Heart Rate Monitors

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Farky

Senior Member
Location
West London
Excuse my ignorance, but do you wear the above or do they fit to your bike? I've been looking at a few and I see a lot of them that look like watches but in the pictures, they're fitted to the bars??
 

yello

Guest
There are 2 types of HRM; one with a chest strap and one that takes the pulse from the wrist (i.e. a watch type). The former is way more common and indeed most watch type ones have a chest strap to take the heart rate.

Obviously you wear the chest strap around the chest, but the watch can either be worn on the wrist OR fitted to the bike as they tend to have bike mounts too, either included or as an accessory.
 

Renard

Guest
I've never really been sure what to do with one. As a result it lurks in the bottom of a bow with my cycling gear. In the past if I was training to race I would go out with the fast bunch and take a kicking until I could stay in the wheels. Any tips on how you use them to actually improve would be useful.
 
My loveley Fiancee just bought me a garmin with a hrm and I now find that I cant leave the house with out it. I previously had a Sigma watch strap type untill it broke which was also good. If you are training then it can be really good to keep your heart rate in a certain band.
 
Reminds me of riding on exercise bikes where you have those handles that tell you your pulse rate. They scare me as I keep going into the danger zone all the time. I can't imagine how many times I do on the road.
 

jimboalee

New Member
Location
Solihull
Heart rate monitors. Tell you what 'Zone' you're in. Out on the road the conditions are so variable, it's not worth using one. In the gym it is.
On a gym bike, you can control the machine's resistance by using the HRM cheststrap signal as feedback to the machine, if it's 'Polar Ready'. Then you can stay in the 'Zone'.

For an amateur club rider who enters races, a HRM on the bike is simply a 'curiosity' thing. If you have to keep up with the others, you're not going to let your HRM hold you back, are you? :smile:
 

GrumpyGregry

Here for rides.
Renard said:
I've never really been sure what to do with one. As a result it lurks in the bottom of a bow with my cycling gear. In the past if I was training to race I would go out with the fast bunch and take a kicking until I could stay in the wheels. Any tips on how you use them to actually improve would be useful.

everything you need to know about using one as an aid to improve your fitness training can be found here
 

jimboalee

New Member
Location
Solihull
When you enter a 25 mile TT, all the training you have to concentrate on is getting it finished in a better time than last year's winner. By a long chalk – ideally.
Find a route that is similar with similar hills and ride it. If you can't maintain the pace, repeat and push harder until you can.
Heart rate monitors don't figure in this.
 
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