BOULDER — Tom Danielson would like to make the following public service announcement to his competition. To some it may seem like a psych job but if you see Danielson’s face when he says it, it comes across just as it sounds.
Like a warning.
Said Danielson, a favorite in Colorado’s inaugural USA Pro Cycling Challenge, which begins Monday: “The last four miles of Independence Pass are very, very, very difficult.”
How difficult? Let’s get past the numbers first. Independence Pass is 12,095 feet. It’s the highest climb in North American and European cycling. Oh, that is except for 12,126-foot Cottonwood Pass, which cyclists must climb 60 miles before Independence.
Instead, let’s look at this picture: Danielson, 33, has lived and trained in Colorado’s elevation for 15 years. He just finished ninth in the Tour de France. He’s at the peak of his career. And, well, let him explain it . . .
“So here I am in Tour de France form and riding over Independence Pass and feeling lightheaded and suffering,” Danielson said. “There’s no way I could even get over that without experiencing all the different types of emotions and physical feelings just from the altitude alone.”
The seven-day Pro Cycling Challenge may be an amusing feature on the pro circuit, but it’s a slasher movie in the eyes of the pros. For the record, it doesn’t feature the highest climb in the world. Lake Qinghai in the Tour of China is 12,514 feet.
But Cottonwood and “Indy” dwarf the highest points in the Tour de France (Col du Galibier, 8,729 feet), the Giro d’Italia (Cima Coppi, 9,101) and the Vuelta a Espana (Sierra Nevada, 11,213).
All are steep. Cottonwood isn’t. It’s fairly gradual. But it’s 14 miles of dirt-covered asphalt. Then comes Independence, which explodes up to a 6.5 percent grade the last 4 miles.
At the top, cyclists get to see a sign that says “Continental Divide, 12,095 feet” — if, at that point, they can still see straight.
“Sometimes when you climb too hard too high you start to see spots and stars,” said Peter Stetina, Danielson’s teammate and a Boulder native. “You almost black out. Some guys are in danger if they’re not acclimated.”
Europeans pensive
Keep in mind that unless a European cyclist is in his 40s, he has never raced professionally in Colorado. It has been that long since the Coors Classic folded.
However, they’ve all heard stories. Some riders are approaching Colorado like campers approach bear-infested forests. Asked how long it would take to acclimatize for the race, Austrian Bernhard Eisel of HTC-Highroad said, “For Colorado? I think never.”
Jakob Fuglsang of Denmark and Leopard Trek says his highest point cycling was 9,900 feet in Stelvio, Italy. Even at that elevation he has suffered.
“You’re running out of air,” Fuglsang said. “You’re gasping for air if you’re pushing hard. We were up on Lake Tahoe for five days training. When I pushed 300 watts my heart rate was as high as if I pushed 380 at sea level.”
The riders also say riding at altitude can be dangerous. It’s not just the normal illnesses acquainted with altitude such as nausea, headaches and severe fatigue.
Three years ago, Frenchman Amael Moinard of BMC Racing reached his highest ride at 9,240 feet. Again, if a level nearly 400 feet below downtown Breckenridge causes problems, what could happen 3,000 feet higher?
According to most medical accounts, high altitude is considered 4,900 feet to 11,500 feet. Very high altitude is 11,500 feet to 18,000 feet.
“When you’re up to 2,000 meters (6,600 feet), it’s very difficult to breathe,” Moinard said. “Sometimes you can’t concentrate on the race. It’s very difficult. And then if you’re in trouble at the top of the climb, the downhill could be very dangerous for you. You have to make sure you don’t give a full max effort at the top so you can rest a little for the downhill.
“Otherwise you can jump off the side of the road.”
Red blood cells depleted
Why has EPO been the drug of choice for cheating cyclists? High altitude drops the saturation of hemoglobin, the oxygen carrier in red blood cells. EPO helps increase the number of red blood cells.
Robert Mazzeo, Ph.D. professor of integrative physiology at the University of Colorado-Boulder, has done a half dozen studies at the summit of 14,110-foot Pikes Peak. He says mile-high elevation drops the saturation of hemoglobin by 8 percent to 10 percent.
Given the elite status of NBA and NFL players, they can get by when they visit Denver. However, when the elevation hits 12,000 feet, Mazzeo said the drop is about 50 percent.
“That’s exacerbated with intense exercise,” Mazzeo said. “What a lot of people do is go through a base camp, maybe a week, and start to acclimatize.”
Many teams competed in the Tour of Utah (Aug. 9-14) but the highest elevation was the finish at the Snowbird Ski Resort at only 8,100 feet.
Andy Schleck, the three-time Tour de France runner-up, didn’t race in Utah but has been training out of 6,695-foot Steamboat Springs for nearly two weeks. In France last month, he won Stage 18 when it went over the Galibier.
Everyone involved says this race likely will be decided on Wednesday’s brutal 130-mile stage from Gunnison to Aspen and Thursday’s Vail 10-mile time trial, which will reach 9,643 feet.
Even with the greatest field ever assembled for a bike race on American soil, Danielson, the guy educated in Durango and living in Boulder, is the favorite. Talk about a home-field advantage. Danielson will be the 1997 Broncos playing at Mile High.
“The advantage is my ability to handle the altitude and some of the genetics I’ve been given,” Danielson said. “I have kind of this giant, weird-looking chest and small, little body and big heart.
“Also, having spent so much time training and racing here, my ability to understand how to gauge your effort at altitude will be very important.”
Want to see the crucial moment in the race? You’d better have a spot reserved on Independence Pass. If riders exhaust their energy getting up Cottonwood, there’s no way they can recover up Indy.
Riders could fall back like empty beer cans.
“Experiencing it, you stand up out of the saddle and every single one of your muscles is burning,” Danielson said. “After 100 some miles and hitting that climb?
“It’s going to be in pieces.”
John Henderson: 303-954-1299, jhenderson@denverpost.com, @johnhendersonDP
