[pct-l] Backpack Packing strategies/Oxygen

[Edward Anderson]

I am wondering how my own experience might relate to your recent discussion. 
Over the years I have done a lot of backpacking and hiking.  Although I more 
often ride horses now, I still hike and I also hike when dismounted - on the PCT 
I often "tailed" up long hills. Tailing is a strategy often used by riders in 
the sport of endurance racing over 50 and 100 mile courses. You simply grab hold 
of the horses tail and he pulls you up the hill. It is easier for him to pull 
you up than it is to carry your weight up. Being pulled up a hillI is a lot 
easier for the rider than walking up.

Relating to oxygen, while hiking or backpacking, when I see an uphill or grade 
ahead I consciously accelerate my rate of breathing when I am within about 75' 
of the grade. I  take deep breaths to bring extra oxygen into my lungs and 
blood.  On the grade I continue this for a while and also "gear down". To me 
that means taking shorter strides but at the same rate - therefore I go up the 
hill slower. If you continue taking longer strides, even if you are going 
slower, it will be more tiring.  I have a good friend up in Mendocino who is a 
skin diver for abalone. He is remarkable in that he goes down more than 50 feet 
and can hold his breath for up to FIVE minutes. I have often watched him taking 
deep breaths for a minute or more before diving - to oxygenate his body. 


MendoRider/Ed Anderson




----- Forwarded Message ----
From: Glen Hoshizaki <hoshizaki at ca.rr.com>
To: PCT <pct-l at backcountry.net>; CHUCK CHELIN <steeleye at wildblue.net>; Yoshihiro 
Murakami <completewalker at gmail.com>
Sent: Thu, May 12, 2011 11:48:01 AM
Subject: Re: [pct-l] Backpack Packing strategies...

On page 37 of the paper the investigators defined energy cost as oxygen 
consumption rate per walking speed, all normalized over total mass (body mass 
plus mass carried). So for any given walking speed (at least within a certain 
range) even though oxygen consumption increased with increasing load, it did so 
less than proportionately.

Or am I completely confused?

Glen

-----Original Message-----
From: pct-l-bounces at backcountry.net [mailto:pct-l-bounces at backcountry.net] On 
Behalf Of CHUCK CHELIN
Sent: Thursday, May 05, 2011 8:31 PM
To: Yoshihiro Murakami

Good evening, Yoshihiro,

I have a question about your Interesting Point No. 1:  If more force is
necessary to move a large mass compared to a small mass; and if energy is in
terms of force applied over a distance, how can it be as you say that moving
a large mass over a distance requires less energy than moving than a small
mass over that same distance?

Steel-Eye

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