Did I Beat Asthma? I Climbed a Mountain to Find Out

I've been living with asthma my whole life, but now at 39 years old, I haven't needed my inhaler in several months. There's several reasons that could be, but I want to know for sure whether something has actually changed. And so this ride today is going to be a little different from what I'm used to doing. This is the Teocali Death Canal Loop, and it starts at 9,000 feet, and we're going to climb up over 11,000 feet. The air is much thinner up here, and normally I would definitely be using my inhaler. But I'm going to carry it with me, put it away, and see whether I actually need it. And if I can make it through this ride without using my inhaler, it's going to be one of the happiest days of my life, because I hate this thing. It's not carrying it, it's using it. It makes you all jittery. It sucks. We've only been pedaling for a few minutes, and this is going to hurt. I'm just breathing heavy. I don't feel any constriction. This is one of those rides where you keep looking down, seeing why your shifter isn't working, but you're already in your easiest gear. So as you go up in elevation, there's less air pressure, right? At 12,000 feet, you're getting about 40% less oxygen molecules per breath. You're just breathing faster all the time when you put in a hard effort like this. It just takes you longer to recover from that effort. So you've ridden this before, right? I rode this first in 1991 on a rigid stump chumper. You're in for a beautiful double track climb, and then a kick in the ass single track, and then you get to the ridge, and then it gets really hard, and probably, potentially not rideable. But, you know, we're looking at Eric Porter here, and he's been training with all the NICA kids from Utah, so he should be good to go. I have not been training with the NICA kids. I'm doomed. So there you have it from an ex-local. This is going to hurt, and then it's going to be pretty awesome, it sounds like. One of the crown jewels of Crested Butte, so. So this is both our first time on this? Yes. Oh, this is going to be awesome. Oh, they're doing us like that? This is already, like, the sickest ride. Like, actual mountain biking? This is as good as it gets. Hey, Moo Moos! Roar! Oh, there's little ones. Oh, there's a cute one. Do you think he's going to be a taco or a burger? So we're about a quarter of the way done with the climb. How you doing, Seth? I'm actually doing really good! I feel great! Let's keep climbing! We picked the best week to be here in Crested Butte. This is amazing. It looks like we're getting closer to the single track. Peanut butter and banana on sourdough. What do you got, Eric? Yeah, peanut butter and bananas. Same. I'm going to help you out with a pro tip, Seth, so you don't end up having to use those paper towels for emergencies. Your bite valve. Remember all those cows we passed? Keep this thing out of the dirt at all costs. That's powdered up cow poo right there. It's like a Bob Ross painting. Oh, a grave reversal? Yeah, he's walking. I don't blame him. This next pitch looks brutal. It looks really bad. My heart's beating out of my chest. Oh, you biked. How you doing? I'm good. How's it going? Good. Good luck staying dry! Yeah. It's looking dark. Yeah, we can't sit around for very long. All right, let's do it. Just got to make it to the grave reversal. Let's do it! I think we got it. I can't do it. I don't have any pride. This is hard. We have plenty more climbing to do, but I'm riding a super high right now because I have not had to use my inhaler yet, and I think we're going to make it, but I actually just felt a raindrop. Let's get up to the top and enjoy what, like the best ascent ever? Wow, you do not want to get zonked and fall off the edge here. Yeah. You're going all the way to the bottom on that one. This is unreal. We're pedaling the last of the bench out here in the open, and we're going to go into those trees over there. It's looking dark. So far, so good. What's an elevation check right now? 10,834 feet. All right, so we're nearing 11,000 feet, and we got a few hundred more feet to go. I'm honestly starting to get a little bit dizzy. Also, that's the early signs of acute mountain sickness, AMS, basically altitude sickness, what they call it. It'll just get worse until we get back down. So there's no way it's going to get better? Not without going down. All right. Oh, this is so beautiful. Look at this single track. That little breather did wonders. It's getting dark. We're doing it on foot or on bike. It's happening. And there's Eric. He's in such good shape, he can just pedal ahead and get shots of me. Okay, this is the part they were talking about. Oh God. Eric, you are a savage. Okay, we're now at 11,000 feet. We're climbing about 2,200. This is not the same 2,200 feet as back home. There he is again, waiting up there with the camera. He's just riding. It's way faster. What are you guys doing walking? You're up here, right? Heck yeah, I'd rather push this up for the downhill. Nice work. The last e-biker said, good luck staying dry, and then I just heard more thunder. That's why we put our jackets on. All right, we're over 11,000 feet. We've got