Preparing for Alpine riding The general question: What should a reasonably fit cyclist do to prepare for alpine riding, and what adjustments should be made in route planning?

In my case I can do rides of 250&nbsp;km+ with 3000&nbsp;m of climbing, but I'll be staying within about 40&nbsp;km (riding) of Col d'Izoard (~2300&nbsp;m altitude) in a couple of months and hope to be able to take a bike with me. The major differences I see compared to UK riding are:


Incessant climbs (but I won't be in a hurry and will want to look at the views so can stop).
Altitude: At a similar altitude to the highest points I'm likely to ride, I recall that hiking was harder than expected for a few days. I'll have a week in the area, staying at ~1000&nbsp;m so will aclimatise a little, but perhaps this isn't quite high enough to worry about anyway even though I live near sea level.
Warmer, drier air.


Compared to sea level and short sharp hills, I don't know if I should be planning shorter rides to take into account the conditions, or whether I should go for something like The 2017 Col d'Izoard Etape du Tour, and if so how I'd train for the latter on local roads near sea level.
I don't have experience riding at moderate altitude (1000-2500m), but do have experience mountaineering in the French Alps (>3000m) and Himalaya (up to about 5000m).

Going to over 2000m altitude is not trivial, even for people in good shape, and can have some adverse effects. It's not something you can totally ignore. Although if you are fit and have experience hiking at similar altitude you will definitely notice the relative lack of oxygen but avoid any serious issues.

The most important thing is to drink tons of water, which helps with some of the immediate physiological effects of working at altitude.

As your accommodation is relatively low you will have a chance to recover each night. The mountaineering mantra for acclimatizing is 'climb high, sleep low'.