Heart rate

Page may contain affiliate links. Please see terms for details.

Mralexrides

Active Member
Hi on weekends I ride with some friends who are much fitter than me and keeping up with them is difficult. My heart rate today peaked at 193 and I'm 31 years old. So this is dangerous for me right? What's the best way to get my heart rate lower on these kind of rides? Or should I avoid these rides for now?
 

Hacienda71

Mancunian in self imposed exile in leafy Cheshire
No. Heart rates are totally individual. If it stays at that level for an extended period post workout worry. If not don't.
 
Why would you say that 193 is dangerous ? You've no idea of what your max is.

If you have concerns go see your doctor for a check up.

As you get fitter your hear rate will drop for the same effort - but you'll still hit high rates when trying hard.

A max heart rate test would help with your training if you want to be that serious about getting fit.
 
  • Like
Reactions: C R

Ming the Merciless

There is no mercy
Location
Inside my skull
If you are interested in training with HR or knowing what is sustainable. Find a suitable length hill and go as hard as you can up. The longer the hill the better. Hopefully that’ll get you close to your max HR. Then also measure your average HR over a couple of mins when sat down and resting. That’s your resting HR. Then look up HR zones and heart rate reserve and away you go. You’ll be able to find out where 193 sits on your personal scale.
 

Lovacott

Über Member
Hi on weekends I ride with some friends who are much fitter than me and keeping up with them is difficult. My heart rate today peaked at 193 and I'm 31 years old. So this is dangerous for me right? What's the best way to get my heart rate lower on these kind of rides? Or should I avoid these rides for now?
You can bring your heart rate down by cycling more often.

After just a few months of hilly commuting I'd bought my resting heart rate down from 65 to 47 beats per minute. I'm 59 years old.

Doing anything once per week is better than doing nothing at all, but it's better to do a bit more.

If you can't cycle commute, try to incorporate something else into your daily routine or join a spin class at your local leisure centre.

I'm basically a lazy person when it comes to exercise so I've only ever been fit when I have been able to commute to work by bike. When I've had jobs where cycle commuting is not possible, I've turned into an unfit lard ass in no time.
 
OP
OP
Mralexrides

Mralexrides

Active Member
Im cycling quite a lot 50 odd miles a week but doesn't seem to help reduce heart rate. Though I did push really hard today. My heart rate peaked at 193 and theirs was around 170 max. I slowly increased my garmin activity minutes every few weeks from 150 a week to 450-500 a week. I'm probably the fittest i've ever been too which is embarrassing seeing how high my heart rate goes. I also had a lot of caffeine before the ride which could have influenced it. There is a long hill on my tour around the island. Unfortunately my chain came off going down to smallest front cog on my triple. Thanks bike shop for changing limit screws without telling me!
 
OP
OP
Mralexrides

Mralexrides

Active Member
No. Heart rates are totally individual. If it stays at that level for an extended period post workout worry. If not don't.
They say its 220 minus your age 31 so 189 for me but I know that is like a generalized equation for the masses and probably on the safer side I hope. But yes everyone is different.
 

vickster

Legendary Member
What’s your resting HR? That’s a good indication of fitness
The 220-age thing has been debunked long ago
 

Lovacott

Über Member
Im cycling quite a lot 50 odd miles a week but doesn't seem to help reduce heart rate. Though I did push really hard today. My heart rate peaked at 193 and theirs was around 170 max. I slowly increased my garmin activity minutes every few weeks from 150 a week to 450-500 a week. I'm probably the fittest i've ever been too which is embarrassing seeing how high my heart rate goes. I also had a lot of caffeine before the ride which could have influenced it. There is a long hill on my tour around the island. Unfortunately my chain came off going down to smallest front cog on my triple. Thanks bike shop for changing limit screws without telling me!
50 miles per week is pretty good going but it depends a bit on how hard the terrain is. 50 flat miles is a bit of a breeze whilst 50 hilly miles is pure torture.

As for chain dropping on a triple, it won't happen if you get the technique right (I was dropping every day a year ago and now it doesn't happen at all). You need to reduce your cadence rate and pedal behind the load. Never try to change down on the front with a positive force on the pedals because this forces the chain to snap left and overshoot the small ring (even if your stop is set tight).
 

Hacienda71

Mancunian in self imposed exile in leafy Cheshire
A better measure of fitness is how quickly your heart rate goes back down post exertion. Don't get hung up on max heart rate unless you are trying to id it to train in heart rate zones.
I ride with a power meter as I used to race a bit, I was still riding 150+ miles a week until I fractured my pelvis recently. My heart rate was often lower than others who had similar functional threshold power to me (equally fit) but I was higher than others. My max now is probably sub 170 and my resting is as low as 32. I know guys still racing, who are fitter than me with much higher rates. It is so individual it is not worth stressing over. If you want to find your max for training though warm up sufficiently and then as said, ride as hard as you can up a hill until you are going to be sick and see where it goes.xx( :okay:
 

Lovacott

Über Member
I know guys still racing, who are fitter than me with much higher rates. It is so individual it is not worth stressing over.
I can tell when I'm unfit because my heart and breathing rate jumps with little exertion (like walking up the stairs).

I can tell that I am fit for my commute because I no longer feel like throwing up when I get to the top of my longest climb and I don't need to stop at the top for a ten minute break.

I have no idea what my maximum heart rate is.
 

BPCycler

Active Member
Location
Maryland
Hi on weekends I ride with some friends who are much fitter than me and keeping up with them is difficult. My heart rate today peaked at 193 and I'm 31 years old. So this is dangerous for me right? What's the best way to get my heart rate lower on these kind of rides? Or should I avoid these rides for now?

I don't know, but my first thought is to say, "Breathe"

I find if I breathe shallow my HR climbs. When I breathe deeply I can lower my HR by as much as 15 BPM.
 
Top Bottom