Zwift Chat

[Norry1]

We've got 12 for race 1 and 10 for race 2 so far, which isn't bad at all.
As before there will be a ZP league.
I've updated the Friday Smash page https://cyclopathy.com/cyclopathy-friday-smash/ (it's also linked in my signature).

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Couldn't make this week as away in Devon. Hopefully OK for next week.

 

[alex_cycles]

I saw on your last event I watched your HR was around 110bpm and you were going almost flat out . HRM issue?

Yeah. Considering it's a brand new unit, something ain't right. Should have been well over 170 - maybe not up to max on a 3 minute race but well above 170.

 

[N0bodyOfTheGoat]

I've had two Coospo HRMs over the last 8 years, my 808(?) is ~4 years old, usually great besides when battery nearly dead.

Battery typically lasts 6-9 months, I wipe down metal contacts at end of each session and apply saliva to the two contact pads each session plus make sure it's reasonably tight around my chest. Strap gets a rinse every few months.

 

[ColinJ]

Battery typically lasts 6-9 months.

I haven't used up the original battery on mine yet. The HRM has worked perfectly every time that I have used it.

I wipe down metal contacts at end of each session and apply saliva to the two contact pads each session plus make sure it's reasonably tight around my chest. Strap gets a rinse every few months.

That's what I do.

 

[steverob]

My goose poo HRM gave me silly results yesterday in the 3 minute iTT Friday Smash race 1.

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There is simply no way that your HR should go down to warmup levels 2/3 of the way into a 3 minmute race at 150% of FTP and then back up when you stop.
I was using electrode gel this time for the first time because I haven't been confident in recent results. I can't say it helped.

Not sure what's going on, but I've had similar silliness with a couple of other straps since it got colder. I think I'm going to have to try a few different things here e.g. my Garmin pod on the Goose poo strap.

It's completely messed up my training status on Garmin. It now thinks I have a VO2 max of 45 vs 52 of a couple of weeks ago.
(Not this specific ride - it's happened a few times recently.)

I notice the Coospo strap only has two electrodes, whereas the Garmin ones have 4.

Interestingly I had something similar happen with one of my previous Scoshe arm HRMs. Halfway through an activity my heart rate would suddenly drop to almost half of what I was expecting - instead of 140's I'd be seeing 70's. But it would still be going up and down with efforts, it wasn't like it was stuck on a number and not moving.

After a few minutes it would return to normal, but even then it wouldn't suddenly jump back up, but rather slowly increase through the 80's, 90's, 100's etc. over the course of about 30 seconds until it settled at the right number again.

The strange thing is that this only ever happened to me on outdoor rides and not on Zwift (or at least not to my recollection).

 

[alex_cycles]

Interestingly I had something similar happen with one of my previous Scoshe arm HRMs. Halfway through an activity my heart rate would suddenly drop to almost half of what I was expecting - instead of 140's I'd be seeing 70's. But it would still be going up and down with efforts, it wasn't like it was stuck on a number and not moving.

After a few minutes it would return to normal, but even then it wouldn't suddenly jump back up, but rather slowly increase through the 80's, 90's, 100's etc. over the course of about 30 seconds until it settled at the right number again.

The strange thing is that this only ever happened to me on outdoor rides and not on Zwift (or at least not to my recollection).

I have a few things to try. I also own a Viiiiva 4i HRM that I can try, another Coospo I bought as a spare and I could try the Coospo strap with the Garmin HRM Dual pod on it.

It could be that my skin has suddenly gone non-conductive. No idea why that could happen though - it's weird. Only some time and experimentation will get to the bottom of it, but it's annoying me now having bad data too often.

I've been using chest strap HRM ever since I decided that the one on my watch wasn't adequate back in 2018. The first strap lasted almost 5 years though. (don't make 'em like they used to )