Death on Squaw Pass, Colorado

[chuckred]

Saw this post on the local Nextdoor site. Copied with permission from the woman who was there and wrote the post, but I redacted the name. After seeing several posts from people coming out to ride in Colorado, I thought I'd share this as a cautionary tale. Not meaning to be alarmist at all, but just to remind you to be careful out there! When I saw the headline, I assumed it was a car vs. cyclist, or a high speed crash. Maybe it would have happened if he'd been home on the couch, but it's a good reminder to pay attention if you're suffering more than normal.
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Again, not my post from here on....

Squaw cyclist death
Good morning neighbors, you may have heard that there was a death on Squaw yesterday. I was there. I was riding my bicycle up squaw and I happened to come up on two men that were also riding. It was in the middle of the afternoon in the hot heat, they had come in from out of town from Minneapolis to train for the triple bypass on Saturday. One of the men was not having an easy time getting up the hill but he persisted. We went back-and-forth up the hill, getting to know each other a little bit as we passed each other. Unfortunately, one of the men collapsed on his bicycle at the top of Squaw Just a short distance from Echo Mountain ski resort.. He never gained consciousness, Me and his friend were on him immediately with compressions and CPR. Other good samaritans pulled over to help us, we used all the water that we had to keep this man cool and we continued CPR until Clear Creek got to us, the helicopter arrived but because there was no response they called his death on top of the hill. It was tragic, and very difficult to watch. We did the best that we could To save this man. They landed yesterday at 11 AM in Denver, he was a private pilot and flew his own plane in. They did not acclimate to our altitude, and they started out in the blazing hot sun. He was 53 and has left behind a wife and three children. . I want to thank Clear Creak for the quick response and the help that they gave to try to save this man. They did amazing things on the side of the road to try and save him. Thank you to all the other folks that stopped to help. I am helping his friend as he gets things in order to take his friend back to Minnesota. Many of us here are cyclists... be careful out there. May God bless ----- and watch over his family.

[thwart]

Tragic.

Really have to be careful when moving to altitude... and of course the heat as well.

[jensenn]

so sad. condolences to his family and friends.

i was in the san bernardino mountains a couple weeks back and brought my bike. started my ride at ~4,500 feet and my heart rate was going bananas in the first few climbs and was having a hard time catching my breath. i didn't feel like i was going too hard but had to keep reminding myself that i need to ease up since i was so high up.

we also had a recent cyclist death here in NYC. super hot day with bad aqi. the cyclist just go to the top of the manhattan bridge and collapsed with an apparent cardiac event. he was just in his 30s.

[sitzmark]

Have a friend (late 30's) who rode the Leadville 100 MTB last year after months of ride preparation (at sea level) and sleeping in a hyperbaric chamber. He did everything one could possibly do to prepare for conditions he had never experienced.

I was born in CO and spent much of my youth in the mountains before moving to points east of Colorado. I return to CO regularly and have experienced some effects of altitude like I never did as a resident. Attempted to communicate that experience and cautions to my friend as much as possible.

Fast forward to the 2017 Leadville 100. He arrived 2 days early and started the race feeling strong. Less than 30 miles in he began vomiting breakfast and any fluids/gels he subsequently tried to take in. Headache. By mid point he was dry heaving. I texted urging him to stop. He continued - he is a highly motivated individual. His pace slowed to a crawl. Race officials twice threatened to boot him because he was right on the time limit cutoff and first aid workers were concerned about his condition. He convinced them to let him continue. Long story short he made it back to pavement (~90 miles) and stopped, just barely able to function. He is one of the luckiest young men I know. He really didn't understand how seriously he was jeopardizing his life.

For flatlanders (and everyone) altitude is serious business - don't risk it. Especially with heat on top. Sounds preachy but listen to your body ... when it FIRST starts talking.

[bigreen505]

Very tragic. One thing I will add about the climb is that while it isn’t especially difficult, it is absolutely unrelenting. Until you get to the top (I think that is Juniper pass), it’s just a pretty steady grade coming from the Evergreen side. It’s a little harder in some places and easier in others, but you never really rest. You just settle into a sustainable level of pain.

When people talk about preparing to ride at altitude they always talk about the physical aspects, but miss the mental part of riding at altitude. What people don’t understand is there is a much higher cost go going anaerobic than at lower elevation. When you redline at an elevation that you’re not acclimated to, it takes a long time to recover. Even in Denver at 5,000’ it’s not that big of a deal. But when you are working (riding, running, whatever) above 10,000’ it takes a really long time to recover from efforts. On a climb that’s unrelenting on a road that only goes up, people need to be in tune with their bodies.

This is where I like HRMs. If you are cranking up the hill at 175 bpm, that’s great, but how long can you sustain that, how long do you need to rest after and at what heart rate? Just because you can sustain 300w all day long at sea level, doesn’t mean you can generate the same power when you can’t get oxygen into your body.

/soapbox

[Jaybee]

Very tragic. One thing I will add about the climb is that while it isn’t especially difficult, it is absolutely unrelenting. Until you get to the top (I think that is Juniper pass), it’s just a pretty steady grade coming from the Evergreen side. It’s a little harder in some places and easier in others, but you never really rest. You just settle into a sustainable level of pain.

When people talk about preparing to ride at altitude they always talk about the physical aspects, but miss the mental part of riding at altitude. What people don’t understand is there is a much higher cost go going anaerobic than at lower elevation. When you redline at an elevation that you’re not acclimated to, it takes a long time to recover. Even in Denver at 5,000’ it’s not that big of a deal. But when you are working (riding, running, whatever) above 10,000’ it takes a really long time to recover from efforts. On a climb that’s unrelenting on a road that only goes up, people need to be in tune with their bodies.

This is where I like HRMs. If you are cranking up the hill at 175 bpm, that’s great, but how long can you sustain that, how long do you need to rest after and at what heart rate? Just because you can sustain 300w all day long at sea level, doesn’t mean you can generate the same power when you can’t get oxygen into your body.

/soapbox

As someone who lives in Denver but frequently travels to lower, flatter locales, everything above is truth.

I can definitely feel a difference on Front Range climbs if I’ve spent more than 5 or so of the 7 previous days below 1000 ft amsl. Colorado is gorgeous and a great place to ride, but please listen to your body.