes around Boulder, those climbs that Lemond, Phinney, Hampsten, and all those greats from the time had battled. You could really make a nice multi-day set of rides from a Boulder home base and have a great time climbing too. By the way, the climbs around Boulder are steeper than many of the high elevation passes. You can suffer appropriately (coming from the lowlands) just a few miles from charming Pearl Street mall. Pedal up Lickskillet Road to Gold Hill and reward yourself with a soda when you get to the general store. I promise you'll have stories to tell back home. Also don't forget resistance training doesn't just mean cycling. Want to ride strong? Hike up your local ski hill (bump) or tall parking garage steps with a 20 pounds of ruck iron on your back once a week. Do some squats, maybe even with a traditional bar and weight plates. That would make a big difference particularly when coming from the flatlands to climb in the rockies. On Friday, January 3, 2025 at 9:01:45 PM UTC-7 [email protected] wrote: > A recent investigation into a non-car method to get to a CR event in North > Carolina with a bicycle revealed that multiple long-distance Amtrak routes > now permit bicycles, not only as checked baggage, but as assembled vehicles > in carry-on storage: > > https://www.amtrak.com/onboard/baggage-policy/baggage-special-items.html > > In California, the Capitol Corridor line (Bay Area-Sacramento) has allowed > carry-on bike storage for normal-sized bikes (no tandems or Xtracycles) for > years, but this expansion to long-haul lines like the California Zephyr > (Oakland-Chicago), the Coast Starlight (LA-Seattle), the Empire Builder > (Chicago-Seattle) opens up a lot of options. Coming from Michigan, my hunch > is that a combination of the Blue Water (Port Huron-Chicago) or the > Wolverine (Pontiac-Chicago) - whichever one goes through your local station > - plus the California Zephyr will get you to Colorado (Denver and Grand > Junction, at least) with your bike in a couple of days. > > Long trips on a train are a real adventure. They're sort of a more modest > land-based version of crossing the Atlantic on a steamship. You can see the > scenery, but you don't really stop anywhere long enough to get off, so you > stay on the train until you get to your destination, and hang out with the > other passengers. > > Peter Adler > who went from Oakland>Seattle>Minneapolis>Chicago>Denver>Sparks (when the > train had to be replaced)>Oakland in 1995 for a wedding In Madison, WI, > with other side trips in Minneapolis, Chicago and Denver and had a great > time > Berkeley, CA > > On Thursday, January 2, 2025 at 12:40:16 PM UTC-8 aeroperf wrote: > > I personally think you’re slightly crazy for going for this one, but, ahh, > youth. It appears to be a well-run event. > > Since you’ve mentioned before about taking the bike on AMTRAK to get > to/from events, the California Zephyr goes from Chicago to Denver. > > -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "RBW Owners Bunch" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To view this discussion visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/rbw-owners-bunch/daf644e2-ec04-4888-8fb6-e8e8bd651c30n%40googlegroups.com.
