On 2016-12-13 08:37, wrote:
On Saturday, December 10, 2016 at 1:25:57 PM UTC-8, Joerg wrote:
On 2016-12-10 13:13, wrote:
On Saturday, December 10, 2016 at 11:22:06 AM UTC-8, Joerg
wrote:
On 2016-12-05 09:21, wrote:
I am seldom riding with the local old folks group because
they have a habit of racing all the time. Then 3/4ths of the
way into a ride they get really tired and are dragging up the
final hills.

I don't like climbing as fast as possible nor trying to keep
up on the flats to people 5 years older than me that are
maintaining heart rates at 90%. And this is directly out of
the box with not one minute of warm-up.

Now I like to exercise at elevated rates so riding with the
"easy" groups is out. But I don't riding with people whose
objective is to beat someone else to the top of the hill as
if this proves them superior. And this soon degenerates into
not waiting for the slower members.

Unfortunately, these acts of proving one's self better than
others can significantly shorten the live's of those over
55.

If you are one of those that must prove yourself on every
ride there is a target rate on
http://www.heart.org/HEARTORG/Health...1_Article.jsp#





If you regularly ride above these rates you are a heart attack
waiting to happen. Not to mention that often you are pulling
the entire group above their safe zones.

Let's ride as smart as well as fast.


What is a good way to gauge the heart rate if the bike is not
equipped with a whole smorgasbord of medical devices such as
pulse meters? Taking one hand off the bar and counting wrist
pulses isn't very safe in most places around here.

I sometimes get carried away on long boring stretches and find
myself riding full tilt. Whatever "the engine" can deliver
goes into the pedals. But I usually don't become tired after an
hour. Or two. Or four. Is that a good enough indicator to be in
the healthy zone?

-- Regards, Joerg

http://www.analogconsultants.com/

Your heart rate will increase linearly as long as you're in the
aerobic zone. If you go into the anaerobic zone it will only
increase a little. At this time the muscles start burning lactate
that is stored in the muscles and this is difficult to do for
more than half a minute or so.

This represents your actual max heart rate. But that is not you
healthy heart rate with is 220-age.

This practical heart rate has to do with your metabolic heart
rate and will be below your true max heart rate.

If you are over 50 and operate for any amount of time over 90%
of your max metabolic heart rate you are starving the heart
muscles of it's very small storage of lactate. That is, your
heart is operating in it's anaerobic. Since the older you are the
slower you can reload your muscles (and the heart is a muscle)
with lactate and the most chance you have of it seizing up.

Bicycling is an endurance sport and that means you must always
operate within your aerobic zone.

If you start breathing harder and when you back off a little it
takes awhile for your heart rate and breathing to come back down
you are going too hard. If you are in your aerobic zone when you
back off your breathing will almost immediately back down as
well.


Maybe that's the sign. For me heavy breathing usually slows down
within 5-10sec so I guess that counts as "immediate".

Sometimes I pass road bikers on fancy machines decked out in
expensive lycra and it seems some don't like it when a guy above 50
passes them in T-shirt and jeans on an old steel frame bike. "This
is not going to happen!" and then they start following me,
breathing hard. Until they drop back, and that's probably pushing
it too hard in their cardiac department. Sometimes it's the other
way around and I try to follow but when I realize that the guy or
gal is doing a sustained 25mph I drop back. Too old for that.

-- Regards, Joerg

http://www.analogconsultants.com/

Two years ago I did 5 miles at 28 mph with a stop light at every mile
marker that was always red. When it changed I would accelerate up to
28 again and hold that steady until I would JUST miss the next light.


That's a power ride. A neighbor who is very athletic can hold an average
of 25mph for more than an hour. Once we went on a road bike ride
together and I kept up with him. However, after about an hour I was
really finished. Not bonked or anything but he had to cycle back for a
business meeting, I continued for another 2h and this time at a much
slower pace than usual.


When I pulled into the parking lot my breathing dropped down pretty
rapidly but I had burned up ALL of my lactose and couldn't find my
car for almost 10 minutes. I kept riding around in a haze unable to
get my bearings. I won't do that again.


That is scary. I wouldn't do it again either. The closest one I came to
that status was my first long MTB ride after a hiatus of almost two
decades. We got a late start, I had to be home 5h later, my friend is a
well-trained road biker and so we both stepped on it. After 4h I bonked,
hard. My achievable speed dropped to 30% of normal almost instantly and
nothing, neither water nor energy packages, brought that back for the
remainder of the ride. I didn't even want to see a bicycle for the next
two days.

--
Regards, Joerg

http://www.analogconsultants.com/