rsbob 

i agree that mtn biking is very aerobic due to the punchy climbs and long tiring ascents. But they payoff with a thrill ride down. Allergies and asthma would really make climbing far worse and put a real damper on the fun. I liken road biking to cross country track skiing where mtn biking is like slalom racing. Totally different but equally rewarding.

Thanks for the doctor recommendations to all.

canklecat

Ditto, allergies and asthma. Even relatively mild cases can be worsened by heavy exertion. I've run video on my rides for a few years and back in 2017 I could hear and feel obvious wheezing and bronchial constrictions, especially in cold dry air, and heavy allergy days. It sounded worse on the video playback than it felt during the ride.

While the post-PED era has led to some cynicism from laypersons who think every cyclist using albuterol or similar meds is cheating, it's fairly easy to test for actual cases of exertion related/exercise-induced asthma. While I don't doubt that some pro cycling teams have pushed the boundaries of TUEs (Therapeutic Use Exemption), for the rest of us our doctors probably won't authorize inhalers without actual demonstrated need. I've had several tests to check my asthma since I was a teenager. It's PITA.

I've taken meds for years for asthma and allergies but by this time last year nothing seemed to be working. I had painful sinus and ear congestion and was taking Sudafed almost every day, which helped but increased my heart rate and BP. Diagnostic imaging showed nothing unusual, no apparent reason for the painful congestion.

This spring my immunologist switched me to different inhalers and they work much better. I still have a rescue inhaler but use it far less often now, although I carry it on every ride.

A few weeks ago my ENT doc suggested bromelain and bee propolis. I'd already been taking bromelain for about a year and it does help a little with upper respiratory inflammation. But after a week with the propolis it's feeling a little more improvement. Usually I'm skeptical of all things woo, including "natural" and "holistic" whatever. But occasionally they do seem to work as well as prescription meds and sometimes better.

79pmooney

A trick I learned from a swim instructor - exhale. When I went back to college in my early thirties, I decided to take beginning swimming and formally learn freestyle. Instructor was a grad student in sports medicine? physiology? (It's been a few decades.) She knew her stuff. Broke down freestyle to three separate elements. Kicking, pulling (arms) and breathing. She stressed that the exhale was all-important. What we could take in far less so. Said that the best oxygen receptors, both in numbers and for quality, were at the bottom of our lungs, That in a CO2 rich environment they took in no oxygen. That is was our job to exhale 100% to clear those super receptors. If by contrast we only exhaled 75%, a large percentage of our best receptors were useless, no matter how much we packed our lungs with fresh air. So a 100% exhale and 25% inhale was far better than a lesser exhale and in fact, quite a good breath.

Freestlye - the stroke with a short window to breath that can be made far shorter with an unexpected wave or splash. Learning this was one of my biggest gains. I just wish I knew it 8 years earlier when I raced. Now, when I go deep on hills, I do my best to remember "Exhale!" And when I cross the "line" at the top, I exhale completely, no matter how winded and gassed I am. It is amazing how much faster I recover when I do that. I also find that when I remember to exhale! half way up a climb, my speed goes up as I do it.

The other trick - diaphragm breathing. If you are not doing it, learn! I won't attempt to teach you but I am sure it is all over the web. (Look at pro bike racer photos, All the older veterans have what looks like beer bellies. That's from relaxing their abdominals and pulling their diaphragms deep into their gut.

Ben