Another short report confirming what we already know and adding another twist to the story. We just returned from the Galapagos Islands where I didn't have access to a bike for two weeks. I felt myself getting weaker and weaker with diminishing stamina, partly due I'm sure to the fact that I was walking at the pace of either my 4 or 2 year old grandchildren. Of course we were at sea level most of the time. The last couple of days we spent in Quito, way up high. On the last day, when my energy should have been the lowest, we took a gondola up a mountain to 4,100 meters, which I think is about 13,421'. I thought my husband went a little higher so I walked quickly up the path to try to catch him. He wasn't there but I kept going, taking longer and longer strides and feeling better and better. I thought later of MJ Fox's description of being free from PD at altitude in Bhutan. I caught up with a young couple who looked at me oddly and asked if I weren't having trouble with the altitude? None. When I returned home, the first thing I did was go ride 16 miles and 20 miles the next day. Magic.