Into thin air

Bridgette and I drove up to the South Lake Tahoe area after work on Friday. No one said that sleeping, breathing or racing at altitude was going to be easy, but we never expected to run out of breath on the first of three flights of stairs on our way up to the condo. There might as well have been a neon sign flashing: Welcome to 7,334 feet ladies!

At high altitudes barometric pressure is lower, meaning oxygen densities are lower than usual and carbon dioxide densities are higher than usual. The human body compensates for the decreased levels of oxygen available by increasing its heart and exhalation rates to rid itself of the increased amounts of carbon dioxide being inhaled.

Symptoms of acclimatization to altitude include:
-- Faster heart rate
-- Breathlessness after exercise
-- Insomnia
-- headache

Apparently fit people are less likely to feel the effects of higher altitudes. Given how much we train and race, we are fitter than most people, and yet we were still affected by the altitude. This did not deter us from blowing off the crit on Sunday so that we could climb Kingsbury Grade to the Daggett Summit at 7,334 feet. We were fascinated by the number of houses we passed that had their own private putting greens. No pool. Just a putting green. We suspected that the majority of the population were also lifetime members of the NRA, especially since Douglas County supported George W. Bush in the 2004 presidential election.