another couple hundred feet to go, and then we get to go downhill and hopefully not get rained on. I'd like to thank Gunnison Crested Butte for sponsoring this video. That is the easiest thing to say yes to. They love mountain bikers here. You're welcome here, and look at how incredible the mountain biking is. The views are astonishing. There's stuff closer to town that's not so big, and you can even bring your family, and they have rides as big as you could possibly want. This is the embodiment of mountain biking. This is real mountain biking. After this, we're going to go into town where they have amazing restaurants, and we're going to celebrate. I just got to survive another couple hundred feet. You think that thunder was coming from far away? That was pretty close. We're in the trees, so we're good, right? We don't want to be on a ridgeline is the main thing. What's the name of this trail again? The O'Kelly Ridge. Dang it. Okay, we got this. We got this. Oh. All right, it's officially drizzling. I'm starting to get a little nervous. I hope it passes. Eric, you're a beast. Dude. That was really far. That was the boss battle back there, huh? That was Bowser's Castle right there. It's breezy, and we're well over 11,000 feet on a ridgeline with a thunderstorm. It's just getting kicked while you're down. Eric, is this it? This is it. All right. We're getting padded up. You got to get down to the bottom right away. Dan said he felt ice and snow fall. I didn't feel it. I saw it. I saw a piece of ice. You saw a piece of ice? Multiple pieces. The thing I'm worried about, honestly, the most, is that I'm not going to be able to I mean, a kid got struck by lightning recently at a race I was at. Don't mess around. We got to get out of here. Yeah. Let's go. It's real. Yeah. Let's do it. You know it's real when I put on my gloves. Yeah. Dang. Okay. Wow. You okay? Yeah. What happened? I just skidded out and hit my balls. Wow. This is really good. This is so good. Little traversing here, but we're still 11,000 feet and it seems like we outran that storm a little bit, but it's creeping up on us. Yes. Porter can read a trail so good. Following his lines is, you know, he's an actual professional. You take fun lines, not straddle lines. My balls hurt, but I already had enough kids. Yeah, I'm good. Oh, Porter's going fast. Stay on his wheel. Oh, yeah. Oh, this is so good. Wow, dude. Wow. You don't want to mess up on this stuff, you know? No, you don't want to mess up on this, but this is worth the climb. Yeah. Wow, dude. It just lights up. Wow. That's insane. That's insane, dude. Wow. It's very windy. The storm has just been following us, but now we're coming back along the same ridge and so it could catch up. This is where you really don't want to mess up. I'm not saying anything because I'm freaking speechless right now. It is so windy. This is one of the best rides I've ever been on in my life. You were a freaking murderer back there. That was fun. Okay, so there was a fork right here. We're taking the right. If you go this way, you hit the road. If you go this way, you ride more trails. It's on. Wow. I didn't make that one. I got to pay attention to Eric's lines. He can read a trail like none other. Yeah. Is this the right turn onto the black? Looks like it to me. I'm taking this line. Yeah. There you go. Oh yeah. My shoes got wet. They got really wet. Okay, short climb. Feels way better at this elevation. It's noticeably different. Up there I was just done. Down here I can recover quicker. Oh man. We might get caught out here. Okay. Strand bonus trail. Wow, that's awesome. If you really don't care for stunning scenery, do not come to Crested Butte. You're going to be super bummed. Oh, it gets techy over here. It looks pretty nasty in every direction. I see the Narmada. Oh, hey guys. Yeah, that'll take your derailleur out. Oh my goodness. We've got a lot to unpack here. Okay. We beat the rain officially because now I'm not going to jinx us because we're in the car. Yeah, you can say it now. And guys, I'm like... That was awesome. I didn't even realize we were in the car. I forgot I even had it. We just did the descent and then we did a bonus trail. I'm breathing fine. I haven't heard you do the hat throw up thing. I don't know why my asthma didn't act up, but whatever I'm doing, I'm just going to keep doing and I'll worry about why later, but I've been eating really good lately. I've been putting in a lot of work and I budgeted in a celebration in the event that this went well. And so you guys hungry? Yeah. Let's get a good one. Not only did it rain, but it snowed a lot. And then we had elk fajitas to celebrate. I've always been embarrassed on big rides because I'm the slowest one uphill, but this could be a new beginning. I was still out of breath, but my airways were wide open and I enjoyed it. We rode a whole lot more in Crested Butte, including a big dumb ride from the house. It's truly a place that needs no advertising. And so if you're looking to make lifelong memories and come home with a boatload of incredible photos, you've got to consider visiting Gunnison and Crested Butte next summer. Thanks for riding with me today and I'll see you next time.