Taking up bike tours in Italy to explore high altitudes means your body needs to adapt to an environment where there is less oxygen. For bike tourists who have not quite adapted to the altitude, it is common to experience altitude sickness. The fitter one is, the faster one will acclimate to high altitudes. There are an array of cycling trips available in Italy, where the high altitude can simply affect someone’s cycling ability, especially if one comes from low elevation areas.
Altitude Preparation
Throughout the process of acclimatization, your respiration and heart rate begin to normalize. However, this process does not happen overnight. It may take a few days to acclimate, but you can start preparing yourself for this process before you even arrive. Of possible, start with short cycling workouts and build up to longer workouts over several weeks to boost your endurance.
Having boosted endurance will certainly help you acclimate much more quickly to high altitude than without. You can even just give yourself more time to acclimate before you ride in high elevation. Both methods work wonders in helping you acclimate to high altitudes.
Acclimatization
In the case you happen to feel dizzy, weak, or even sick at high altitudes, you are likely experiencing altitude sickness. You tend to feel this way, as a result, your body is trying to adapt to the thin air by breathing faster and more deeply. With this increase in oxygen, your heart rate increases to pump more oxygen to your muscles and your body also creates a hormone called erythropoietin (EPO). Essentially, this hormone stimulates the production of red blood cells. As a result, your body has more red blood cells at its disposal to increase the oxygen carrying capacity of your blood.