So how come pro cyclists have this problem?

[PeteT]

Just been reading some observations from a journalist who has spent some time with top pro cyclists at the TdF etc.

He observed that the vast majority of them struggled to climb even a small flight of stairs without getting very short of breath. Yet these are the same guys who go zipping up the Alps etc! Doesn't make sense really as I would have thought they'd be super-fit and climbing stairs would be a doddle.

Any ideas about this?

 

[raindog]

Can you post a link?

 

[yello]

Just a guess for starters: there are different kinds of fitness. I might be able to cycle x hundred km but I can't run 50 metres. My muscles are all wrong for a start.

 

[Hacienda71]

I am not a racer but I do like riding up hills in the Pennines, but walking up a steep short hill can leave me breathless. I think it is to do with warming up, you heart rate at the start of exercise tends to go up and then drop back down when you are into you training zone.

 

[Fab Foodie]

I am not a racer but I do like riding up hills in the Pennines, but walking up a steep short hill can leave me breathless. I think it is to do with warming up, you heart rate at the start of exercise tends to go up and then drop back down when you are into you training zone.

Correct!
As I'm on beta-blockers and moderately fit, I have a very low heart-rate and climbing stairs is exactly as the OP described, it takes a slight while for the CV system to come-up to speed from a very low starting point. The heart of a pro cyclist ambling along is barely working and suddenly going-up the stairs requires some effort and the system just doesn't ramp-up fast enough. Normal peoples hearts will be ticking-over much faster and will spin-up a bit quicker rather like a revving engine. Furthermore the average Joe won't have the muscle-mass to supply either.
I always have a problem after a flight, I'm relaxed, been sitting a while, leave the plane and then have to haul my bag up a flight of stairs from the air-bridge ... damn near kills me and certainly leaves me breathless. I need to warm-up slow on the bike, but once up to speed 20mph is hard but doable.

 

[2PedalsTez]

That's interesting stuff FF..
When I go for a ride, it takes me a while before I settle into riding 'mode' (the build up making me feel out of breath if I go off too fast).
When I recently rode the Garmin Rideout, everyone went off very quick and the graph for my HRM looked like a firework display for the first couple of miles until it settled down.
Makes me feel a bit better!

 

[PeteT]

Can you post a link?

Unfortunately not - it was on good old ink and paper (by a journalist called Daniel Coyle, an American).
I did wonder whether the rider(s) concerned were hampered by carrying rucksacks full of EPO up to their rooms

 

[martint235]

Reading this makes me feel so much better!! If I walk up to my second floor office at work, I'm a sweaty out of breath mess!!! I was beginning to think it was just me.

 

[Davidc]

I have the same issues as FF and for the same reasons. I'm just a bit older and slower! I'd only add that I find that if I climb the stairs at home, or at a regular ride end-point just after riding I can go up them without noticing them. With either, if I go up them after resting for a time then I'm slower and more breathless than other people who're far less fit than me.

I don't think that performance from cold, with no warm-up, is any indicator of fitness.

 

[GrasB]

This is my take on it all - your legs aren't warmed up & there's not a huge amount of readily available O2 in your blood contained in your leg muscles. You suddenly call for power in your well developed leg muscles & this drives the muscles into mildly-anaerobic power production. Your body's reaction is to ramp up the heart rate to get O2 to your legs, as your heart is also well developed the amount of O2 required to oxygenate the blood is high. So now your lungs have to cope with this sudden spike in O2 supply, this means breathing heavily. Net result, sudden increases in power production in your legs causes heavy breathing.

 

[fossyant]

Balls. Most cyclists will run up a flight of steps, or do a two steps at a time. Yeh system is running quicker, but soon drops.

I see too many of my colleagues wheezing walking up a set of stairs. If it's HR linked, then as soon as I see the bike the HR jumps. If you are fit, the heart instantly responds, then will ease off much quicker. Test of fitness is how fast the heart recovers after an intense effort - i.e. drops below a set rate (e.g. 100).

If we do see increased HR rates, it's the body's ability - look at the recovery, you will soon see a total nose dive in HR rate after the cyclist stops moving.

Any active person, the heart will instantly react, pump in more blood, etc. but also recover very fast.

The research is flawed.

 

[lukesdad]

Following on from what GB has just highlighted, Ive been long of the opinion that cyclists overlook their breathing. Much emphasis is placed on the heart and muscle development, and building them to perform,but how many work on their breathing. When I used to swim competitively the coaches drummed into us the importance of the lungs and how to make them work to their max. Im not saying the pro s do not train in the same way, probably far more advanced now, but for sure your average club rider does not IME.

Can t say Ive seen many threads on breathing in the fitness section on CC either.

 

[Zoiders]

I like to run up a flight of stairs carrying my bike and the evenings shopping if that helps at all.

 

[lukesdad]

Balls. Most cyclists will run up a flight of steps, or do a two steps at a time. Yeh system is running quicker, but soon drops.

I see too many of my colleagues wheezing walking up a set of stairs. If it's HR linked, then as soon as I see the bike the HR jumps. If you are fit, the heart instantly responds, then will ease off much quicker. Test of fitness is how fast the heart recovers after an intense effort - i.e. drops below a set rate (e.g. 100).

If we do see increased HR rates, it's the body's ability - look at the recovery, you will soon see a total nose dive in HR rate after the cyclist stops moving.

Any active person, the heart will instantly react, pump in more blood, etc. but also recover very fast.

The research is flawed.

Its about supply and demand. The heart is a pump. It doesnt matter how good the pump is if the fuel required isnt there in the first place to meet its obligation to the muscles. If the lungs are of a low cubic capacity or inefficient they will struggle to supply the oxygen required.

One of Chris Hoys many attributes is a huge lung capacity.

 

[gb155]

I used to take the lift

then I struggled up them SLOWLY

then I ran them

then I sprinted them 2 at a time

now I do 2 at a time, with my bike

and its BECAUSE I'm a cyclist that I NOW can.